After successful completion of the course, students are able to:

• Gaining an understanding of leadership (basic principles, creating and developing a high performance team and reaching goals and gain results as a leader of a team)
• Gaining an understanding of conflict management (theory, prevention and management of conflicts)
• Being prepared to develop and hire a team when founding a start-up
• Being able to understand and cope with the basic HR needs that are particularly relevant for the founding stage of a startup

IMPORTANT: This lecture is only for students assigned to the supplementary curriculum "Extended Studiy on Innovation" offered by the Innovation Incubation Center (i²c)! For further information, please visit http://i2c.tuwien.ac.at/home/are-you-a-student/how-to-apply/

***ECTS Breakdown***

2 ECTS = 50 hours

40        Lectures (prüfungsimmanent)
10        Individual and group assignments

***Content Description***

1. Introduction to holistic HR for entrepreneurs

In this block, students will receive a general overview of various aspects of HR in young and fast-growing companies. The lectures will be a mix of theoretical knowledge, experience and case studies from the European startup environment and group work.

The content will provide students with the basic knowledge to master HR in a startup

• Areas of HR in small companies
• Case Studies and Discussion Groups
• How to find (hire) your first team.
• How to create and develop a high performance team.
•  How to deal with equity at the founding stage.

2. Unconscious Bias, Team Management and Motivation

This part should allow the student to gain a first knowledge in the psychological area of HR. The aim is that students learn about aspects of team management, the unconscious bias and employee/founder motivation.

2.1 Team Management

• Definition, models, and Checklists
• Leader vs. Manager vs. Founder
• Team Setup
• Basic Principles of Organizations and their structure
• ools and Automation

2.2 Unconscious Bias Training

2.3 Founder/Employee Motivation

• Motivation Models “CLIFF” Model
• Feedback Model
• Founder Dynamics
• Founder Check
• Tools

2.4   Communication in times of crisis

• Theory and Background
• Covid Crisis for Startups 2020
• Tools
• Discussion & Case Studies

3. Leadership & Conflict Management

Students will be guided through leadership and conflict management basics with a focus on conflicts in early stage startups. In addition, the lecture and the practical exercises will be underlined by the results of the personal assessment test – the founder check.

3.1 Leadership

• How to work in teams
• What are “leadership” tasks
• How-to delegate and what to delegate in a startup
• Role definition in startups CXO Process
• Startup Anatomy
• Practical group work

3.2 Conflict Management

• Founder Clash
• De-escalation Methods
• Theoretical Background conflict stages
• Tools & Case Studies
• Practical Group work

***Lecturer***

Lukas Rippitsch is managing partner of Speedinvest Heroes. Besides, he is co-founder for Digitalisten GmbH. Before, he acted as director of operations & growth for Improove Inc.

Experience-based training & development (experiential learning; team tasks in the surrounding of the premises.)

Continuous assessment ("prüfungsimmanent"):

• Attendance and active participation at lectures

• Group work and presentation of results

• Exam