https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Tp7PI9CQKhk
got me thinking about my subject FESBM – Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship and Small Business Management 30 Hr (3 Credit ) course. MYRA School Of Business’s visionary Dean and Academic Board decided to embrace AI as soon as ChatGPT was launched, further strengthening its position as one of the best pgdm college in bangalore.
In 2022 I taught the course using Lean Startup Method as an 80% practical and 20% concepts way with 2 Demo days, since humans love to compete and “Shark tank” style “Demo days” are enjoyed by students despite the hard work involved. In 2023 and 2024 we added ChatGPT enabled Business Planning tools “LivePlan” and “Upmetrics”. Students on Day 01 have to suggest startup ideas, these are filtered, Teams are formed with defined roles from the CXO suite (CEO, COO, CMO, CFO, CTO) so that they get to work in their startup idea as a simulated Startup team. I reached out to my global contacts to find mentors for business ideas eg. A Golf startup was mentored by a Pro Golfer and a French Restaurant was mentored by a world class Chef and also a gourmet restaurant owner.
For 2025-2026 My class’s teams will have to use Gen AI in each subtopic so that they can rapidly arrive at their “experiments” to test their hypotheses with actual target customers. Interestingly, since AI will be doing the heavy lifting conceptually, I will require my students to use the time saved to do MORE real world interactions with customers, channel partners and create networks of relationships. WHY= To keep my promise “Whatever else you gain from taking my class; you will learn how to launch a new product or service as a Startup founder or at a corporate as a Product Manager”
So..exactly what is explored in our class TOGETHER?
Love the Problem, Not the Solution: A Lesson from The Entrepreneur’s Playbook
What makes a business idea truly worth pursuing? It’s a question that fills every entrepreneurship classroom, startup accelerator, and café napkin brainstorm session. Yet the answer is deceptively simple and ruthlessly demanding: the best founders don’t fall in love with their ideas—they fall in love with “the problem / The opportunity for solving the problem”.
In our FESBM- Entrepreneur’s Playbook, this concept sits at the heart of every successful venture. Ideas, the book reminds us, are everywhere. But genuine opportunities—those that create meaningful, sustainable value—are rare. The key to discovering one lies in shifting your mindset from “What can I build?” to “Whose problem can I deeply understand and solve better than anyone else?”
Falling in Love with the Problem
Imagine a doctor who prescribes medicine without diagnosing the patient. That’s what most entrepreneurs do when they rush to build products without fully understanding their customers. A problem-first mindset demands empathy and patience. It starts not with invention, but with observation—listening to what frustrates people, what slows them down, what they wish could be simpler or better.
This is where proven methodologies like Design Thinking and Lean Startup come into play. Design Thinking starts with empathy; Ash maurya’s Lean Startup Method adds discipline. Together, they form the modern entrepreneur’s compass. You build, measure, and learn—not to prove your idea right, but to uncover the truth about what works. Every experiment, success or failure, brings you closer to what’s real.
The Frameworks That Matter
Our FESBM Playbook outlines a trinity every founder should master: Design Thinking, Lean, and Agile. Together they answer three critical questions:
Design Thinking: Are we building the right thing?
Lean Startup: Are we building a Business that can sustain in the days ahead?
Agile Mindset: Are we building it effectively and fast enough?
These principles transform entrepreneurship from reckless enthusiasm into an evidence-based craft. Today’s investors no longer fund mere ideas; they fund traction—proof that your model works in the real world. They look for signs of disciplined learning: a startup that runs efficient experiments and iterates based on data, not ego.
The Human Core: Team and Ethics
But even the sharpest methodology can’t save a weak team. The FESBM Playbook uses Vinod Khosla’s famous team formation concept “Genepool Engineering”—assembling complementary skills, experiences, and temperaments. It’s not about hiring friends; it’s about curating diversity to address the risks arising. And once the team forms, integrity must hold it together. Numbers may measure progress, but ethics measure trust—and trust is the ultimate currency in business.
A Practical Takeaway
If you are a student looking for the THEORY of Startups, Entrepreneurship and Intrapreneurship, you will find it elsewhere.
BUT
If you want to know whether your idea is worth pursuing, stop refining your pitch deck and start interviewing your customers. Fall in love with their pain points first. The solution will evolve naturally from there.
Entrepreneurship, at its best, isn’t about being the smartest person in the room—it’s about being the most curious one. The founders who win are those who stay obsessed not with their product, but with the problem it solves. Build from that, and everything else will follow.
More Later….
Prof. Sanjay Dwivedi
