The capstone will integrate the learning acquired from the four courses in the 3D Printing Specialization through a hands-on project. This project will enable you to turn an idea into an object using the knowledge and skills acquired through the other courses. Specifically, you will be guided through a step-by-step process in which you imagine, design, make, and share a 3D printed object. Thus, through this capstone, you will be able to put course concepts into action and utilize the skills that you have acquired throughout the Specialization. In addition, you will be able to obtain an actual 3D print of the object you design at a discounted price through our corporate partners, 3D Hubs and Shapeways. If you enjoy this business course and are interested in an MBA, consider applying to the iMBA, a flexible, fully-accredited online MBA at an incredibly competitive price offered by the University of Illinois. For more information, please see the Resource page in this course and onlinemba.illinois.edu.

Start-ups are designed to grow quickly, but successful start-ups grow smart. This course is designed to provide you with an understanding of the essential elements of successful scaling, including an overview of demand generation, customer acquisition, adoption, diffusion and forecasting demand. You’ll also learn how to market effectively using best practices of digital marketing, social media, PR, SEO, and pricing. Finally, you’ll cover the nuts and bolts of building a sales process, partnerships and supply relationships, and examine the crucial components of attracting, developing and retaining talent. By the end of this course, you’ll have an outline of an expansion strategy for your idea or enterprise, and also be ready for Entrepreneurship 4: Financing and Profitability

By the end of this guided project, you will be able to use the Pitch Canvas to make adequate preparation for your startup funding pitch. The Pitch Canvas is an entrepreneurial brainstorming framework that help you to structure and visualize your pitch in one page. The canvas is most effective for pitch preparation that is not more than 10 minutes. The goal is to highlight the key factor of your business plan while leaving the details to the subsequent meeting that might require extensive pitch. The canvas helps you to focus on the important point by convincing the investors that your business is worth investing in, and also to prepare for questions they might likely asked. For us to practically demonstrate the application of the Canvas for pitch preparation, we will use a Fintech startup company as a case study to conduct the analysis. Example of the case study would empower you with the skillset to apply the framework to your startup, or any other venture of your choice. The project is for entrepreneurs who want to secure funding for their startups. Also, for intrapreneurs and project managers who need to convince key stakeholder for funding a project or new venture. At the end of the project, you will be able to use the canvas to deliver a result-oriented pitch for your startup or project

Make the Sale: Build, Launch, and Manage E-commerce Stores is the sixth of seven courses in the Google Digital Marketing & E-commerce Certificate. This course explores how businesses and individuals sell products online, including using popular platforms like Shopify. You’ll go through the process of creating a mock e-commerce store. To do this, you’ll build a Shopify store, add the necessary information, and create product listings. You’ll explore how to reach customers online through e-commerce customer outreach methods like advertisements and campaigns. Google employees who currently work in the field will guide you, providing hands-on activities and examples that simulate common digital marketing and e-commerce tasks while showing you some of the best tools and resources used on the job. Learners who complete the seven courses in this program will be ready to apply for entry-level jobs in digital marketing and e-commerce. No previous experience is necessary. By the end of this course, you will be able to do the following: - Understand essential e-commerce strategies and practices - Explain how to conduct market research and product research - Set up a mock e-commerce store using Shopify - Use Google Ads to engage e-commerce customers - Explain how trends and seasonality affect e-commerce businesses - Use best practices to create an engaging customer experience online - Describe the order fulfillment process through checkout, point of sale (POS), shipping, and delivery. - Optimize a checkout flow for customers

In this course, you will learn how to use theories and methods to make predictions of the potential impact of new technology – in general, as well as for a specific application. This will prepare you for the changes that we are facing in society, and also help you take advantage of transformations that are driven by technology. The Impact of Technology course takes a broad approach, including social and economic factors. You will study historical examples and learn to recognize recurring patterns and cycles. The curriculum includes general innovation theories, foresight methodology, value chain disruption, and strategy. The general process is as follows. First, you to learn how to draw a map of the potential future business landscape. After that, you get to identify interesting future business roles in emerging value networks. Finally, we find a path from where we are today to a desired end state. You will analyze how an industry or market may change if the technology which is available today is fully implemented in a 10 to 20-year perspective. In addition, you will identify barriers to such a development and make estimates regarding the timing. The course includes a number of assignments to facilitate your learning – some of them compulsory. The largest assignment is about the introduction of self-driving cars (hence the course icon; source and credit to Google). We all know that the future can’t be fully predicted in detail. However, the methods presented in this course will help you identify potential consequences. In this way, you will get a toolbox for decision-making in the areas of technology, investments, career path, research & development, or portfolio management.

Start-ups can benefit from a wide variety of financing options on the path to profitability, but how do you know which one to choose? This course explores different financing models, including bootstrapping, organic growth, debt and risk capital, and also provides a clear overview of equity financing including the key types of investors: angels, venture capital, and crowdfunding. You’ll learn about terms, and term sheets, exit modes and what exit strategy might be best for you. By the end of this course, you’ll have an understanding of what success looks like and how it can be financed. You’ll also be ready for the capstone project, in which you will get feedback on your own pitch deck, and may even be selected to pitch to investors from venture capital firms.

In this 1-hour long project-based course, you will learn how to - create your twitter account - navigate twitter's dashboard - understand twitter terms and activities. Note: This course works best for learners who are based in the North America region. We’re currently working on providing the same experience in other regions.

Doing Business in China Capstone enables you to apply your skills to real business challenges. You’ll use your newly earned business skills to identify, explore and evaluate a real opportunity involving products. In this capstone, you are the business consultant working for a well-established “HON / wellness” company. The CEO has given you a task. You have to bring a new overseas product into China.

By the end of this course, you will be able to search for the exact job that you want to be in, in the correct location, with the desired salary you want. You will also know where to look for accurate salary information, company data, and how to find information on a certification.

The evolution of design has seen it become a discipline no longer limited to the concerns of a singular, specific domain and develop to become a pathway for solving complex, nonlinear problems. Design is becoming a capability-enhancing skill, equipping people with the ability to deal with uncertainty, complexity and failure. In this course, we demonstrate how you can use design as a way of thinking to provide strategic and innovative advantage within your profession. Suitable for anyone who is curious about design and translating the processes and tools of design thinking into innovative opportunities, over 5 weeks we explore, apply and practice the design process: think, make, break and repeat. Through introducing theoretical concepts and examining industry case studies with leading Australian design firms, we investigate design as learning about the context (the thinking part), building prototypes as tangible representations (the making part) and testing potential solutions (the breaking part). We build on this by showing the productive value of moving through the process quickly and often (the repeating part), to improve ideas and develop new insights. Throughout the course, you will follow us through three of Australia’s most exciting design offices and learn from practicing designers and leaders in design. This insight into industry will enable you to develop a comprehensive understanding of design and the role it can and does play within the innovation landscape. You will leave this course with a set of practical tools and techniques to apply to situations within your own professional context, to translate problems into opportunities and solutions, and ultimately to innovate through design.