Ken Rother is an entrepreneur who has built and exited two successful tech/media startups. His experience is centered in operations, sales, product management, and technology. He is director of Rev: Ithaca Startup Works, which runs several hardware accelerator programs. For 10 years, Mr. Rother was the managing director of eLab, an accelerator program for Cornell student startups, and he continues to be a visiting Lecturer of Management at Cornell’s Johnson Graduate School of Management.
Building and Validating PrototypesCornell Course
Building and Validating Prototypes ()
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Course Overview
In this course, you will refine an idea for a physical product by focusing on the customer. Using the Business Model Canvas, you will list your initial assumptions about all aspects of product development, from value propositions to pricing. You will then create a low-cost consumer product prototype and validate it through customer discovery. You will develop a business model for that product using the Business Model Canvas, then build and test prototypes to gain actionable customer feedback. By the end of the course, you will have discovered the types of companies that can help you prototype. Please note that time to build the physical product prototypes will add about 1.5 hours to the time spent on the course. This course requires the purchase of a low-cost physical product kit.
Key Course Takeaways
- Draft a Business Model Canvas for your product
- Write interview questions to validate your customers' problems or needs
- Create a "looks-like" prototype to validate your hypotheses
- Interview customers with your prototypes
- Fine-tune the Business Model Canvas

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Not ready to enroll but want to learn more? Download the course brochure to review program details.How It Works
Course Length
2 weeks
Effort
3 to 5 hours
Format
100% online, instructor-led
Course Author
Ken Rother
Visiting Lecturer
Cornell SC Johnson College of Business
Visiting Lecturer, Samuel Curtis Johnson Graduate School of Management
Who Should Enroll
- Entrepreneurs
- Product managers
- Designers
- Usability experts
- Software engineers
- Consultants
- Manufacturers
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