How this course works
A summary of the orientation session held on September 25. It is kept here so you can come back to it. If you miss a class, this page and the session pages will get you caught up.
What management means here
The course is called "Introduction to Management". Management here means coming up with a business, checking whether it holds up, and carrying it far enough that someone will put money into it.
The 14 sessions run in that order.
Decide (1-4) → Check (5-7) → Back it with numbers (8-10) → Make it a company (11-13) → Ask for the money (14)
What comes up here is divided, out in the world, into fields called building a business, marketing, finance and organization. The references page is arranged by those four.
"Management" also means managing people and running things day to day. That is management too. What this course covers is the other side: taking a business that does not exist yet and getting it into a shape that holds up.
What this course does
There are many ways to learn about business. This course sits at "building your own plan".
Every session sets aside time to take what it covers and apply it to the plan you chose.
How to use this site
class.krym.jp
Checking this site once a week is enough. The home page lists the courses that are running. From there the syllabus holds every date and a way into each session, and a session page has the lesson, the handouts, and the assignment in one place.
- Lesson — what the session covers. You can read it again afterwards
- Handouts — the same sheets handed out in class. You can download them if you lose one
- Assignment — five questions for that session
The syllabus lists all 19 rows. If you want to see the whole term in advance, look there.
Lesson content and assignments are written in Japanese only.
Submitting assignments
You submit through the assignment in Teams. The deadline is noon on the day before the next class. Session 14 has no next class, so its deadline is noon on Monday 1 February (also given on the assignment page).
Noon the day before gives us time to read your answers before the class. Whatever comes up most often, and whatever you say you did not follow, gets more time in the next session.
Each question carries a rough length. It is only a guide — there is no need to match it exactly. The fifth question asks what was hardest to follow. If you cannot put it into words, just naming roughly where in the class it happened is enough.
Answers are shared in Teams at the next session. Deciding for yourself first, then reading the answers, is what makes it stick.
What happens in the last session
In session 14 you each pitch to an investor, one at a time. The audience is the other students and the instructor, and questions follow each pitch.
You choose between raising 1 million yen and 10 million yen. One million is the scale of starting on your own; ten million is the scale of hiring people. Choosing which one is part of the work.
The 14 sessions gather the material for that pitch: who you sell to, how many of them there are, what price you charge, whether it actually makes money, what it costs to build. Work through those one at a time and the amount you need falls out of your own arithmetic.
Before the next session
By September 28, pick one business you want to dig into and submit it through the Teams assignment. The assignment links to a Forms page; the name of one business is enough. Add why you chose it if you can. Session 1 starts from there.
It can be something you would like to start yourself, or something someone else already runs. A vending machine or a secondhand clothing shop both work. If you are unsure, pick from one of these.
- Something you recently paid for and were glad you did
- Something that made you wonder who is actually making money from it
Both lead straight into session 1. Even without a business you want to start, everyone can recall one thing they were glad to pay for.
And if nothing lands, there is a list of candidates ready. We work on it together on the day, so coming in blank does not stall you.
If you get stuck
- Ask in Teams. During class or afterwards, either is fine
- If you miss a class, look at this page and the session pages. The lesson and the handouts stay there
- If a word is unfamiliar, ask when it comes up
How you are assessed
Everything about how you are assessed is written out below. Knowing what you are aiming at means you can check your own progress as you go. If a term is unfamiliar, ask when you come across it.
How the marks work
There is no written exam. The 100 points are split across five criteria.
| Criterion | Points | |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Whose problem you solve, and how specific it is | 20 |
| 2 | Whether the numbers back it up | 20 |
| 3 | Whether you did the weekly assignments | 20 |
| 4 | How you took part in the team | 10 |
| 5 | The funding pitch and the questions after it | 30 |
Criteria 1 and 2 (40 points together) are the same for everyone on the team. Criteria 3, 4 and 5 (60 points together) are different for each person. If it were all team marks, individual effort would not show up in the grade.
Conversion to the school's grade bands follows the school's own rules.
The four levels
Every criterion is judged on the same four levels.
| Level | What it means |
|---|---|
| 1 | The starting point. This is where everyone begins |
| 2 | Under way, and the shape is showing |
| 3 | At the level this course aims for |
| 4 | One step past level 3 |
Level 3 is the target. Nobody needs to reach level 4.
Criterion 1 Whose problem you solve, and how specific it is (20 points)
Whether the plan points at a real-sounding person's real trouble.
| Level | Points | What is in place |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | You have put what you want to do into words. The buyer comes later |
| 2 | 10 | You have narrowed the buyer down, as in "women in their twenties". You name one trouble |
| 3 | 15 | You describe the buyer down to what they actually do day to day, not just age and job. You write what they are stuck on now and how they cope with it, as something you heard from them |
| 4 | 20 | All of the above, plus you can explain where talking to people changed your mind. The difference between your first assumption and what you found out is written down |
Criterion 2 Whether the numbers back it up (20 points)
Sessions 4 (how many buyers), 7 (what price), 8 (does it actually pay) and 10 (what it costs to build) are looked at together.
| Level | Points | What is in place |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | You are trying to put numbers to it. The arithmetic comes later |
| 2 | 10 | You write it as a multiplication, such as customers × price. You show where at least one number came from |
| 3 | 15 | The numbers from the four sessions line up (the price, the break-even count and the money you need are all worked out on the same assumptions). Every number carries a source and the year you looked it up |
| 4 | 20 | All of the above, plus you show one thing that changes if an assumption changes ("drop the price by ¥100 and you need to sell ◯ more") |
What matters is less whether the number is right and more whether you can say where it came from. When you use a number, write down its source alongside it. A number you can source is a number that supports your argument.
Criterion 3 Whether you did the weekly assignments (20 points)
Whether you wrote up each session's assignment in your own words and handed it in.
You are not marked on being right. You can research however you like, and you may use AI. Just be ready to explain what you wrote in your own words. In the final pitch, you answer questions on the spot.
| Level | Points | What is in place |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 5 | A few submissions |
| 2 | 10 | Submitted for more than half the sessions |
| 3 | 15 | Submitted for nearly every session, in your own words (not copied straight from what you looked up) |
| 4 | 20 | All of the above, plus you correct your own earlier work ("last time I thought this, but looking it up showed otherwise") |
Criterion 4 How you took part in the team (10 points)
Not how much you did, but how you worked inside the team. Based on the weekly records and the peer review the team does around sessions 5 and 10.
| Level | Points | What is in place |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 2 | You are there for the discussion |
| 2 | 5 | You take on a share, and you bring back what you took away |
| 3 | 8 | You deliver your share and respond to what others say (ask, add to it, offer another view) |
| 4 | 10 | All of the above, plus you get stuck people and stalled discussions moving (propose who does what, sort out a decision that will not land) |
Criterion 5 The funding pitch and the questions after it (30 points)
In session 14 you present one at a time, with five to seven slides. You work from the same plan your team built, but each of you makes your own deck. The research is shared, so there is no extra digging. What changes from person to person is what you put up front and what you cut.
After the pitch, three questions come from the audience and one from the instructor. They are not scripted. This is where how far you understand it becomes visible.
The amount you raise is either ¥1,000,000 or ¥10,000,000. ¥1m is the scale of starting alone (no staff, no equipment); ¥10m is the scale of starting with staff (opening a shop, commissioning development, holding stock). Which one you pick is itself part of what is judged. Decide from the estimate you built in session 10.
| Level | Points | What is in place |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | 8 | You made a deck and presented it |
| 2 | 15 | You explain the plan in words the audience follows. You write down what the money is for |
| 3 | 23 | You answer questions on the spot about the part you worked on. What the money is for lines up with the session 10 estimate |
| 4 | 30 | You answer questions on the spot about the whole plan, including parts you did not work on. You can explain why you picked that amount and how it differs from your own figures ("¥800k covers it, so the rest goes here"; "¥10m does not cover it, so we start here") |
Slide six — what the money is for — is the one that matters. Get that down and it shows the session 10 estimate has stuck.
Conversion to the school's grades
Marks are out of 100. Conversion to grade bands follows the school's own rules.