Introduction to Entrepreneurship

This course immerses students in a single, real-world entrepreneurial challenge from a for-profit, nonprofit, or government organization. Across the course, students work directly with senior executives and relevant stakeholders—conducting interviews, gathering evidence, pressure-testing assumptions, and iterating solutions in a live operating context. The course mirrors the realities of entrepreneurial management, where leaders must create customer value, mobilize resources across functions, and make disciplined decisions under ambiguity. Building on prior management and entrepreneurship coursework, the course combines lean experimentation, the customer value canvas, The Ten Types of Innovation framework, and executive-grade problem-solving into a structured, hands-on journey. Small teams take ownership of distinct elements and then synthesize their findings into an executive-tailored deliverable and a boardroom-style final presentation to the client. Along the way, students develop the habits of modern entrepreneurial leaders, including framing the right questions, designing and running experiments, analyzing data, and communicating clear recommendations. Students leave with a toolkit and the concrete achievement of having advised a real organization on a consequential growth or transformation issue—experience that is equally valuable for founders and managers driving change inside established enterprises. Students may not take both MGMT S-540 and MGMT S-5400 for degree or certificate credit.