Entrepreneurship (ENT)

Includes individual components of entrepreneurship and its implications for society. Special emphasis is placed on decision-making and problem solving in society through an understanding of opportunity recognition, economic/financial models, value creation, and basic entrepreneur-related concepts.

This course focuses on the skill of creativity and broadening one's curiosity, skills that can be applied in any life context. Students learn opportunity recognition and gain confidence in exploring unfamiliar courses of action.

This course examines how entrepreneurs identify, evaluate, and validate creator-based ventures within the evolving creator economy. Students explore how individual skills, passions, and expertise can form the foundation of creator-led opportunities. Emphasis is placed on testing content concepts and analyzing early traction signals that inform venture feasibility. Topics include opportunity recognition and validation, content analysis, intellectual property and content ownership, and the role of authenticity in entrepreneurial positioning. Experiential projects focus on transforming creative strengths into validated entrepreneurial opportunities.

This course immerses students in the entrepreneurial process of identifying real-world problems, validating opportunity ideas through customer discovery, and refining venture concepts through early prototyping. Students test assumptions about value creation, feasibility, and potential growth pathways to determine whether to persevere, pivot, or abandon their ventures.

This course explores the personal and cognitive foundations of entrepreneurial thinking. Students examine how individual traits such as passion, confidence, curiosity, and resilience shape opportunity recognition and problem-solving. Through reflection and applied exercises, students develop behavioral strategies that strengthen their entrepreneurial self-efficacy and guide purposeful career and venture pathways.

This course explores the acquisition of existing venture as an entrepreneurial pathway. Students learn how entrepreneurs identify, evaluate, and pursue opportunities to acquire and grow established ventures. Emphasis is placed on entrepreneurial ownership, opportunity recognition within mature markets, and the challenges of revitalizing acquired ventures. Topics include search strategies, seller relationships, succession dynamics, and value creation through innovation and adaptation after acquisition.

This course explores the unique dynamics of family enterprises - examining ownership, leadership, governance, and generational relationships - while highlighting how entrepreneurial thinking sustains family purpose, innovation, and continuity across generations.

This course explores how entrepreneurs expand validated ventures through resourceful experimentation, adaptation, and opportunity exploitation. Students examine the challenges of scaling new ventures, including rapid change, sustained innovation, and aligning resources to support growth. Emphasis is placed on entrepreneurial decision-making under uncertainty and developing scalable systems that preserve agility and value creation.

Providing a unique context through which parts of the entrepreneurial process can be understood and practiced. Skills such as improvisation, storytelling, and organization help students communicate a vision and attract resources when making a pitch for seed funding.

Entrepreneurs must establish effective systems to support the early operations of a new venture. This course introduces the practical foundations of venture setup, including administrative structure, record keeping, and data-informed decision-making. Students learn how to organize, interpret, and apply financial and operational information to increase a venture’s viability and support informed entrepreneurial action.

This course introduces the concepts and technologies underlying blockchain and explores how decentralized systems create new entrepreneurial opportunities. Students examine the evolution of digital trust, tokenization, and smart contracts as foundations for innovation across industries. Emphasis is placed on understanding blockchain as an enabling technology for new venture creation, value exchange, and community-based business models.

This course explores the foundations of cryptocurrencies, NFTs, and Blockchain technology, with a focus on entrepreneurial opportunities in web3.

This course introduces decentralized finance (DeFi) as an emerging infrastructure for entrepreneurial value creation. Students explore how blockchain-based financial tools such as decentralized exchanges, liquidity pools, and peer-to-peer lending platforms can support venture funding, customer transactions, and community engagement. Emphasis is placed on understanding how entrepreneurs can leverage DeFi to reduce barriers to capital, enable innovative business models, and participate in new digital economies.

Entrepreneurs need data to navigate through uncertain, ambiguous, and interdisciplinary environments. In this course, students will learn to improve their decision making skills through gathering, interpreting, and manipulating data.

This course concentrates on developing knowledge of capital management in early-stage ventures, with a focus on financial capital: both equity and debt. Investor motives and behaviors are critical components of the course, especially as they relate to establishing contractual relationships.

This course explores how entrepreneurs design and scale creator-based ventures by converting audience engagement into sustainable business models. Students learn to create, test, and refine monetization systems across multiple content platforms in the context of a startup. Topics include platform-based value capture, audience community building, diversified revenue streams, and aligning creative identity with venture growth. Emphasis is placed on data-informed decision-making, ethical monetization, and designing scalable creator ventures that balance authenticity with entrepreneurship.

This course overviews the application of entrepreneurship to drive social change and the creation of sustainable solutions to societal challenges. Students will explore the interconnectedness of economy, society, and the environment, and apply design thinking to real-world problems.

This course teaches entrepreneurs how to use no-code, low-code, and AI-assisted tools to create digital prototypes that support customer discovery and venture validation. Students learn to transform early opportunity ideas into functional demonstrations that gather feedback from potential users. Emphasis is placed on experimentation, iteration, and leveraging accessible technologies to accelerate learning during the early stages of venture development.

Students use design thinking principles to develop physical, digital, and service innovations. Students will learn to communicate confidently and knowledgeably with engineers, manufacturers, or other related stakeholders.

This course equips students with the digital tools and frameworks needed to acquire customers and build traction for early-stage ventures. Students learn how to create a digital presence, experiment with online platforms, and apply data-driven approaches to attract, engage, and retain users. Emphasis is placed on leveraging technology to test value communication, evaluate traction metrics, and refine customer acquisition strategies that support venture growth.

This course examines the evolution of media business models and the entrepreneurial opportunities that emerge as technology reshapes how content is produced, distributed, and monetized. Students analyze the history of media innovation from print to Web 3.0 to understand how entrepreneurs and creative leaders have disrupted traditional industries and created new platforms. Through case studies, guest lectures, and project-based learning, students explore the intersection of creativity, technology, and entrepreneurship to identify and design opportunities in today’s rapidly evolving media landscape.

This course delves into the consequential early choices entrepreneurs make that shape their ventures' trajectories. Students develop practical frameworks for navigating these dilemmas while balancing personal aspirations with venture requirements, enabling them to make more informed choices in their entrepreneurial journeys.

This experiential capstone engages students in applied research and hands-on projects exploring entrepreneurship within family enterprises by designing incentive and transition plans, developing advisory and communication skills, and fostering innovation, collaboration, and purpose across generations.

This course examines the legal and ethical considerations unique to new venture creation and growth. Topics include choosing appropriate venture structures, protecting intellectual property, establishing clear agreements among founders and partners, and navigating common startup disputes. Emphasis is placed on using legal and ethical frameworks as strategic tools for reducing uncertainty and enabling entrepreneurial action.

Individual study and research with faculty direction and supervision.

This self-directed course requires students to create a launch plan for a new product or service idea. Small group instruction and mentorship is provided, however, students are expected to demonstrate disciplined progress towards their goals.

Courses centering around topics of current interest or of special interest to students.

Students work in professional settings relevant to the family enterprise context, connecting academic training with professional practice. Students are required to set professional goals, document their internship, and produce a written account of their experience.

This capstone course provides students the opportunity to integrate and apply the full range of entrepreneurial knowledge and skills developed throughout the program. Students identify, launch, and attempt to scale a new venture during the semester. Emphasis is placed on entrepreneurial execution, evidence-based decision-making, and reflection on the challenges of opportunity exploitation in dynamic environments.

Students work in professional settings relevant to the entrepreneurship context, connecting academic training with professional practice. Students are required to set professional goals, document their internship, and produce a written account of their experience.

Students work in professional settings relevant to the sustainability context, connecting academic training with professional practice. Students are required to set professional goals, document their internship, and produce a written account of their experience.

This course provides students the opportunity to advance their own startup or venture concept under the guidance of an approved external mentor and faculty supervisor. Students set measurable goals, track progress, and apply entrepreneurial frameworks to develop, test, and refine their ventures. Emphasis is placed on evidence-based decision-making, accountability through mentorship, and reflection on the entrepreneurial process.

This course explores how entrepreneurs identify, evaluate, and test new venture opportunities using evidence-based methods. Students learn to apply Lean Launch principles to design and validate business models through real-world experimentation and customer discovery. Emphasis is placed on opportunity recognition, iterative learning, and the disciplined pursuit of product–market fit as foundations for entrepreneurial action. 

This course examines how entrepreneurs secure and structure funding to launch and grow new ventures. Emphasis is placed on understanding financing options from the founders perspective, including angel investment, venture capital, crowdfunding, and debt alternatives. Students learn how to prepare for investment, develop effective funding strategies, and communicate venture potential to investors. The course also explores the entrepreneur investor relationship, equity considerations, and exit scenarios as part of the entrepreneurial growth process.

A hands-on experience focusing on the challenges entrepreneurs face as they start a new venture and transition from concept to early operation. Students learn strategies for overcoming the liabilities of newness and smallness, establishing credibility with customers, investors, and partners, and building systems that support early growth. Emphasis is placed on entrepreneurial legitimacy, resource acquisition, and the iterative process of strengthening a ventures foundation for future scaling.

This course focuses on how entrepreneurs use evidence and performance metrics to plan and manage venture growth after launch. Students learn to design measurement systems that track progress toward scaling, evaluate product–market fit, and guide resource allocation. Emphasis is placed on using data to support decision-making, communicate traction to stakeholders, and identify opportunities for sustainable expansion. Topics include growth modeling, venture dashboards, performance indicators, and the application of entrepreneurial analytics to opportunity exploitation.

This course focuses on how entrepreneurs use evidence and performance metrics to plan and manage venture growth after launch. Students learn to design measurement systems that track progress toward scaling, evaluate product–market fit, and guide resource allocation. Emphasis is placed on using data to support decision-making, communicate traction to stakeholders, and identify opportunities for sustainable expansion. Topics include growth modeling, venture dashboards, performance indicators, and the application of entrepreneurial analytics to opportunity exploitation.

Covers the core skills needed for identifying opportunities that can lead to successful new ventures regardless of the individual's skill set. The course takes an in depth look at the critical importance of differentiation in successful new ventures and how individuals utilizing an entrepreneurial mindset can leverage their individual human capital and resources to identify, evaluate, and exploit opportunities.

This self-directed course requires students to create a launch plan for a new product or service idea. Small group instruction and mentorship is provided, however, students are expected to demonstrate disciplined progress towards their goals.

Independent study in which students must have a contract with an instructor. Students and faculty will work together to outline the goal of the independent study with the student's specific outcomes and learning objectives in mind.

Includes topics of current interest or of special interest to students or faculty.