Foundations of Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship is one of the most important economic activities shaping the United States. Entrepreneurial processes play a role in delivering new solutions to social problems, they are a strong determinant of wealth inequality and spatial disparities, and underlie technological progress. The class Foundations of Entrepreneurship provides any undergraduate student a comprehensive introduction to what entrepreneurship is and how it functions, including understanding how an idea evolves into a company, the role of key actors in an entrepreneurial ecosystem, and experiencing the entrepreneurial process. The class is valuable to any student in science, engineering, and liberal arts who would like to understand what determines whether promising inventions and solutions fulfill their potential impact. It is offered as part of the Mendelson Center’s special program in business management. The content is delivered incorporating lecture-based content, case discussions of existing companies, and group work to develop an early-stage idea and pitch it to a panel of investors. Foundations of Entrepreneurship is a prerequisite to future lab-based entrepreneurship classes for undergraduates, Launch Your Startup and Entrepreneurial Greenhouse. Prerequisite or Corequisite: ECON 1105W (Principles of Economics) AND one of the following Statistics courses: STAT 1001W (Intro to Statistical Reasoning) STAT 1101W (Introduction to Statistics) STAT 1201W (Calc-Based Intro to Statistics) PSYC 1610W (Statistics for Behavioral Scientists)