Entrepreneurship Courses & Curriculum
Are you curious, innovative and passionate? Are you a creative problem solver? Do you have a business, nonprofit, or social-impact venture idea and want to make a difference, or be your own boss – on YOUR terms? Come join us in our entrepreneurship courses!
Entrepreneurship courses are housed in the Department of Management of the Kogod School of Business and are open to any American University student as a BSBA Specialization, Minor, or as electives.
Why Study Entrepreneurship?
Our nationally-ranked entrepreneurship program uses innovative frameworks and experiential learning techniques to inspire creative thinking and real-world solutions. You will learn to:
- Develop a broad range of life skills necessary to think (and act) like an entrepreneur, including critical thinking, creativity, problem-solving, resilience, and risk-taking;
- Identify real-world problems and create new products & services to solve them;
- Understand and apply broadly utilized tools like Design Thinking, The Lean Startup Method, The Business Model Canvas, business planning, and financial forecasting to launch new business ideas;
- Build leadership skills that will make you more employable and, ultimately, better prepared to successfully launch your own venture; and
- Network with AU’s growing entrepreneurial ecosystem, which includes mentors, visionaries, resources, and partnerships.
The entrepreneurship minor for non-BSBA students includes 18 credit hours, including nine required and nine elective credits.
- MGMT 280: Introduction to Entrepreneurship: Foundation for Success
- MGMT 382 Entrepreneurship for Innovation: Starting a Company
- MGMT 483/683 Entrepreneurship Business Plans: Creating and Launching Ventures
The entrepreneurship undergraduate specialization includes all KSB core course requirements. The Entrepreneurship Specialization includes 12 credit hours, including nine required and three elective credits.
- MGMT 280: Introduction to Entrepreneurship: Foundations for Success
- MGMT 382 Entrepreneurship for Innovation: Starting a Company
- MGMT 483/683 Entrepreneurship Business Plans: Creating and Launching Ventures
Core Course Requirements
This foundation course helps students develop an understanding of the impact of entrepreneurship in business, government and society and an awareness of the mindset and skills entrepreneurs develop to build companies from ideas to inventions to successful innovations. Students examine the relationship of innovation and entrepreneurship, case histories of successful companies built by passionate entrepreneurs and the use of modern customer-centered practices used to define and develop startup companies.
Becoming an entrepreneur aligns every aspect of business from strategy to product development, marketing, finance, accounting, and sales. Startup founders learn that success means beginning with identifying services or products that are desirable to customers, feasible, and financially viable. In this experiential learning course, students apply business model techniques to simulate an actual startup business. Students use their own business startup ideas to define a product for a commercial market. They interview potential customers, identify specific user pain points, create and test prototypes, analyze and select distribution channels and define and test pricing. Ultimately, students develop and present a comprehensive business model. Prerequisites: Junior Standing or MGMT 280.
This course helps students understand the principles for developing entrepreneurial business plans to successfully create, launch, and manage a new venture. Students gain an appreciation for the challenges of creating a venture and an understanding of the elements of a business plan as well as learning how to distinguish good ideas from good opportunities and developing a formal business plan to raise required resources. The course examines the driving forces that play a role in planning and setting up a business.
Selective Elective Courses
This course prepares students from all disciplines to maximize their social impact, whether through nonprofit, public or private sector work. We explore tactics and develop strategies to fuel innovation and we will discuss the practical steps needed to transform a passion for action into a funded venture. Students use entrepreneurship methodologies to create their own mission-based, social-impact-oriented ventures while interacting with leaders in the field and learning about the vast social-impact ecosystem. In this class, students apply critical thinking skills as they develop and solidify their knowledge of processes that are fundamental to building a successful social enterprise. Through assignments and projects, they refine their ideas as they fortify their communication skills. Prerequisite: junior standing.
Entrepreneurship is a driving and dynamic force in developed, developing, and less developed counties around the world. This course explores the complex considerations in developing, starting, and growing an entrepreneurship enterprise in multiple contexts and cultures. The utilization of alternative entrepreneurship and micro ventures strategies are also explored.
Becoming an entrepreneur aligns every aspect of business from strategy to product development, marketing, finance, accounting, and sales. Startup founders learn that success means beginning with identifying services or products that are desirable to customers, feasible, and financially viable. In this experiential learning course, students apply entrepreneurship methodologies to simulate an actual startup business. Students use their own business startup ideas to define a product for a commercial market. They interview potential customers, identify specific user problems and needs, create and test rapid prototypes, analyze and select distribution channels and define and test pricing. Ultimately, students develop and present a comprehensive business model. Requisites: Junior Standing or MGMT 280.
This course explores business practices, professional skills, and career paths for students working at the intersection of sustainability and entrepreneurship. We address challenges and opportunities facing impact-oriented entrepreneurs including: securing startup financing, building an innovative business model, creating a positive and sustainable company culture, navigating legal and regulatory issues and maximizing community engagement. The course addresses the links between entrepreneurship and sustainable development, including the role of entrepreneurs as catalysts for inclusive growth in emerging and developing economies.
Making mindful food choices is one of the most impactful things we can do to minimize our personal carbon footprint. But for many, the system is rigged and choice is a fallacy. In this course, we will explore the federal laws and economic factors impacting our food system and, accordingly, our food choices. Our discussions will inspire entrepreneurial thinking about the ways we can solve the most pressing problems related to how we produce, distribute, market and consume food in America. We will discuss a variety of levers for changemaking, including policy advocacy, venture creation and corporate engagement. Students will develop a working knowledge of the underlying political and economic factors that have given rise to our modern food system, as well as an understanding of opportunities for disruption.