Entrepreneurship Courses, Specialization & Minor
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:
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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;
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Identify real-world problems and create new products & services to solve them;
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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;
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Build leadership skills that will make you more employable and, ultimately, better prepared to successfully launch your own venture; and
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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 380: Introduction to Entrepreneurship: Foundation for Success
- MGMT 382 Entrepreneurship for Innovation: Starting a Company
- MGMT 483/683 Entrepreneurship Practicum with AI Infusion: 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
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MGMT 483/683: Entrepreneurship Practicum with AI Infusion: Creating & 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. Startups 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. Student teams use technologies provided by federal laboratories or their own business startup ideas to define a product for a commercial market. Students interview potential customers, identify specific user problems and needs, create and test rapid prototypes, analyze and select distribution channels and define and test pricing. Students then determine key internal resources and activities, specify strategic partners and build simple financial forecasts before presenting their comprehensive business model at the end of the semester.
Prerequisite: junior standing or MGMT-380.
Whether solo or on a team, this course helps students from any major turn their ideas into a real venture. Students explore industries about which they are passionate, uncover unique opportunities, and use real-world business tools to validate ideas, test marketing campaigns, and forecast finances. Participants gain hands-on experience in business incorporation, intellectual property (IP) protection, fundraising, and investor-level pitching while connecting with entrepreneurs and investors through valuable networking opportunities. With artificial intelligence (AI) infused throughout the course, students explore how emerging technologies can give their venture idea a competitive edge.
Crosslist: MGMT-683.
Selective Elective Courses
This course gives students from all disciplines the vision and tools to become part of the social purpose revolution. Today many nonprofits and businesses share common social change goals and methodologies. Both need workers who not only see societal problems differently but also have the practical skills to create new social-purpose projects and ventures. This is the realm of social entrepreneurship which employs strategies from the high-tech space to fuel innovation in nonprofits, business, and government. In this class students become changemakers by using entrepreneurship methodologies to create their own mission-based, social ventures while interacting with social impact leaders in DC and learning about the vast social impact ecosystem.
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.
Prerequisite: junior standing.
This course explores business practices, professional skills, career paths, and disruption opportunities for students working, or hoping to work, at the intersection of sustainability and entrepreneurship. The course addresses challenges and opportunities facing impact-oriented entrepreneurs including identifying ideas worth pursuing, assessing the competitive landscape, understanding the regulatory environment, balancing sustainability and profitability goals, effectively evaluating investments in sustainability, building a strong company culture, connecting mission with action, and maximizing impact. Students evaluate third-party certifications and options for inclusive company structures. Students also explore opportunities for developing, evaluating and advancing sustainability goals within existing organizations.
Crosslist: MGMT-645.
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.