BSBA Major in Entrepreneurship

In this course, students will explore the boundary-spanning role of the CEO in a startup or new venture and examine how the responsibilities of entrepreneurial founders evolve throughout the venture’s lifecycle. Through practical exercises and simulations, students will gain an appreciation for the opportunities and challenges faced in building a company—from transitioning an idea into execution, creating a compelling vision, navigating equity splits and securing startup funding, and working productively and harmoniously with co-founders, to building early executive and management teams, assembling a board of directors, and managing key stakeholders. The course also covers potential exit paths, including acquisition or initial public offering.

Students learn and work as analysts in teams to conduct real diligence on prospective early-stage venture investments. Using professional venture evaluation frameworks, they assess market opportunity, product fit, founder character, a critical but often overlooked dimension of early-stage evaluation, team capabilities, financials, risks, and potential impact. Analyst work emphasizes integrity in sourcing, thorough note-taking, and clear, evidence-based conclusions. Deliverables mirror professional practice, including diligence memos, reference checks, and investment committee presentations that prioritize clarity, evidence, and sound judgment. As an elective, it provides additional depth for interested students.

This course examines how startup companies leverage the power of their teams to achieve their company goals. Students will learn how entrepreneurial teams form, develop trust, manage conflict, make critical decisions, and adapt to changes. Emphasis is placed on understanding the interplay between individual differences, team processes, and organizational outcomes. The overall purpose of this course is to understand and evaluate various approaches to forming teams during the establishment of a new company. This course will compare various team formation models to determine their advantages and disadvantages as well as their effects on the expected outcomes. As a required course, it supports progression in the program.

This course examines the challenges and opportunities of growing an entrepreneurial venture in today’s fast-changing environment. Students will explore how founders and leaders scale operations, manage talent, secure resources, and balance growth with sustainability. Topics include strategy, marketing, finance, organizational culture, risk management, and founder well-being. Students will also learn how emerging technologies and data-driven tools can support decision-making and growth. Through cases, simulations, and applied projects, students will analyze growth strategies, assess operational trade-offs, and design approaches that foster both resilience and long-term value creation.

This course examines how established organizations create value and competitive advantage through innovation and entrepreneurship using internal R&D, corporate venturing, and external partnerships. Students learn to identify promising opportunities, design and run pilot projects, and build support across the organization. The course covers incremental, disruptive, and business-model innovation, as well as core new-product development activities from customer insight and prototyping through launch and commercialization. Learning is based on case studies, simulations, and in-house company projects, emphasizing practical execution and responsible risk-taking in real organizational settings.

The entrepreneurship major is a strong fit for students who enjoy solving problems and thinking creatively. The skills you learn will be useful whether you want to launch your own business, join a startup or work within an established organization. The program is ideal for students who are curious, adaptable and motivated to make an impact through business.

The BSBA in Entrepreneurship is a business-focused degree that combines core business disciplines with entrepreneurial strategy, analytical decision-making, and venture creation to prepare students to launch and grow businesses or drive innovation within organizations.

In contrast, the BA in Entrepreneurship and Innovation emphasizes creativity, interdisciplinary collaboration and entrepreneurial thinking, preparing students to solve complex problems and create value across startups, corporations, nonprofits and other sectors. Both programs provide hands-on experiential learning, but the BSBA offers a broader business foundation, while the BA takes a deeper, innovation-centered approach.

Yes! While some students aspire to launch their own ventures, many use their entrepreneurial skills in established organizations. Entrepreneurship graduates pursue careers in product management, business development, consulting, innovation management, venture operations and other roles where they identify opportunities, solve problems and lead new initiatives. The program prepares you to think entrepreneurially whether you’re building a startup or helping an organization grow and innovate.