Entrepreneurship

A great idea is not the same as a true business opportunity, and this short resource helps students tell the difference. In a single focused lesson, students evaluate five elements of an opportunity: the need, their own experience, their resources, their buying customers, and their business model. For each, they hear real entrepreneurs discuss the topic, then apply it to their own idea. A featured entrepreneur video adds a real-world case to analyze. Students finish with a business model that meets a real need for consumers, and a taste of the exciting world of entrepreneurship.

Startups have to fight their way into the market without a familiar brand, a big advertising budget, or large-scale product development, and many start with a whimper and fade fast. This resource helps new businesses and small business owners battle those long odds. Built from ten years of observing and interviewing more than 100 entrepreneurs and launching five ventures, it replaces textbook answers with a simple, actionable framework of five categories of best practices: a bottom-up mindset, leveraging your competitive angle, leveraging leverage, thinking and acting big, and launching tactics. Students learn from field-tested entrepreneurs how to turn a good competitive angle into a great one and market a startup with little or no money, improving their chances of success.

Every great venture starts with someone solving a problem and making life better for a group of customers. This resource guides students from idea to launch, whether they are building a new product, service, company, business division, or nonprofit. Students begin by discovering their purpose and passion and building on what they already know, then validate a true business opportunity, assemble the team and resources they need, and explore funding sources. They design a working business model and consider buying an existing business or franchise as an alternative path to ownership. Led by serial entrepreneur and professor Dr. Mike Glauser, students leave ready to launch a venture that solves real problems and creates value for customers.

A business plan only matters if it gets carried out, and this resource teaches students to do both. Students write a full business plan, define their mission, vision, and values, and gain deep knowledge of their industry. They then build strategic partnerships, set goals and the activities that lead to success, and create an execution plan to put the plan into action. They learn to pivot to multiple revenue streams and to present their venture with confidence, whether it is a new product, service, company, division, or nonprofit. Students leave ready to launch a venture that solves a problem and adds value for customers.

A great idea still needs the right legal structure and the money to grow, and this resource teaches students how to build both. Students can work on a new product, service, company, division, or nonprofit, including a venture they already own or started in a previous class. They learn to choose the right business entity, assess and protect intellectual property, bootstrap, and raise capital through both debt and equity financing. They then create a long-term funding plan, learn to read key financial ratios, and build their own financial projections. By the end, students can manage the legal and financial foundations needed to fund a venture's growth from startup to scale.

A new venture doesn't need a big budget to build a brand people love. This resource teaches students to create a brand and launch it with low-cost marketing. Students learn to develop a company brand, secure their name, trademark, and web domain, and use low-cost strategies, social media, and effective selling practices to reach customers. They also build a community of raving fans and learn to make a difference with their business, then bring it all together in an integrated marketing strategy. Students can apply it to a new product, service, company, division, or nonprofit, including a venture they already own.

Every great venture starts with someone solving a problem and making life better for a group of customers. This resource teaches students to do exactly that, whether they launch a new product, service, company, division of an existing business, or nonprofit. Students begin by finding their purpose, passion, and perseverance and building on what they already know, then validate a true business opportunity, learn their industry, and choose a business entity. They assemble their supporting cast, maximize their resources, and build a funding plan, then pull it all together in a full business plan. Along the way, they learn to build a community of raving fans and plan for pivots, finishing with a venture designed to make a difference.