Entrepreneurship (ENTR)

ENTR 201  The Entrepreneurial Mindset and Innovation  (3 credits)

Prerequisite(s): WRIT 105 or HONP 100. This hands-on, highly interactive course is for all students interested in someday beginning or owning a business or enterprise, or just exploring how entrepreneurs think and innovate. Students pursuing any major or discipline will benefit from the lessons and real-life stories of guest entrepreneurs. Students will explore creative problem solving and, in teams, develop and test problem solutions using an "opportunity discovery canvas" approach. Teams will receive guidance and feedback from instructors, mentors, and guest speakers. This course may be taken as a stand-alone course or as the first of three courses leading to a Certificate in Entrepreneurship. Meets Gen Ed - Interdisciplinary Studies.

ENTR 260  Introduction to Innovation and 3D Printing  (3 credits)

Prerequisite(s): WRIT 105 or HONP 100. An introduction to digital fabrication and innovation. A hands on introduction to the hardware of 3D printing, printers, filaments and scanners. Building from the very basics (no previous digital design skills necessary) we introduce digital design software and their possibilities opening doors to creativity and innovating. The radical potentiality of innovation is the second core focus of this class where we put your new found digital fabrication skills to work on innovating problems worth solving and generating revolutionary paradigm shifts. This course may be taken as a stand‐alone course or as the first of three courses leading to a Certificate in Innovation Design.

ENTR 290  Special Topics in Entrepreneurship  (3 credits)

Prerequisite(s): WRIT 105 or HONP 100; departmental approval. An examination of topics not covered in existing entrepreneurship classes. Course topics will vary to reflect current issues, emerging cross disciplinary intersections and student interest. Through experiential activities, guest speakers, current readings and/or case studies students are exposed to emerging interdisciplinary topics within the broad area of entrepreneurship. May be repeated for a maximum of 12 credits.

ENTR 301  Creating Your Startup Business Model  (3 credits)

Corequisite(s): ENTR 302. Prerequisite(s): ENTR 201. This course takes students who have completed The Entrepreneurial Mindset and Innovation course deeper into the process of startup enterprise development. The course is structured to be delivered in a concentrated format and taken in the same semester as (followed by) Course III, Preparing to Pitch and Launch Your Startup. Teams of students will test their entrepreneurial ideas using a creative "lean canvas" approach to constructing a business model. Students will "get out of the building" and in a cyclical process of trial, feedback and retrial, modify or revise their models, and create prototypes or mockups of their proposed products or services. Each team will be assigned a mentor who is an experienced entrepreneur. The course will culminate in formal presentations by each team to a panel of instructors, mentors and entrepreneurs.

ENTR 302  Preparing to Pitch and Launch Your Startup  (3 credits)

Corequisite(s): ENTR 301. Prerequisite(s): ENTR 201. With this experiential course, students who have completed The Entrepreneurial Mindset and Innovation (Course I) and Creating Your Startup Business Model (Course II) will conclude the series and earn a Certificate in Entrepreneurship. The course is structured to be delivered in a concentrated format and taken in the same semester as (following) Course II. Teams of students will work with instructors and mentors to further refine and validate their business models and product/service offerings and prepare formal "pitches" for potential investors and partners. Students will explore in greater depth the financial feasibility of their models, develop a sales and marketing "roadmap" and consider the range of funding options. Guest speakers will include venture capitalists and investors as well as crowdfunding experts and successful entrepreneurs. The course will culminate in a formal juried pitch competition open to university students, faculty and staff.

ENTR 303  Create and Pitch Your Startup  (6 credits)

Prerequisite(s): ENTR 201. Teams of students will test their entrepreneurial ideas using a creative "lean canvas" approach to constructing a business model. Students will "get out of the building" and in a cyclical process of trial, feedback and retrial, modify or revise their models, and create prototypes or mockups of their proposed products or services. Student teams will work with instructors and mentors to further refine and validate their business models and product/service offerings and prepare formal "pitches" for potential investors and partners. Students will explore in greater depth the financial feasibility of their models, develop a sales and marketing "roadmap" and consider the range of funding options. Guest speakers will include venture capitalists and investors as well as crowdfunding experts and successful entrepreneurs. The course will culminate in a formal juried pitch competition open to university students, faculty and staff.

ENTR 310  Entrepreneurial Accounting and Finance  (3 credits)

Prerequisite(s): ENTR 201. An examination of the accounting and financial issues and problems faced by entrepreneurial ventures. Topics include understanding the four main financial statements and their relationship with each other, sources of capital (including non-traditional sources such as crowd funding), financial statement analysis, forecasting, working capital management, coping with financial distress, business valuation, and ethical issues. Not open to Business Administration or Accounting majors.

ENTR 320  Marketing for Entrepreneurs  (3 credits)

Prerequisite(s): ENTR 201. This course will examine the marketing issues and problems faced by entrepreneurial ventures. Topics include the four main elements of marketing, market research, marketing on a tight budget, go to market strategies, digital and social marketing, and branding. Not open to Business Administration or Accounting majors.

ENTR 350  Entrepreneurship Cooperative Education  (1-3 credits)

Prerequisite(s): Departmental approval. Students are required to accumulate 200 hours of entrepreneurship experience (approximately 15 - 20 hours/per week) working for an entrepreneurial organization, including startups. In addition, students complete assignments designed to enhance their understanding of entrepreneurship strategies and tactics used by the employing organization, entrepreneurship trends, career opportunities, and the attitudes and skills necessary for beginning and growing a business. Job performance is assessed via progress reports submitted by the cooperating employer and a site visit by a member of the Feliciano Center for Entrepreneurship faculty.

ENTR 360  Advanced Innovation and Digitally Mediated Making  (3 credits)

Prerequisite(s): ENTR 260. Building on tools, techniques and frameworks introduced in the first class (ENTR 260 Introduction to Innovation and 3D Printing) students are guided to become fully fledged design innovators. We begin with student led projects such that they will have the ability to create entrepreneurial outcomes across multiple fields. The course aims to give students the skills to move across all aspects of digital fabrication from additive to subtractive manufacture for profoundly creative outcomes. Students will work with a wide variety of materials and will be exposed to multiple new techniques. Digital design software will be central to the evolution of student’s skill sets. The semester will focus on individual entrepreneurial projects applying creative methodologies to make paradigmatic transformations and products to any field. This course is the second of three courses leading to a Certificate in Innovation Design and Digitally Mediated Making issued by the Feliciano School of Business.

ENTR 401  The Legal Entrepreneurial Journey  (3 credits)

Prerequisite(s): ENTR 301 and ENTR 302. This course will examine the legal and ethical issues and problems faced by entrepreneurs in their journey, specifically from conception of an idea, to the creation and operations of a company, to the launch of a product or service and finally to the sale of the company or investment by venture capitalists and everything in between. Topics include the legal, ethical and regulatory frameworks of the four main elements of Intellectual Property (Trade Secrets, Patents, Trademarks, and Copyright), business and corporate issues, operations and personnel, employee, interns and consultant work force, digital marketing, branding, social media and domain names, and raising capital through traditional and alternative methods.

ENTR 420  Growing Your Startup Company  (3 credits)

Prerequisite(s): ENTR 301 and ENTR 302; or ENTR 303. Restriction(s): Major within the School of Business. This course focuses on the challenges entrepreneurs face when taking their startup from validated idea to running business. Entrepreneurs must handle issues dealing with business strategy, financing a fast growing business, legal structures, corporate governance, marketing and sales, managing employees, and thinking about potential exit strategies for the company. These components are interrelated and understanding these interrelations is a major component of this course. Startup teams in the class will be mentored in order to take them from concept through to operating business.

ENTR 460  Applied Digital Innovation Design, and Lean Fabrication  (3 credits)

Prerequisite(s): ENTR 360. The capstone course in 3D Printing and Innovation evolves the students’ digital design skills into a genuine entrepreneurial project. Students will be challenged to take on a real world issue, and in an iterative loop of understanding and innovating develop truly novel designs - solving real world problems in paradigmatically transformative manners. This course will focus on the unique capacities of digital fabrication to transform the entrepreneurial process, with new forms of making and innovation incorporating all of the unique skills sets fostered over the nine‐credit experience. This course is the third of three courses leading to a Certificate in Innovation Design and Digitally Mediated Making issued by the Feliciano School of Business.

ENTR 491  Independent Study in Entrepreneurship  (3 credits)

Prerequisite(s): ENTR 201. Independent study in entrepreneurship. May be repeated for a maximum of 9 credits.

ENTR 561  Business Innovation and Entrepreneurial Thinking  (1.5 credit)

Prerequisite(s): MGMT 561. Restriction(s): MBA students only. Companies of all sizes face opportunities and challenges due to globalization and disruption of business models. Students will use experientially-based methodologies to design business models that are innovative, feasible, viable, and create shared value for the company and its stakeholders, most especially its customers. Key concepts associated with innovation, entrepreneurship, and business strategy will be validated by the use of appropriate pedagogical tools and the development of a business model project.

ENTR 571  Advanced Entrepreneurial Mindset and Innovation  (3 credits)

Students in this hands-on, interactive course explore the ways entrepreneurs think and innovate. Through a series of team-based exercises, students engage in creative problem-solving and develop and test solutions using an "opportunity discovery canvas" approach. Students lead teams and receive guidance and feedback from instructors, mentors, and guest speakers.

ENTR 572  Advanced Startup Business Model  (3 credits)

Corequisite(s): ENTR 573 (Must be taken in same semester). Prerequisite(s): ENTR 571. Leaders of teams test their entrepreneurial ideas using a creative "lean canvas" approach to constructing a business model. Students oversee a team's cyclical process of trial, feedback, and retrial. Students modify or revise their models, and create prototypes or mockups of their proposed products or services. Students formally present their team's idea to a panel of instructors, mentors, and entrepreneurs.

ENTR 573  Advanced Strategies to Pitch and Launch Your Startup  (3 credits)

Corequisite(s): ENTR 572 (Must be taken in same semester). Prerequisite(s): ENTR 571. In this experiential course, students lead teams and work with instructors and mentors to further refine and validate business models and product/service offerings. Students lead a team and prepare formal "pitches" for potential investors and partners. Students explore in greater depth the financial feasibility of their models, develop a sales and marketing "roadmap," and consider the range of funding options. Guest speakers include venture capitalists and investors, and successful.

ENTR 577  Special Topics in Entrepreneurship  (1-3 credits)

An examination of topics not covered in existing entrepreneurship classes. Course topics will vary to reflect current issues, emerging cross-disciplinary intersections, and student interest. Through experiential activities, guest speakers, current readings, and case studies students are exposed to emerging, interdisciplinary topics within the broad area of entrepreneurship. May be repeated for a maximum of 9 credits.