Part-Time curriculum
Learn critical skills for launching and managing your own business—at a flexible pace
The Part-Time Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship—designed for working professionals in the Boston area—helps you develop your skill set for commercializing innovative ideas, from developing an initial concept to managing a successful business.
As you're learning, you'll set the pace. Evening classes run Monday through Thursday, and you can choose from 5:20 p.m. or 7:30 p.m. class times. You can finish in as little as one year, or if you need to go slower in order to accommodate your work and family commitments, you can finish your certificate over a longer period of up to three years.
Tailor your curriculum to your needs
Your core coursework will cover essential best practices for creating a competitive strategy and building a business plan for commercializing your idea. You'll choose electives that reflect your goals, such as disruptive technologies, lean design, or financing.
The Graduate Certificate in Entrepreneurship is a great way to gain business skills you can use immediately and also pave the way toward a future master's degree, including the Part-Time MBA.
Required courses
Explores the challenges and processes for harnessing technological innovation for new-business development. Integrates technology strategy, innovation in marketing, product development, and organization design for the purpose of enterprise growth. Through readings, cases, and exercises, studies how firms from different industries gain competitive advantage through distinctive products and services, and leverage their technologies and skills into new emerging markets. Also focuses on processes for conceiving, financing, and organizing new ventures.
INNO 6200 | 3 Hours
Electives (Select 2 or 3)
Stresses the operating problems of managing small businesses. Case studies develop analytical approaches for appraising the risks and rewards of potential growth opportunities as well as operating problems. Problems range from locating, evaluating, marketing, and financing a small company to the survival and growth of more established businesses. Guest speakers and entrepreneurs provide pertinent business perspectives to in-class activities.
ENTR 6210 | 3 Hours
Gives students the opportunity to build a complete business plan for new high-potential ventures. Covers all aspects of the planning process, from the point of view of both the prospective entrepreneur and the potential investor. Explores the demands of the entrepreneurial career through reading, self-assessment exercises, and group projects. Guest speakers from startup companies, law firms, and venture capital firms provide a window on current experiences in the small-business world. Recommended for prospective entrepreneurs as well as others who may become involved with new ventures.
ENTR 6212 | 3 Hours
Designed to provide students with an in-depth exposure to entrepreneurship in the social sector, a rapidly growing segment of the global economy. Uses the case method to expose students to leading entrepreneurs who have developed and implemented business models to solve social problems such as extreme poverty, disease, illiteracy, and economic and social dislocation. Focuses on uniquely creative and driven people who have dedicated their lives to making a difference in the lives of others through values-based entrepreneurship.
ENTR 6214 | 3 Hours
Introduces major topics in the modern understanding of business models: their essence and role in securing competitive advantage, key components and design of business models, business model change and innovation, technology commercialization through sustaining business models, financial representation of a business model, and validation of developed business models.
ENTR 6218 | 3 Hours
Introduces students to the financing process for ventures from early stage to exit. Exposes students to various financing options, which may include crowdsourcing, the American JOBS Act, and foreign-sourced capital, as well as different types of debt and equity financing. Offers students an opportunity to learn about analyzing financial aspects of term sheets, including valuation methodologies and other financing documents.
ENTR 6219 | 3 Hours
Covers qualitative and quantitative aspects of entrepreneurial finance, such as venture capital and angel financing. Introduces students to valuation aspects in entrepreneurial finance, including valuation of startups, using real options to value innovation-intensive firms, and valuation in staged financing. Emphasizes the practical aspects of qualitative and quantitative issues related to venture capital financing, entrepreneurship, and innovation from the perspective of the financier and the startup firm. Also covers many issues related to the venture capital industry, such as the limited partnership structure of the venture capital/private equity industry, venture capital term sheets and contracts, exit of portfolio firms, and international investments. May be repeated without limit.
FINA 6260 | 3 Hours
Covers the role emerging technologies play in innovation for new ventures and established corporations. Includes a mix of theory and practical knowledge. Topics covered include technology disruption, diffusion, life cycles, and research-and-development strategy. Explores, in detail, the technical and market opportunities for current and emerging technologies across a broad spectrum of industries.
TECE 6222 | 3 Hours
Examines the specific situation of entrepreneurial marketing. Topics include how to perform a market analysis when there are limited resources and tight schedules to be met. Also addresses new market situations, opportunity assessment, customer segmentation, going to market, and writing a marketing plan.
TECE 6230 | 3 Hours
Covers the intersection of customer research with product design, specifically lean design and how to map abstract attributes that customers seek into concrete product designs that can actually be built. Other topics include managing the technology business interface, creating product teams, and drafting product development plans. Open to first-year graduate students.
TECE 6250 | 3 Hours
Covers topics specific to managing a business or a strategic business unit within a firm. Considers the special issues related to technology-based firms. Topics include creating a culture, operations planning, staffing for technical excellence, dealing with technology vendors, dealing with advisers, supply chain management, and writing operations plans. Open to first-year graduate students.
TECE 6300 | 3 Hours
Seeks to develop in-depth knowledge and experience in prototyping by focusing on engineering processes and instrumentation that are used in different industries. Studies the prototyping cycle, from initial process flow and sketching to prototype development to testing and analysis, with an emphasis on iteration. Analyzes how different kinds of engineering prototypes can address design and user-interface needs vs. functional needs, such as looks-like and works-like prototypes. Offers students an opportunity to obtain operating knowledge of methods including 3D printing, SolidWorks, off-the-shelf hardware-software interfaces, simulation, embedded systems, product testing, prototype analysis, and prototype iteration.
GE 5030 | 4 Hours
The following is a sample curriculum and is subject to change. Enrolled students should reference the academic catalog for current program requirements.