Entrepreneurship Concentration

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 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

Focuses on the personal skills an entrepreneur needs to lead and persuade others. Students read about and complete exercises on leadership and selling ideas. In addition, students meet members of the entrepreneurship community in New England. Stresses communications skills, both written and oral, along with self-discovery of leadership style.

ENTR 6340 | 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

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

Provides a business perspective on how to design and optimize platform-based business models for growth, value creation, and innovation and a practical analytical toolkit of theories, concepts, and frameworks. Uses case studies from various industries. Many of today's growth enterprises and startups are organized as platforms. Platforms facilitate other actors and support interactions among a wider “ecosystem” of users, services, suppliers, etc., and they have potential for massive growth and value creation. High returns to successful platform business models lead companies to learn to act like platforms. Technology trends toward digitization, big data, automation, etc., accelerate these trends. Aimed at people looking to work within existing companies or those interested in starting or growing new platforms.

ENTR 6230 | 3 Hours

Focuses on the challenges and decisions new-product managers face as they take ideas through the new-product-development process. Companies need to create, develop, and market new products and services continually to compete effectively in a rapidly changing environment. Provides an overview of the new-product-development process, with an emphasis on customer involvement in this process. Provides detailed insights on such topics as new-product strategy, idea generation, idea selection and evaluation, concept development and testing, product development and testing, and market testing.

MKTG 6214 | 3 Hours