Entrepreneurship and Innovation
Courses
ENTP 100 Innovation Ecosystem 1.0 Credit
This course is designed to introduce students to the numerous and varied innovative activities that are part of Drexel University, University City and the greater Philadelphia region. The course sparks curiosity about innovations and ideas not commonly encountered and stimulates creative thinking about new opportunities.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 105 Entrepreneurial Thinking 3.0 Credits
This course is intended for anyone interested in developing an entrepreneurial mindset for success in starting their own venture, or working in an established company or new start-up venture. Students will develop a mindset that will enable them to build a toolkit to create and evaluate entrepreneurial opportunities, marshal resources, and form teams driven by creativity, leadership, and smart action. In sum, this course is a journey through the fuzzy, front-end of early-stage entrepreneurial activity. This course is not intended to be a complete overview of entrepreneurship; it is an immersion experience for students to cultivate entrepreneurial thinking, not only to find and create opportunities, but in all that they do.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 109 Idea Accelerator I 3.0 Credits
This course is designed for students to learn and implement the steps necessary to accelerate the launch of a new business, process, product, or service. Gain the tools, skills, and demonstrated ability to transform an idea into a reality – better, faster, and cheaper. Supports and strengthens entrepreneurial concepts and strategies: ideation, project planning, requirements gathering, process building, and MVP implementation. This course will cover core capabilities needed by entrepreneurs to single-handedly move from ideation to launch, with less risk, higher probability of success, and increased sustainability.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 201 The Starter's Toolkit 3.0 Credits
This course centers on entrepreneurial practice in terms of the fundamental tools and process for aspiring entrepreneurs. Apply your growing understanding of the foundational tools and process entrepreneurs use to adapt and evolve as the world changes rapidly due to technological, social, and economic transformation. Disruption has shaken every industry, global competition is fierce, job security a thing of the past. Virtually every one of you will engage in the workforce either as an entrepreneur and/ or as a member of an entrepreneurial team. This course offers a backdrop from which to meet that challenge, furnishing tools you will need to recognize and leverage entrepreneurial opportunities: resource use and adaptability, experimentation, customer focus, collaboration, and rational risk-taking.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 205 Ready, Set, Fail 3.0 Credits
Central to developing an entrepreneurial mindset is learning to appreciate risk and the potential for failure. This course will introduce students to forms and causes of failure, and will explore and analyze responses to failure. Students will capitalize on their own experiences with failure to build future success.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 209 Build, Measure, Learn 3.0 Credits
This course is designed to immerse students in the process and mindset associated with the entrepreneurial Build-Measure-Learn cycle through iterative design and prototyping with close customer engagement to ensure students are developing profitable offerings that are aligned with the value proposition of their target customers and marketplace. This involves the fundamental building blocks and methods for creating pre-MVP (minimum viable product) solutions using a wide range of no-code or low-code technology modeling tools in the context of customer discovery, and a continuous learning process as students directly test market interest and operational viability. This approach helps entrepreneurs to ensure that they are using scarce resources wisely during the “bootstrapping” stage of new venture development.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP 210 [WI] Leading Start-Ups 3.0 Credits
Entrepreneurs face unique leadership challenges, especially when founding a new company. This course provides the student and aspiring entrepreneur with tools and frameworks necessary for creating strategy, building companies, and assembling human capital with limited resources. By exploring what entrepreneurial leaders actually do, and how they do it, the student will learn through experiential exercises both the challenges and the excitement of starting a new venture.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 215 Building Entrepreneurial Teams 3.0 Credits
The overall goal of this course is to evaluate the different approaches in forming teams during the startup of a new company. We will compare and contrast evidence-based and anecdotal team formation models to determine their advantages and disadvantages as well as their effects on the expected outcomes.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 225 [WI] Mindfulness & Wellbeing 3.0 Credits
Modern-day demands create stress in workers’ lives, and gone unmanaged, stress can have devastating physical, psychological and financial implications. Investing in one’s psychological and emotional health pays long-term dividends because it buffers the negative effects of stress, and helps individuals become their best selves. Based upon the practice of mindfulness, and the domain of positive psychology, this course teaches students how to cope with contemporary challenges, and to become more proactive and to flourish in their entrepreneurial endeavors despite them.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 250 Ideation 3.0 Credits
Innovation is the driving force behind today’s economy and ideation supports an individual’s ability to innovate. This course provides students with tools, methods and self‐reflection techniques necessary to bring new ideas into reality. Through creative innovation, successful entrepreneurs not only create new ventures but also re-invent companies to remain competitive in an ever-changing market. Students in this course will use ideation techniques to develop new ideas, change or build upon established practices and apply these techniques in approaching and analyzing business situations. Students will be able to apply creative skills more effectively both personally and professionally.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 260 Curiosity, Ecology, Empathy & Ethic 3.0 Credits
Before one can begin to properly address issues of sustainability, they need a foundation in ecosystems and an ability to immerse themselves, without judgment or inhibition, deep within their surroundings. They need to learn how to to practice Curiosity, Ecology, Empathy, and Ethic (CEEE). At the roots of our most pressing environmental and social problems is pronounced disconnect between humans and nature and between humans and humans. Using the city of Philadelphia as the extended classroom, this course leads students through an immersive exploration of the city, diving deep into its diverse urban, natural, social, cultural, spontaneous, and other ecosystems. Students will acquire an ecological, empathetic, ethical comprehension of the rich interconnectedness of everything.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 270 Social Entrepreneurship 3.0 Credits
This course examines how social entrepreneurs launch successful ventures to address the world’s most challenging social and environmental problems. The course introduces students to frameworks and methodologies that challenge current models to advance original solutions to existing problems. A passion for social change is advanced by adopting a market orientation and data-driven approaches that encompass both social and financial outcomes.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 285 Organizational Development and Change for Corporate Entrepreneurs 3.0 Credits
In today’s world, change and innovation are needed at every level of an organization. New processes, organizational designs, dynamic management styles, problem solving techniques, and market creation are not just for new product and service creation. An entrepreneurial mindset is the premise for the fundamental approach to meet the ongoing need for continuous change. Corporate entrepreneurs need to be well-equipped to act as change agents in an organization to diagnose, understand and address the need for change. Every organization is unique and organizational development techniques and processes should be designed specific to each organization. This course takes a deep dive into how corporate entrepreneurs can achieve planned and systematic development and improvement in a complex environment.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP 290 An Entrepreneur's Introduction to Land: Its Essence, Ethics, and Opportunity 3.0 Credits
This course is an interdisciplinary primer on the various layers and attributes of land, including its ecology, economics, social context, cultural history, and long-term resource capacity. An understanding of these attributes will open the door to a host of entrepreneurial and social entrepreneurial opportunity. Comprehension of key principles is achieved through hands-on exploration, journaling, field trips, experiential discussion, and real-world projects.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP 309 Idea Accelerator II 3.0 Credits
The course will focus on advanced topics related to the platform that are necessary for its long-term use. Students will continue building their MVP with the goal of having an updated MVP with business pitch deck at the end of the semester. This course is designed for you to continue to learn and implement the steps necessary to accelerate the launch of a new business, process, product, or service. This course mimics the real-world scenario of finalizing an MVP and pitch deck on a strict timeline. You will continue to refine the tools, skills, and abilities to transform an idea into a reality – easier, better, faster, and cheaper.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Prerequisites: ENTP 109 [Min Grade: D]
ENTP 325 Early Stage Venture Funding 3.0 Credits
This course provides students with an understanding of the opportunities, challenges and methodologies typically associated with early-stage venture funding. It exposes students to the concepts, common practices and tools related to the funding needs of early-stage ventures with a focus on bootstrapping, friends/family financing, crowdfunding, angel-stage and venture capital investment. This course will also teach students to begin to think like an investor, evaluating startup investment decisions at each stage of a startup’s development. In this way, students will be able to critically examine decision criteria around investment decisions, key questions to ask founders, and better understand what founders need to do to create the best possible conditions for favorable investments.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
Prerequisites: ACCT 115 [Min Grade: D] or ACCT 120 [Min Grade: D] or ACCT 110 [Min Grade: D]
ENTP 329 Entrepreneurship & New Technologies 3.0 Credits
This course introduces you to the challenges of assessing the commercial potential of new technologies. While technological innovation can lead to competitive advantage for a new or existing firm, it’s usually unclear in the beginning as to whether a new technology can be successful in the marketplace. This includes the complexity of intellectual property management, team development, sources of funding, commercialization pathways and other critical factors. Working in teams, you will assess Drexel-based technologies for their commercial potential and will provide a feasibility assessment to assess how the technology might be successful in the marketplace. You will also examine the implications of certain new technologies from social, ethical and legal perspectives.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP 335 Funding for Impact: Bridging Investment and Philanthropy 3.0 Credits
In the dynamic world of modern philanthropy, a new approach has emerged, marrying the strategic rigor of venture capital with the heart and mission of traditional philanthropy. This course delves deep into this intersection, offering students a comprehensive understanding of how venture philanthropy operates, its historical roots, the ethical considerations it brings to the fore, and its transformative potential for the future. Students will explore various topics, from the foundational principles of venture philanthropy and the financial instruments employed to the intricacies of measuring impact and the importance of stakeholder engagement. Through readings, case studies, and discussions, learners will gain insights into the successes and controversies surrounding venture philanthropy initiatives worldwide.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated 1 times for 6 credits
ENTP 340 Managing Entrepreneurial Growth 3.0 Credits
This course teaches students the essential concepts and skills that you need to successfully grow and manage a new business. Because managing growth includes leveraging assets and controlling risks at every stage of a new venture’s development, this course focuses on areas that are essential to a new venture’s growth, including planning, marketing, talent management, and financial performance. Through case studies and other experiential exercises, students will examine the growth opportunities of new ventures and then develop small business or new venture growth proposals. Students will also examine how firms obtain the necessary physical, financial and human resources necessary to grow a business during its formative years.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP 345 Drexel University Innovation Fund Due Diligence Analysis 3.0 Credits
Students will learn how to think and act as venture capital fund analysts by actively participating in the due diligence aspects of Drexel University's Innovation Fund (DUIF). Under the guidance of the course instructor, students will learn critical aspects of venture capital due diligence, meet and engage with DUIF applicants, analyze application materials, develop investment suitability analysis, and draft and present recommendations to the DUIF Selection Committee and External Advisory Committee.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 350 Dynamics of the Family Firm 3.0 Credits
This course studies the unique dynamics of family firms and the complex issues involved with creating, owning, and successfully operating a family business. Students will examine ownership structures, strategic human-resource issues, governance, strategy, marketing, family dynamics, culture, and philanthropy.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP 360 Franchising 3.0 Credits
Franchising is rapidly increasing worldwide. There is a growing need among franchise owners for employees with industry experience and know-how, and there are growing opportunities for entrepreneurs who want to start a franchise. Together, these developments present a unique opportunity for the entrepreneur. This course offers various aspects of starting, developing, and managing a franchise.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP 365 Navigating Ownership: Exploring 21st Century Organizational Models 3.0 Credits
In the fast-paced world of innovative enterprise, entrepreneurs must understand ownership structures. This course offers a practical experience that will equip you with knowledge necessary to make informed decisions on your entrepreneurial journey. An ownership model determines how the business is owned, managed, and controlled, and governs the relationship between the business and its owners, employees, customers, and other stakeholders. You will delve into traditional structures, including sole proprietorships, partnerships, LLCs, corporations, franchises, and family enterprises, as well as more modern organizational forms including b-corporations, ESOPs, and worker-owned cooperatives. Guided by readings, case studies, and guest lectures, you will examine the benefits and challenges associated with each.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 370 Global Entrepreneurship 3.0 Credits
This course focuses on international opportunity identification for new and emerging companies; market analysis; joint ventures, regional legal and cultural issues and financing foreign ventures. The course will provide students with an understanding of the complexities faced by entrepreneurs doing business in a global environment and with knowledge, which will help them to be successful within the global context. In classroom discussion, emphasis will be placed on entrepreneurship in the Eurozone, Brazil, Russia, India and China, however class projects (and discussion) will touch upon numerous countries across the globe.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP 375 3BL - Triple Bottom Line 3.0 Credits
The course seeks to develop students’ critical capacities for reflection and action based upon a systems-thinking framework, with respect to social, environmental, and organizational challenges and the ways in which new ventures can address them. Students will learn about the history of the sustainability movement as it is the precursor of modern triple bottom line organizational forms. Lectures and readings provide the history of the sustainability movement, social movements that led to innovation, and alternative perspectives on the global economy. The course addresses the pros and cons of growing and supporting local business vs. engaging with business on a global scale.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
ENTP 385 Innovation in Established Companies 3.0 Credits
This course provides students with an understanding of how companies remain competitive using innovation as the driving force behind product or service development. Entrepreneurs challenge assumptions and create value in established organizations. While most executives would agree that innovation is the key to a sustainable business in the 21st century, few seem to understand how to make it a reality. Students will be introduced to various kinds of internal and joint ventures, such as corporate venture-capital investments, alliances, mergers, and acquisitions to create value and promote entrepreneurship within an organization. Students will develop skills that are important for careers in an entrepreneurial setting and corporate venture activities.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP 390 Energy Entrepreneurship 3.0 Credits
This course will provide the groundwork to understanding new venture development in energy markets. Students will develop an appreciation and understanding of the market conditions and policy implications of new ventures in this sector.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP 395 Entrepreneurship Practicum 12.0 Credits
The Entrepreneurship Practicum is a one-term experiential learning element within the three-year BA in Entrepreneurship & Innovation degree program. The Practicum provides you with a “hands-on” opportunity to use your learned entrepreneurial skills to develop your new startup idea, to work on the development of a new business idea within a startup company, or to work on new innovations in an existing business or family enterprise.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
Prerequisites: ENTP 105 [Min Grade: D] and ENTP 225 [Min Grade: D]
ENTP 410 [WI] Thought Leadership 3.0 Credits
The individual entrepreneur faces many challenges. This course takes a philosophical and ethical approach to developing the entrepreneurial mindset. This course examines the ethical challenges in a start-up venture or high-growth firm, as illustrated through discussions by guest speakers–serial entrepreneurs. Students will be required to reflect on the varying viewpoints presented by the distinguished experts, and will develop their own approaches and philosophies regarding "the entrepreneur" and the "process of entrepreneurship.".
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman or Sophomore
Prerequisites: ENTP 210 [Min Grade: D], ENTP 270 [Min Grade: D], ENTP 385 [Min Grade: D] (Can be taken Concurrently)
ENTP 440 Launch It!: Early Stage 3.0 Credits
This course is for students seeking to apply an entrepreneurial mindset within for-profit and/or nonprofit ventures in the early stages of growth. Students will be expected to implement and exhibit the entrepreneurial competencies of resilience, opportunity recognition, and ideation in the launch of an initiative, product and/or service within an existing company. With provided scenarios, students will develop research skills to help support and guide the business model validation for a new organizational initiative, or a new product/service commercialization path.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP 445 GreenStart: Applying Entrepreneurship to Cultivate Sustainable Solutions 3.0 Credits
GreenStart is geared to equip students with the knowledge and actual experience of how to launch a green business that addresses an area of sustainability and also has a likelihood of sustainable financial return. The course calls attention to specific areas of environmental need, including climate change impacts, water issues, sustainable food production, native plant production, hydroponics, waste management and re-use, and sustainable urban land use. Students will work in small, diverse teams to quickly generate design solutions ensuring that all voices in the team are heard and counted. By course end, students will move on with the hands-on experience of having brought a green product or service to launch stage, along with the broad-based understanding of how to start up a green business on one’s own.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman or Sophomore
ENTP 450 Launch It! 3.0 Credits
This course is designed for those serious about being entrepreneurs. Students will be expected to work on the actual launching of a start-up. The course involves talking to customers, partners, competitors, experimenting with different business models, validating a market need through customer development, and building all facets of a start-up company. *Admission to this course requires a student to be an Entrepreneurship and Innovation major with a concentration in New Venture Creation or approval by the professor.
Repeat Status: Not repeatable for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
Prerequisites: ENTP 205 [Min Grade: D] and ENTP 325 [Min Grade: D]
ENTP I199 Independent Study in Entrepreneurship 1.0-12.0 Credit
Self-directed within the area of study requiring intermittent consultation with a designated instructor.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
ENTP I299 Independent Study in Entrepreneurship 1.0-12.0 Credit
Self-directed within the area of study requiring intermittent consultation with a designated instructor.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
ENTP I399 Independent Study in Entrepreneurship 1.0-12.0 Credit
Self-directed within the area of study requiring intermittent consultation with a designated instructor.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
ENTP I499 Independent Study in Entrepreneurship 1.0-12.0 Credit
Self-directed within the area of study requiring intermittent consultation with a designated instructor.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
ENTP T180 Special Topics in Entrepreneurship 1.0-12.0 Credit
This course covers various topics of particular relevance to the study of entrepreneurship.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
ENTP T280 Special Topics in Entrepreneurship 0.0-12.0 Credits
This course covers various topics of particular relevance to the study of entrepreneurship.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
ENTP T380 Special Topics in Entrepreneurship 1.0-12.0 Credit
This course covers various topics of particular relevance to the study of entrepreneurship.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman
ENTP T480 Special Topics in Entrepreneurship 1.0-12.0 Credit
This course covers various topics of particular relevance to the study of entrepreneurship.
Repeat Status: Can be repeated multiple times for credit
Restrictions: Cannot enroll if classification is Freshman