Introduction to Entrepreneurship

Service Description

Participants of the Introduction to Entrepreneurship series will develop an appreciation for the spirit of entrepreneurship, and learn the steps for development, marketing, and financing that go into a successful business. How does a good idea become a viable business opportunity? What is entrepreneurship and who fits the profile of an entrepreneur? This introductory course is designed to introduce you to the foundational concepts of entrepreneurship, including the definition of entrepreneurship, the profile of the entrepreneur, the difference between entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial management, and the role of venture creation in society. You’ll explore where technology entrepreneurship and impact entrepreneurship align and where they diverge, and you’ll learn proven techniques for identifying the opportunity, assessing the opportunity, hypothesis testing and creating a prototype. By the end of this course, you’ll know how to test, validate and prototype your idea, and also whether or not you fit the profile of an entrepreneur! You’ll also be ready to move on to the next phase of entrepreneurship in Entrepreneurship 2: Launching the Start-Up. you'll learn how to discover, develop, and assess opportunities, so you can choose one that has the best potential for success. Starting an enterprise is uncertain by nature, but you can increase certainty and decrease some risk by evaluating potential opportunities using thoughtful processes proven to help you decide which opportunities are better positioned for growth. You'll learn how to determine a market need, develop a solution, evaluate your solution using a variety of methods, and pressure test your idea. You'll also learn several methods of evaluating opportunity, including using customers, the VIDE model, and the tournament method. You'll see these processes applied to real world examples of both opportunities which were ultimately successful and those that failed. By the end of this module, you'll be able to apply these evaluation process to your own opportunities, and/or use them to discover new ones with greater potential for growth. The program finishes with a graduation ceremony where participants’ families are invited to celebrate with their youth and hear about what they’ve accomplished during the program!