How entrepreneurial is your curriculum?

Tally the entrepreneurship classes offered on your campus. Here are a few different ways of looking at the curriculum: Identify which classes have entrepreneurships as the primary focus, and which include entrepreneurship as a secondary element.How many classes are offered every semester or every year?How many classes are available to students during their first year?How […]

What’s the value of customer discovery?

What’s the value of customer discovery? Every serial entrepreneur I’ve ever talked to (except Sanjay) recognizes the value of customer discovery. (We’ll talk about Sanjay later.) My buddy Jeff declared: If we had spent the first three months doing discovery, we would have known what to spend money on. Yes, exactly. Three assets the entrepreneur […]

So, if we don’t teach students to pitch, what should we teach them?

So, if we don’t teach students to pitch, what should we teach them? I’ve said before the we shouldn’t spend time teaching students to pitch. Pitching is a high-stakes game at best and an exercise in futility for most. But we should teach students to present. Isn’t pitching the same as presenting? No. Pitching is […]

Should we teach undergrads to seek investment?

Should we teach undergrads to seek investment? No. Almost never. It is irresponsible and it may be unethical. The failure rates for startups in the first year are well over 50%. Less than 10% of all startups go on to raise any money. Less than 1% of all the U.S. startups ever receive investment from […]

Startups are not the same as a small business

A startup is, by my definition, something new – something the world has not seen before. Startups almost include science or technology, and some innovation. It’s risky because the business model is unknown. The founders (the people who create a startup) are looking for a business model that will work. Founders are not the same […]

Is entrepreneurship an art or a science?

Is entrepreneurship an art or a science? Entrepreneurship has been called an art. If that’s true, any person who wishes to be an entrepreneur can study with a master, practice for 10,000 hours, and create a masterpiece. With Steve Blank’s injection of the scientific method into the teaching of entrepreneurship (called evidence-based entrepreneurship or lean […]