Entrepreneurship Courses
These courses teach students how to identify and scope a viable idea or concept that addresses a genuine need and obtain resources to responsibly nurture, support, and grow its development. All students must pick at least one entrepreneurship course.
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CAS EC 332 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (CASEC201) - Structure of the American economy. The theory of imperfect competition. Topics include firm concentration and conglomeration, consumer ignorance and market failure, and advertising and technological change as part of market performance. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
Section A1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Aryal
Independent
TR
02:00:00 PM–03:15:00 PM
CAS B20
CAS EC 436 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: CASEC201; and CASMA121 or CASMA123 or CASMA127; and CASEC305 or CASMA2 13; and CASMA214, or SMGSM221. - Economic analysis of the architecture of firms and other organizations. Topics include firm boundaries, the allocation of ownership and control, integration and outsourcing, corporate governance, performance evaluation, and compensation. Effective Spring 2024, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU HUB areas: Quantitative Reasoning II, Social Inquiry II, Critical Thinking.
COM FT 591 4 credits.
We are living in the golden age of entrepreneurship. With the never-ending march of new technology and a global media marketplace constantly at our fingertips, there has never been a better time for media business entrepreneurship. Media Business Entrepreneurship (FT591) provides students with an inside look at how the world's leading media innovators are changing the way the world connects, shares information, and conducts business. Students will learn the skills and strategies needed to heed the call of entrepreneurship and take an idea from seed to fruition. Please join us if you are interested in learning about emerging distribution platforms, want to create new ways to inform and entertain, and maybe even have an idea you are interested in validating and bringing to market. Come create media's - and your own - future!
Section A1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Hope
Independent
F
02:30:00 PM–05:15:00 PM
COM 210
ENG ME 502 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (Senior or graduate standing in an engineering or science discipline o r consent of instructor) - This course provides students with the knowledge and tools necessary to create, protect, and commercialize engineering and scientific intellectual assets. Students will first make use of creativity tools to attack posed engineering problems, then turn to means for protecting their solutions. Rapidly growing areas that are affecting nearly all businesses (e.g., software and the internet) as well as "high-tech" areas including microelectronics, communications, and bioengineering will be emphasized. Extensive patent searches and analysis will be carried out to develop skills for quickly ascertaining the protected technical content of patents, and for recognizing what intellectual property (IP) should be and can be protected. Legal aspects for protecting creative ideas will be studied at a level appropriate for engineers to interact easily and smoothly during their technical careers with IP lawyers. Various business models for the commercialization of intellectual assets will be analyzed. Extensive class exercises and projects will explore in depth all three of these important areas of IP, with emphasis on key contributions during engineering and scientific research and development activities.
QST FE 455 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (QSTSM132, or QSTSI250, or QSTSI480, or COMFT591, or SHAHF307); Sophomore standing - Students will be expected to have mastered key finance concepts including financial statement analysis, NPV, IRR and basic option pricing theory prior to entering the course. Introduction to financing sources for start-up firms, including angel funding, venture capital financing, boot-strapping, debt and other sources. Focus on capital structure analysis, capitalization tables, payoff diagrams, term sheets, equity incentives, cash flow projections and negotiating with investors. Students are expected to prepare case studies for class discussion and become familiar with current events in the financial news about start-up company financings.
Section A1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Newell
Independent
TR
11:00:00 AM–12:15:00 PM
HAR 220
Section B1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Newell
Independent
TR
12:30:00 PM–01:45:00 PM
HAR 220
QST MO 356 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: QST SM131 or QST SI250 or QST SI480 or COM FT591 or SHA HF231; Sophomo re standing - A well-managed social enterprise can translate idealism into action. It can help create a world that is more sustainable, more compassionate, and more just. This course will explore the distinctive aspects of launching, leading, and growing an enterprise -- nonprofit or for-profit -- whose primary goal is social impact. We will study mission, strategy, marketing, ethics, entrepreneurship, and scaling. We will learn that success for social enterprise is driven less by a compelling story or a charismatic advocate than by diligent management and insightful, ethical leadership. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in the following BU Hub area: Ethical Reasoning.
QST SI 340 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Critical Thinking Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy Historical Consciousness
Undergraduate Prerequisites: Sophomore standing - This course explores the dynamic and complex world of family businesses across the globe. The course is primarily intended for students who have experience of a family business as well as students who are considering joining a family-owned enterprise or starting one. It counts toward the Innovation and Entrepreneurship minor and the Questrom Business minor. Family business historically represents a significant part of the U.S. economy and an even larger proportion of the global economy. Effective Fall 2021, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Global Citizenship and Intercultural Literacy, Historical Consciousness, Critical Thinking.
Section A1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Abouchalache
Independent
TR
02:00:00 PM–03:15:00 PM
HAR 208
Section B1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Abouchalache
Independent
TR
03:30:00 PM–04:45:00 PM
HAR 208
QST SI 344 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: QST SM131, or QST SI250, or QST SI480, or COM FT591, or SHA HF307; Sop homore standing - This course addresses the principles, processes, and frameworks that are the underpinnings of entrepreneurship and the entrepreneurial spirit. This is a hands-on, experiential learning course that integrates previous coursework into a coherent picture and gives the student an understanding of the way that entrepreneurship can drive change, achievement, and value creation in commercial, societal, and philanthropic domains. Students will also be able to understand how the entrepreneurial mindset can spur achievement and strengthen performance in a wide variety of careers and pursuits. Students have the opportunity to form an idea and drive it through the entrepreneurial process, gaining both practical and theoretical experience in the art and science of entrepreneurship. 4 cr.
Section A1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Zyontz
Independent
MW
02:30:00 PM–03:45:00 PM
HAR 302
QST SI 445 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (QSTFE323 & QSTMK323 & QSTOM323 & QSTQM323) - Designed to help students understand the intricacies of running a small company. The course addresses the major challenges in small companies, including valuation, negotiation, deal structure, personnel and compensation, and marketing and financing. Exposes students to a wide range of business activities, emphasizing significant differences between large and small enterprises. The course uses a competitive computer simulation to provide students with the opportunity to "run" their own business. Please click here to watch a 1 minute video overview of the course.
QST SI 464 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: (QSTSM131 OR QSTSI480) - This course looks at how companies can best use intellectual property (patents, trademarks, copyrights, trade secrets) to protect their proprietary ideas and investments in knowledge assets, shape competition, and realize value from innovation.
Section A1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Zyontz
Independent
MW
12:50:00 PM–02:05:00 PM
HAR 316
QST SI 471 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: QST FE323, MK323, OM323, and QM323; or SI480 - Designed for students who may at some point be interested in pursuing managerial careers in the international entrepreneurial sector, and covers the development of skills to identify, evaluate, start, and manage ventures that are international in scope. Over the course of the semester, the class "travels" to more than fifteen countries on five continents, and analyze operations at each stage of the entrepreneurial process. The course covers market entry, forming alliances, negotiations, managing growth, and cross-border financing. Support from local governments, and the cultural, ethical, legal, and human resource issues facing the entrepreneur is also covered. click here to watch a 1 minute video overview of the course.
QST SI 480 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: ENG sophomores, juniors and seniors - Provides an introduction to entrepreneurship and business for the engineer. Topics include finding business ideas; recognizing good from bad; understanding the importance of business model; turning technology into a business, including what to sell and how to sell it; the role of engineering within a business; business financial statements; and startups and venture capital, including starting a company or joining a startup. Effective Fall 2020, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Historical Consciousness, Social Inquiry I.
Section A1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Chang
Independent
M
06:30:00 PM–09:15:00 PM
HAR 322
Section B1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Sarid
Independent
W
02:30:00 PM–05:15:00 PM
KCB 103
Section C1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Sarid
Independent
F
02:30:00 PM–05:15:00 PM
HAR 224
QST SI 482 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: QST FE323, MK323, OM323, and QM323; or QST SI 480 - Serves Questrom students concentrating in entrepreneurship or who are interested in high-technology sectors, and ENG students who have taken SI480. This interdisciplinary course covers technology life-cycles, the co-evolution of industries and technologies, strategies for commercialization of new technologies (appropriability, acquiring complementary assets and capabilities, managing technical teams, and impact of regulatory and other environmental factors on commercialization). Special emphasis is placed on joint learning and interdisciplinary teamwork by students across Engineering and Questrom.
Section A1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Ziedonis
Independent
W
06:30:00 PM–09:15:00 PM
HAR 414
Section B1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Ziedonis
Independent
T
06:30:00 PM–09:15:00 PM
HAR 414
SHA HF 150 4 credits.
BU Hub Learn More Creativity/Innovation Digital/Multimedia Expression Social Inquiry II
Central to the hospitality industry is the provision of memorable, high-quality customer experiences across digital and physical touchpoints. This allows hospitality and other service organizations to turn satisfied customers into brand evangelists. This course introduces the emerging domain of customer experience management (CEM)--the discipline of understanding and managing customer interactions with the organization to improve satisfaction, loyalty, and advocacy. CEM is a unique domain that draws on practices from the fields of marketing, marketing research, technology and data science, and operations and service science, with the aim of understanding and improving customer experiences with the organization. The course will cover the definitions and basic requirements of customer experience management, and also provide detailed frameworks and tools and techniques to allow students to gain proficiency in the language and practice of customer experience design and improvement. Effective Fall 2023, this course fulfills a single unit in each of the following BU Hub areas: Digital/Multimedia Expression, Social Inquiry II, Creativity/Innovation.
Section A1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Mody
Independent
MW
02:30:00 PM–04:15:00 PM
SHA 110
Section A2, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Independent
TR
09:00:00 AM–10:45:00 AM
SHA 110
SHA HF 303 4 credits.
Hospitality leaders need to know how to be the disruptors in the industry, as well as learn how to survive and capitalize when the industry is disrupted. In both situations, effective innovation is key to staying relevant and succeeding. Each week the class will meet to discuss different challenges that businesses have faced and approaches that entrepreneurs have taken to manage them. 4cr. Offering Fall & Spring.
Section A1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Horwitz
Independent
TR
09:00:00 AM–10:45:00 AM
SHA 202
SHA HF 307 4 credits.
Undergraduate Prerequisites: SHA HF 220, SHA HF 260, SHA HF 310 - This course is intended to be a capstone experience for students seeking to understand hospitality entrepreneurship and innovation as a professional business system. Student teams will create, develop and design a concise Pro Forma Business Plan for a start-up non-profit or profit-driven hospitality enterprise. At the end of the semester teams will make a competitive presentation integrating the principles and skills mastered in previous coursework to a panel of successful hospitality entrepreneurs. 4cr. Offered Fall.
Section A1, FALL 2025 Sep 2nd to Dec 10th
Horwitz
Independent
MW
02:30:00 PM–04:15:00 PM
SHA 201