Entrepreneurship

Being an entrepreneur isn't just about starting a business. Entrepreneurship is a way of looking at the world. It's about innovative thinking, taking calculated risks, and, most importantly, about being able to recognize and seize outstanding opportunities to solve problems and create value.

As you develop an entrepreneurial mindset, you will envision new ways of doing things. Whatever career you pursue or company you decide to work for, having an entrepreneurial mindset will be essential for your success.

In fact, entrepreneurship skills drive problem-solving and innovation in all areas of business-new ventures, corporations, government, and the nonprofit sector.

Companies of all sizes value Entrepreneurship majors.

  • Entrepreneurship skills companies need to create new products, new services and new business opportunities.
  • Mindset of an entrepreneurial innovator within an existing company.
  • Ability to take an idea, assess its viability and secure the resources needed to launch a new business.
  • Business and management insight necessary for growing small businesses.

Entrepreneurship is the ideal complement to majors in functional areas (e.g., marketing, finance, accounting).

Learn By Doing


Our program embraces a theory to practice model focusing on giving students real entrepreneurship experiences in a protected environment.

You will be an active participant in a new venture experience. You will conceive, launch, run and exit a real micro-business funded by a $5,000 investment from the School.
Students have the opportunity to conduct due diligence and invest real money in some of the most exciting start-ups in the state as part of our partnership with BlueTree Allied Angels, Pittsburgh's leading angel investor group.
In our distinctive capstone course, teams of students help struggling entrepreneurs with their new ventures or tackle entrepreneurial projects in existing firms.

Passionate faculty with practical experience.


Our professors are world-renowned scholars. Our faculty include entrepreneurs with decades of diverse industry and startup experience as well as a personalized learning approach.

Innovative curriculum addresses social issues.


You will learn to act as a change agent for society by seizing opportunities, creating solutions and inventing new approaches to social issues that create value for customers.

Beyond the classroom


You will be engaged in activities that will stretch your talents and enthusiasm. Duquesne's Entrepreneurial Alliance, a student-run organization, regularly hosts guest speakers, panel discussions and other sponsored events to expand your networking opportunities.

You will develop critical entrepreneurship skills:

  • Spot trends and recognize valuable business opportunities
  • Create and implement winning business plans
  • Manage and grow operations
  • Secure human and financial capital
  • Solve problems and think creatively
  • Build teams with complementary skills
  • Sell your firm's products or services
  • Negotiate and communicate effectively
  • Take appropriate risks

What can you do with a major in Entrepreneurship?

Our graduates are sought after by all types of businesses for their valuable entrepreneurial mindset. Recent graduates have been hired by established companies like Amazon, IBM, Dick's Sporting Goods, and Giant Eagle as well as emerging companies like SnapRetail and The Motherhood. And, of course, some graduates are launching new ventures, applying to startup incubators and accelerators, and running crowdfunding campaigns.

Entrepreneurs and entrepreneurial thinking are needed in all aspects of business. Accountants, doctors, lawyers, and psychologists to name a few, all need these skills to run their own businesses.

Program Information

Our innovative entrepreneurship undergraduate program helps students develop an entrepreneurial mindset that benefits them in all areas of business-new ventures, corporations, government, and the nonprofit sector.

Program Type

Major, Minor

Degree

Bachelor's

School

Palumbo-Donahue School of Business

Duration

4-year

Required Credit Hours

72

From Our Alumni

Brianna Dzuricsko stands in Rockwell Hall's maker space.

"I am thankful my career has taken me from Duquesne University to quick leadership growth working with entrepreneurs. I am proud to be an alumnus of Duquesne University and believe my experiences equipped me to be the leader I am today."

Brianna Dzuricsko B'19, Executive Lead, Director of Development & Funding Programs for Main Street Ventures

Entrepreneurship Minor

MKTG 271 Introduction to Marketing (from Business Core)
ENTR 375 Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship (for non-majors)
ENTR 480 Financing, Valuing, and Exiting Businesses
ENTR 481 Guerrilla Marketing
MKTG 476 Product Innovation or ENTR 494 Small Business Consulting

Students are encouraged to meet with their Student Success Coach for specific information.

Course Descriptions

Curriculum Guide
This is the first of a full year sequence of 2 semester-long 3-credit courses. The course is available only to entrepreneurship majors and is typically taken in the fall of sophomore year but can be taken at other times by arrangement. In the course, students will pitch ideas and select concepts for new real "micro-ventures," with faculty guidance at the beginning of the first semester, form teams, receive an "investment" of $5,000, start the business via an introductory sequence of new venture learning modules and deliverables, operate the businesses through the year, periodically report progress, and then liquidate the businesses at the end of the second semester. The instructor(s) will provide lectures (in class and recorded) and seminars in specific management discipline knowledge and models. Mentors from the business community Small Business Development Center staff will be assigned to coach teams.
This is the continuation of ENTR 301. The course is available only to entrepreneurship majors and is typically taken in the spring of sophomore year but can be taken at other times by arrangement. Teams will continue to operate the businesses and report progress to an advisory board. Course experiential and knowledge content will focus on management topics and issues associated with continuing operation, harvesting, exiting, improving, and liquidating businesses.
An introductory course that provides an understanding of terminology and key concepts and requires students to create a business plan. The course utilizes entrepreneurs who have started businesses. This course is required for students prior to enrolling in other Entrepreneurship courses.
This course will build upon the experience and learnings from the new venture experience course by focusing on larger more complex venture opportunities and increasing the depth of exploration in each management discipline. The standards of performance and expectations and the depth of understanding and application of contemporary entrepreneurial thinking, strategies, and tools will be greater. The course will have two parallel tracks: 1) Students will read about, discuss, explore, and apply additional important contemporary entrepreneurial concepts and mindsets in articles, cases, and books. Students will also be required to engage in the startup, business, and investment communities and continue building their professional network. Experienced entrepreneurs and executives will lead discussions and highlight their experience in class or during visits outside the classroom. 2) Students will identify, evaluate, and develop larger and more complex new venture concepts with instructor guidance. Ventures may be commercial, standalone or within larger organizations, or social enterprises.
Students will learn techniques for valuing firms, estimating required financing, obtaining financing and designing and evaluating exit strategies. Emphasis is placed on both analysis and the communication of the results of this analysis to both technical and non-technical audiences.
The primary purpose of this course is to address the marketing challenges that small and medium-sized enterprises face with commercializing a product or service. It focuses on marketing fundamentals, market research, product development, market planning and sales execution. This course is intended for students who expect to utilize marketing techniques in an entrepreneurial environment.
The primary purpose of this course is to address the marketing challenges that small and medium-sized enterprises face with commercializing a product or service. It focuses on marketing fundamentals, market research, product development, market planning and sales execution. This course is intended for students who expect to utilize marketing techniques in an entrepreneurial environment.
The course is available only to seniors who have taken all other requisite entrepreneurship major courses. Selected required entrepreneurship major course may be taken concurrently by arrangement. The centerpiece of the course will be multidisciplinary group projects requiring integration across multiple management disciplines. Projects will be real ventures developed from larger area business new ventures opportunities, SBDC client needs, startup firms business concepts, investors, social foundations or organizations, or student concepts. Students will apply and integrate the new venture framework, mindsets, strategies, concepts, tools, and knowledge from previous courses. Within a real new venture environment, students will deliver results and products throughout the course and present business plans or presentations to regional investor, entrepreneur, or corporate executive audiences.
The Small Business Development Center (SBDC) is incorporated into the program. This course is the capstone experience for the Entrepreneurship concentration. Students have an opportunity to complete one of the following activities: write a business plan for an existing company, work on a project for a small business other than a business plan, or write their own business plan for a venture they would like to start.