Entrepreneurship
Being an entrepreneur isn't just about starting a business. It's about innovative thinking, taking calculated risks, and recognizing and seizing opportunities to solve problems and create value. Entrepreneurship is a new way of looking at the world.
Experiential Learning
Using a theory-to-practice model, our program provides students with new venture experiences
in a protected environment. With a $5,000 investment from the School, you will conceive, launch, run, and exit
a real micro-business.
You will also have the opportunity to conduct due diligence and invest real money in start-ups as part of our partnership with BlueTree Allied Angels, Pittsburgh's leading angel investor group.
In our distinctive capstone course, student teams will help struggling entrepreneurs with their new ventures or tackle entrepreneurial projects in existing firms.
Center for Excellence in Entrepreneurship
You will bring your ideas to life through the Center for Excellence in Entrepreneurship, which features an ideation suite and makerspace.
Beyond the Classroom
You will engage with other entrepreneurial minds and build camaraderie through The Entrepreneurship Council, a student-run organization that hosts guest speakers and panel discussions. Our
faculty will connect you with pitch competitions and unique consulting opportunities
to refine your skills.
Career Opportunities
Companies need Entrepreneurs. New ventures require individuals experienced in assessing a concept's viability and securing funding. Existing companies seek innovative employees to create new products, services, and opportunities. Small businesses need leaders with management and business insight to grow revenue and scale.
Our recent graduates are launching new ventures, working at startup incubators and accelerators, and running crowdfunding campaigns. Others are hired by established companies like Amazon, IBM, and Dick's Sporting Goods, or emerging companies like SnapRetail and The Motherhood.
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
Duration
4-year
Required Credit Hours
72
"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."
From Our Alumni
Entrepreneurship Minor
ENTR 480—Financing, Valuing, and Exiting Businesses
ENTR 481W—Guerrilla Marketing
And one (1) of the following:
MKTG 476—Product Innovation
ENTR 495—Independent Study
Students are encouraged to meet with their Student Success Coach for more information.
Course Descriptions: Required
3 credits
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.
3 credits
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.
3 credits
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.
3 credits
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.
3 credits
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.
3 credits
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.Course Descriptions: Electives
3 credits
This course examines methods and tools leading to successful product development and
commercialization, as well as the maintenance of existing products and product lines,
including product positioning, design, marketing mix, testing, forecasting and product
launch, plus product strategy and product life cycle management, using case studies
and experiential projects.
This course will be offered as needed to allow for self-guided projects based on a
student's area of interest, with approval of a faculty member.
Students should consult their Student Success Coach before registering for this course.