The StartUp class allowed me to engage students about entrepreneurship and to set up the curriculum, pedagogy and assessment for the class.
ENGE 4984: The StartUp Class
The StartUp Class is an interdisciplinary course providing real world, hands-on learning related to actually starting a scalable company. This class focuses on the search for a viable business model and not how to execute a business plan. This is a practical class – essentially a lab, not a theory or “book” class. Our goal, within the constraints of a classroom and a limited amount of time, is to create an entrepreneurial experience for you with all of the pressures and demands of the real world in an early stage start up.
This course provides real world, hands-on learning related to actually starting a scalable company. This class is not about how to write a business plan, although a strong start-up tangibles will result from taking this course. It’s not an exercise on how smart you are in a classroom, or how well you use the research library to size markets. And the end result is not a PowerPoint slide deck for a VC presentation.
This is a practical class – essentially a lab, not a theory or “book” class. Our goal, within the constraints of a classroom and a limited amount of time, is to create an entrepreneurial experience for you with all of the pressures and demands of the real world in an early stage start up.
You will be getting your hands dirty talking to customers, partners, competitors, as you encounter the chaos and uncertainty of how a start-up actually works. You’ll work in teams learning how to turn a great idea into a great company. You’ll learn how to use a business model to brainstorm each part of a company and customer development to get out of the classroom to see whether anyone other than you would want/use your product. Each day will be a new
adventure outside the classroom as you test each part of your business model and then share your hard earned knowledge with the rest of the class. You’ll network with start-up-minded peers, experienced business leaders, and a group of local mentors.
The StartUp Class is an interdisciplinary course providing real world, hands-on learning related to actually starting a scalable company. This class focuses on the search for a viable business model and not how to execute a business plan. This is a practical class – essentially a lab, not a theory or “book” class. Our goal, within the constraints of a classroom and a limited amount of time, is to create an entrepreneurial experience for you with all of the pressures and demands of the real world in an early stage start up.
This course provides real world, hands-on learning related to actually starting a scalable company. This class is not about how to write a business plan, although a strong start-up tangibles will result from taking this course. It’s not an exercise on how smart you are in a classroom, or how well you use the research library to size markets. And the end result is not a PowerPoint slide deck for a VC presentation.
This is a practical class – essentially a lab, not a theory or “book” class. Our goal, within the constraints of a classroom and a limited amount of time, is to create an entrepreneurial experience for you with all of the pressures and demands of the real world in an early stage start up.
You will be getting your hands dirty talking to customers, partners, competitors, as you encounter the chaos and uncertainty of how a start-up actually works. You’ll work in teams learning how to turn a great idea into a great company. You’ll learn how to use a business model to brainstorm each part of a company and customer development to get out of the classroom to see whether anyone other than you would want/use your product. Each day will be a new
adventure outside the classroom as you test each part of your business model and then share your hard earned knowledge with the rest of the class. You’ll network with start-up-minded peers, experienced business leaders, and a group of local mentors.
"I think that you have really good interaction with all of the students. They seem to feel very comfortable coming and asking you questions, as well as pushing back on some of your ideas and questions that they may not agree with." Shelley Cooke - Graduate Student at Virginia Tech writing a Peer review of the StartUp Class
