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College of Business

SF State

Program Requirements

Major

Students in our program do not study entrepreneurship, they do it. The program has been carefully designed by a task force of successful entrepreneurs and professors and provides the opportunities and experiences needed to maximize your chances of successfully launching and growing your business immediately upon graduation.

The program has three unique features which contribute to your success:

• sequenced courses—courses must be taken in order
• student cohort—your own ‘old boys/ old girls’ club
• portfolios—a more modern, comprehensive and useful knowledge evaluation process

 

Sequence of Courses

The requirements to be a successful entrepreneur can be overwhelming. It is not necessary. Our program breaks down the entrepreneurial process into manageable pieces, each course represents one piece. Each course uses the projects and assignments from the previous course. This provides you the opportunity to work at the level needed for successful entrepreneurship and to refine your idea over time (entrepreneurs call this iteration).

The introductory course is offered only in the Fall semester.

The sequence:

MGMT 430, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Part I (fall)

MGMT 431, Introduction to Entrepreneurship, Part II (spring)

MGMT 432, The Entrepreneurial Approach to Acquiring Resources (fall)

MGMT 433, Building the venture (spring)

MGMT 437, Entrepreneurial Internship (concurrent with MGMT433)

In addition, program majors are required to take two (2) electives, which must be pre-approved by an entrepreneurship program advisor. The electives may be taken concurrently with any of the sequence courses.

Please note that it will take two academic years to complete the sequence so planning and advising are absolutely essential to graduating on time. Get advising!

Student Cohort

One of the most reliable predictors of an entrepreneur’s success is the size and quality of his or her business network. While the projects and assignments will require you to meet entrepreneurs and other business people who may become part of your network, you will find that most business people actually rely on their college classmates and go to them first. There is a shared experience, the same training, a basis for trust.

You will have the same people in each of your sequenced classes during the program. This means you can really get to know one another and graduate with the core of a business network in place.

Since we began the cohort approach in 2001, we’ve found that cohorts remain quite close well after graduation – as we intended!

Portfolio

While the state law requires that you receive a grade for each completed course, the venturing community does not always believe that grades are the best indicator of your skill-level. Our program provides another evaluation method that best represents the skill level you achieve while in the program: the portfolio.

In each course, you will complete a major project, for example industry analysis, feasibility plan, living case report, and internship report. Each project becomes part of your “portfolio” and can be revised over time as you receive feedback and learn more.

At the end of your second year, your portfolio will be reviewed by a panel of entrepreneurs and other key members of the venturing community such as venture capitalists, angel investors, and so forth. In addition, you will present and explain key elements of your portfolio to this panel. You will receive valuable feedback from the real-world and, if you and your portfolio are impressive enough, gain valuable connections for introducing you to potential funding sources.