Entrepreneurship is the cornerstone of capitalism. Much of our world's development can be attributed to entrepreneurs who spent their attention, funds, and commitment to convert their dream projects into ventures. This course introduces how entrepreneurs have changed the world by bringing change and progress into our world. Few people in this modern world have yet to interact with cars, planes, the internet, restaurants, television, medicine, etc. All of these have been brought to the world by entrepreneurial individuals and subsequently made into ventures; some succeeded, while others failed. As Scott Shane, an influential entrepreneurship scholar, said – if aliens came to this world, they would have believed that entrepreneurship is the most well-understood subject in management for the entire prosperity and well-being can be connected to enterprises.
The focus of this course is also to inform the students that there is no one way to start a venture. Most popular literature and media are fascinated by one kind – the unicorns (ventures with over 1000 Million USD valuation). We discuss seven different ways in which entrepreneurs have started these ventures. There could be more. We will also listen to a few entrepreneurial stories to understand that starting and growing ventures are possible if sufficient attention is allocated to the venture and the value it is bringing into this world.
