Curriculum and Requirements

Columbia Business School adopts a three-pronged approach to the study of entrepreneurship: a core curriculum that cultivates an entrepreneurial mindset, specialized elective course offerings on entrepreneurial topics, and structured, hands-on lab courses that bring entrepreneurial principles to life.

Entrepreneurship in the Core Curriculum

Because entrepreneurial skills are so relevant to the practice of business, Columbia integrates entrepreneurial cases and concepts into the core courses of both the MBA and EMBA programs. Entrepreneurial situations offer an ideal context for analyzing product development, forecasts, incentives, barriers to entry, negotiation, valuation, and financial structure.

Entrepreneurship in the Elective Curriculum

The second component of the Program is a set of rigorous and relevant electives in management, finance, and marketing. These courses provide structured learning for students interested in one of four specialized career paths: entrepreneurship in new ventures, entrepreneurship in large organizations, private equity financing, and social entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship in Practice

Students have an opportunity to apply their classroom knowledge through hands-on participation in entrepreneurial management labs. In consultation with faculty members, venture capitalists, and successful entrepreneurs, students develop business plans, build financial models, and structure deals in entrepreneurial finance.

The concepts students work on may come from the students themselves, from faculty members or from Science and Technology Ventures (formerly Columbia Innovation Enterprise), an organization that seeks to commercialize intellectual property from the Columbia University community, including the engineering and medical schools.

Students committed to launching their own ventures may participate in the Entrepreneurial Greenhouse Program, an entrepreneurial incubator. In addition, the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurial Initiative Fund provides up to $250,000 in potential funding to qualifying student ventures.

Curriculum, Requirements and Recommendations

The following courses will help students prepare for a wide range of career paths in entrepreneurship. Foundation courses in entrepreneurship include related electives in finance and economics, accounting, management, operations, and marketing.