Intro to Entrepreneurship 101
Fall Semester - 2021 Syllabus
Course Description:
This course is an introduction to the nature and process of entrepreneurship. Particular
emphasis will be placed on identifying and seizing entrepreneurial opportunities, creativity, and
innovation. General topics include: a broad understanding of entrepreneurship including
entrepreneurial contribution and relationship to economic growth; case histories and personal
attributes of entrepreneurs; new venture creation; and management approaches inherent in the
entrepreneurial mindset. Specific class activities include entrepreneurial marketing; positioning of
products and services; determination of target markets; various business models; entrepreneurial
cash flow and financing needs; and development of a preliminary new venture business plan.
Learning Objectives:
Students will improve their written and oral communication skills and become better decision
makers when facing unstructured, uncertain and ill-defined problems.
Additionally, students will:
 Understand and implement the various stages of developing a successful entrepreneurial
business.
 Recognize and capitalize on entrepreneurial opportunities
 Position new products/services to capture new/unaddressed market opportunities.
 Understand/evaluate emerging business models and their critical success factors.
 Develop and present preliminary business plans for potential new ventures.
 Understand and begin to acquire an entrepreneurial mindset that will be invaluable in:
(1) Creating and building a startup business.
(2) Bringing new (particularly very different) products and services to market in a wellestablished business organization.
(3) Leading not–for-profit and social service organizations in new directions, (social
entrepreneurship).
Instructor:
Pat J. Costa,
Professor of Practice
122 Rauch Business Center
pjc6@lehigh.edu
610-758-4108 (office)
610-428-0116 (cell)
Accommodations for Students with Disabilities
Lehigh University is committed to maintaining an equitable and inclusive community and welcomes
students with disabilities into all of the University’s educational programs. In order to receive
consideration for reasonable accommodations, a student with a disability must contact Disability
Support Services (DSS), provide documentation, and participate in an interactive review process. If
the documentation supports a request for reasonable accommodations, DSS will provide students
with a Letter of Accommodations. Students who are approved for accommodations at Lehigh should
share this letter and discuss their accommodations and learning needs with instructors as early in the
semester as possible. For more information or to request services, please contact Disability Support
Think Outside Yourself
Services in person in Williams Hall, Suite 301, via phone at 610-758-4152, via email
at indss@lehigh.edu, or online at https://studentaffairs.lehigh.edu/disabilities.
The Principles of Our Equitable Community:
Lehigh University endorses The Principles of Our Equitable Community
[http://www.lehigh.edu/~inprv/initiatives/PrinciplesEquity_Sheet_v2_032212.pdf]. We expect each
member of this class to acknowledge and practice these Principles. Respect for each other and for
differing viewpoints is a vital component of the learning environment inside and outside the
classroom.
Disability Support Services in the Dean of Students office addresses requests for accommodations
for undergraduate and graduate students. For more information, I encourage you to visit the web site
at:
http://www.lehigh.edu/%7Einacsup/disabilities/
In addition, Maria Zullo, Assistant Dean of Students, would be pleased to discuss the program with
your department. She may be reached at 84152 or maz317@lehigh.edu.
Lehigh University is committed to diversity, inclusion and engagement
[http://www.lehigh.edu/diversity]. That commitment is captured in The Principles of Our Equitable
Community. The Principles have been endorsed across Lehigh and by the Board of Trustees.
Grading Standards:
25% --- Class attendance
30% --- Class participation
15% --- Individual assignments & project
15% --- Team assignments & project
5% --- Peer evaluation*
10% --- Prof. Costa
Peer Evaluation
- *I will adjust your team-based portion of your grade based on your teammate’s evaluations
of your contribution and effort as well as my evaluation.
Please review the following statements by Steve Blank (UCSF) that will apply to this course:
If any of you decide to start a company based on the class, you own only what was
written and completed in the class. You have no claim for work done before or after the
class quarter.
If a subset of the team decides to start a company they do NOT “owe” anything to any
other team members for work done in and during the class. All team members are free
to start the same company, without permission of the others.
I feel my idea / Business Model may become a real company and the “next killer app”
and I want to own it myself what should I do? - This is more than likely the wrong class
to take. Your team owns everything done in class. Discuss Intellectual Property rights
with your team from the beginning. If you can’t come to agreement with the team, join
another team, pick another project, or drop the class. Remember anything you do and
learn in the class is public.
Think Outside Yourself
Will my Intellectual Property rights be protected when I discuss my ideas with the class?
- NO. This is an open class. There are no non-disclosures. All your presentations and
Customer Discovery and Validation notes, business model canvas, blogs and slides can,
and more likely will, be made public.
This class is not an incubator. At times you will learn by seeing how previous classes
solved the same class of problem by looking at their slides, notes and blogs.
Keep in mind that successful companies are less about the original idea and more about
the learning, discovery and execution. Therefore you must be prepared to share your
ideas openly with the class. It is a forum for you to “bounce” your ideas off your peers.
Think Outside Yourself