Many of my blog posts are attempts to better think through what I present in my entrepreneurship lectures at FIU. This post is somewhat different in that I am articulating a new approach (for me) that I will present in class next week when the new semester begins.
If we look at a traditional business school course in finance, as an example, it is basically a series of discussions on theoretical tools (cost of capital, discounted cash flow, etc.) and then hopefully a series of examples that show the real world, practical application of the tools. However, in teaching finance there is not necessarily any conclusion from the course. Yes, the student learns the tools but there is no end product expected such as one might see in a design or engineering course.
Teaching entrepreneurship is different. There is a series of steps one must go through in entrepreneurship, for every step there are multiple tools that can be applied and the outcome of the process should be a well thought out new business concept. In other words entrepreneurship is different from most business school classes in that there is a "start to finish" process that should be learned and followed. I am going to put more stress on this point this semester by talking about the "roadmap" to entrepreneurship. I have talked about the process to develop a new business concept many times in this blog and in my book, Billion Dollar Company, but I think it needs to be made more explicit to the students. Entrepreneurship is more like design or engineering and not so much like a business school class.
I usually start the first lecture of my entrepreneurship class with a quote from Peter Drucker:
"Entrepreneurial management is not natural, creative, or spontaneous but instead is based on a systematic, thoughtful approach…."
I then follow it up with a Garth Reynolds quote based on Buddhism:
"It is said that in order to learn, the first step is to empty ourselves of our preconceived notions. One can not fill a cup which is already full. The hollow insides of the bamboo reminds us that we are often too full of ourselves and our own conclusions..."
I usually conclude this theme by telling them to forget everything they have already learned in business school. I find that most of what they have learned or retained from previous classes does not help them to understand entrepreneurship. This semester I will make more explicit the "roadmap" forward. Maybe it will help the students to realize quickly how different entrepreneurhsip is from other classes. Entrepreneurship is a process.
