Entrepreneurship isn’t just about starting a business. It’s about how you see the world, approach challenges, turn ideas into action, and create lasting value. Whether you aspire to launch a startup, work for an established company, pursue a career in healthcare, engineering, the arts, or something you haven’t even imagined yet, an entrepreneurial mindset can help you get there.
Through ENTR courses and programs, you’ll learn by doing: testing ideas, taking risks, learning from setbacks, and growing with the support of mentors and peers. You’ll build practical skills, discover new ways to approach problems, and gain the confidence to turn possibilities into action. These are skills you can take with you wherever your path leads.
The Three Essentials of Entrepreneurship
At the heart of everything we do at the Center for Entrepreneurship are three essentials. Together, they provide a foundation for thinking entrepreneurially, creating value, and making things happen.
1. Engage the World with an Entrepreneurial Mindset
Learn to see the world through a lens of opportunity and possibility. Develop the ability to recognize unmet needs, identify opportunities, think creatively, and take action. You’ll learn to understand markets, evaluate risks and resources, and approach challenges as opportunities for growth.
What you’ll gain: The ability to spot opportunities, think creatively, solve problems, and move ideas forward.
2. Create Ventures That Produce Value for Stakeholders
Learn how to turn ideas into action by identifying opportunities and developing the right solutions and business models. Whether you’re building a startup, launching a nonprofit, or creating something new within an existing organization, you’ll explore what it takes to make an idea work. Dive into business models, marketing, finance, funding, and intellectual property.
What you’ll gain: The ability to develop solutions, understand how organizations create value, and bring ideas to life.
3. Motivate People to Pursue Opportunities
Big ideas rarely happen alone. Learn how to bring people together, build effective teams, communicate a vision, and inspire others to take action. Develop leadership, collaboration, and communication skills while learning how to build a culture that supports innovation and growth. You’ll also learn to pitch your ideas and get others excited about what’s possible.
What you’ll gain: The confidence and skills to collaborate, lead, communicate, and inspire others to act.
It’s About More Than Starting a Business. It’s About How You Think
One of the most valuable things you’ll take away from ENTR courses is an entrepreneurial mindset that extends well beyond entrepreneurship itself.
It’s a growth mindset built on a few fundamental beliefs:
- Challenges are opportunities. Instead of seeing obstacles as roadblocks, learn to approach them as chances to discover new solutions.
- Persistence leads to progress. Setbacks are part of the process. Learn from them, adapt, and keep moving forward.
- Intelligence and abilities can grow. Skills aren’t fixed. With effort, curiosity, and the right resources, you can develop new capabilities and work through difficult problems.
- Action creates momentum. You don’t need to have all the answers before you begin. Experiment, test, learn, and improve along the way.
Entrepreneurship is bigger than three categories or the 19 specific skills within them. It’s about understanding people, identifying meaningful problems, developing solutions, recognizing opportunities in the marketplace, and navigating an ever-changing global economy.
At its core, entrepreneurship is lifelong learning. It’s about staying curious, being willing to try, and recognizing that you can make a difference, no matter what you choose to do.
Using the Three Essentials in Real Time
Explore these six ENTR courses and find a spot for them in your Winter 2027 schedule. If you don’t know where to start, our advisors at the Center for Entrepreneurship are here to help you plan your path.
For the first time since its introduction, EHour takes a leap over to Central Campus in East Hall. Get a behind-the-scenes look at what it really takes to build a business. EHour brings entrepreneurs from around the world to campus for candid conversations about their journeys, unexpected twists, big risks, and lessons learned along the way. From launching an idea to landing funding and navigating the challenges of running a business, you’ll get real-world insights you won’t find in a textbook.
Turn Your Ideas into Action: ENTR 411 Entrepreneurship Practicum | Various Sections | 3 credit
Got an idea? Let’s see where it can go. This hands-on course puts you in the driver’s seat as you explore problems worth solving, connect with potential customers, challenge your assumptions, and test your ideas. You’ll learn by doing, turning curiosity into real-world experience and taking your first steps toward building something of your own.
Bonus: This course also fulfills the Practicum requirement for U-M’s undergraduate Entrepreneurship Minor.
Build a Business That Stands for Something: ENTR 422 Organizational Values and Ethics in Startups | Monday 10am | Trotter Multicultural Center, G020 | 2 credits
Making money is one thing. Making a difference while doing it? That’s where things get interesting. Explore the real-world ethical dilemmas entrepreneurs face as they build and grow companies. Through case studies, media, and team projects, you’ll challenge assumptions, debate tough decisions, and discover how business choices impact company culture, communities, and the world. Learn how to build a venture that reflects what you believe in.
Great ideas need great people behind them. Learn what it takes to bring the right team together, identify the skills your venture needs, and get everyone moving toward a shared goal. Explore how to build, manage, and motivate a team that can turn big ideas into real results. Because building something great is rarely a solo mission.
Want to turn big ideas into real-world opportunities? This course gives you practical tools to make it happen. Explore everything from market research and protecting your ideas to finding product-market fit, understanding equity and stock options, managing projects, and pitching for investment and funding. Build skills you can take into your next big idea, startup, or career move.
Use the three essentials to identify the skills you want to build and find ENTR courses that put an entrepreneurial mindset into action. Your journey starts now!