Liberal Arts Venture Development

Catalog description

Students who complete this course will be able to create a nonprofit or for-profit liberal arts venture based on the iterative vetting of an original idea rooted in careful and rigorous research; examine the impact of that venture and the resulting services and/or products on themselves, employees, customers, the environment, and local, national, and/or global communities; understand how the ecologies of successful nonprofit and for-profit liberal arts ventures operate; and articulate best practices of successful liberal arts startups and organizations in relation to founder roles and relationships, fundraising, public presentation/pitching, market analysis, product differentiation, financial projecting, sales and marketing strategies, and scaling. Every other summer, this course will be offered in San Francisco, where students will be exposed to and work in one of the most entrepreneurial cities in the world, and meet a number of founders of non-profit and for-profit organizations whose services and solutions are tied to Liberal Arts disciplines.