Entrepreneurship and Venture Capital: Partnership for Growth

Catalog description

The US venture capital ecosystem is currently navigating a period of unprecedented volatility. Following a historic peak of $330B in 2021, investment levels contracted by 50% in 2023, only to rebound to $340B in 2025. While the broader market power has shifted toward investors, a distinct positive inflection point has emerged for seed-stage entrepreneurs and AI-driven ventures. This course provides students with a tactical framework for navigating this chaotic environment. The course is fast paced as it combines case methodology with an experiential project that centers on a business idea or investment thesis. Many students pursue their existing business idea while others focus on how to consider a new idea or investment thesis that has breakthrough potential. Students are permitted to use a business idea from an ongoing project or course (with instructor permission). If you do not have a business idea or market sector investment thesis, we will team you with another student to pursue an idea together. We have successfully extended the familiar one speaker case format to a dual perspective format. In several classes, we feature two speakers, such as the investor and the founder, offering an original dynamic discussion that gives you a 360-degree view of the deal-making process. Optional post-session breakouts allow for small-group, candid dialogue with the guest speakers. The course curriculum is grounded in the principles of the course textbook, Pattern Breakers (Maples, Jr. & Ziebelman). We focus on how to identify and scale non-consensus ideas. Highly rated class topics include - analyzing what occurs behind closed doors after the presentation at a VC partner meeting; foundational governance strategies for selecting co-founders, optimizing equity splits, and leveraging the power of early-stage boards; evaluating how AI technical advancements and valuation metrics…