MAE 500: Entrepreneurship for Engineers
The course provides a hands-on experience for learning the key tactics of entrepreneurial activity and the entrepreneurial mindset from an engineering perspective. This course provides an introduction to, and an overview of, the fundamentals of entrepreneurship, including: development of a viable technical business concept, customer discovery, prototyping, the evaluation and planning of start-up businesses, go-to-market strategy, intellectual property, and financing. The course utilizes lectures, directed readings, and guest speakers. Throughout the semester, students work in teams to write and develop a business plan for a venture of their own choosing. The business plan includes description of the business, target market, competition, financial projections and business strategy. Students will also analyze case studies of leading technical/engineering companies such as Tesla.