Innovative Ideas & Concept Development
Learn today’s newest skills and tools for identifying and acting on entrepreneurial opportunities for startup companies and corporate innovations and innovators.
Delivery
Online
Duration
12 Weeks
Commitment
8-10 Hours per Week
Instructor Rating
3.8 / 4
This course explores how anyone can be a successful startup entrepreneur or corporate innovator by thoughtfully examining themselves and the business opportunity. By harnessing these insights and cultivating an entrepreneurial spirit, you can create and transform an entrepreneurial idea into a new startup company or corporate venture. The course distills vast amounts of research in psychology, sociology, and business into a practical how-to guide for aspiring and active entrepreneurs and innovators.
What You'll Learn
- Develop the skills for identifying and analyzing entrepreneurial ideas
- Foster thinking entrepreneurially with an awareness of entrepreneurial mindset, entrepreneurial motivation, and entrepreneurial behavior
- Cultivate seeing entrepreneurially with attention to industry conditions, industry status, macroeconomic change, and competition
- Champion acting entrepreneurially with an understanding of value innovation and opportunity identification
Who Will Benefit
- Aspiring entrepreneurs working to identify a viable new business idea from which to develop their own company.
- Active entrepreneurs seeing to validate and enhance their existing business idea and accelerate their company’s success.
- Corporate professionals interested in understanding how business and technology shape the creation of new products and services by established companies.
- Educators, consultants, and organizational leads desiring to improve their capacity to teach, advise, or empower their constituencies to succeed in startup entrepreneurship or corporate innovation.
Course Topics
Module 1: Introduction to Startup Entrepreneurship and Corporate Innovation
This module includes a welcome to the course, an orientation to our teaching approach and faculty, and an introduction to the fundamentals of entrepreneurship and innovation.
Module 2: Entrepreneurial Mindset
What role does need for achievement play in your decisions? What level of influence do friends and family have in your decision making? Do you have an internal or external locus of control? What techniques can you use to focus your time and resources? How can you improve your level of optimism?
Module 3: Entrepreneurial Motivation
Do you believe that you have the capabilities to be successful as an entrepreneur? Do you enjoy collecting information and doing analysis before making decisions? How can you increase your comfort level with making strategic decisions quickly, with limited information and high consequences?
Module 4: Entrepreneurial Behavior
How can you improve your confidence level and risk tolerance? What resources can you use to enhance your interpersonal relationship skills? How can you grow your social capital?
Module 5: Industry Condition
What knowledge do you possess that can contribute to serving a market need? What are the demand conditions in the market?
Module 6: Industry Status
What is the lifecycle stage of the industry that you are interested in entering? What is the capital intensity within your chosen industry? What is the advertising intensity within your chosen industry? What is the company concentration within your chosen industry? What is the average company size within your chosen industry?
Module 7: Macroeconomic Change
What demographic changes are creating business opportunities for new ventures? What psychographic changes are creating business opportunities for new ventures? How can you stay current on technical advancements that are emerging? How can you stay current on societal changes that are emerging? How can you stay current on political and regulatory changes that are emerging?
Module 8: Competition
What is the learning curve in your industry and market of interest? What complementary assets are most critical in your industry and market of interest? How does the reputation of competitors influence your success?
Module 9: Value Innovation
Using the principles of value innovation, what existing factors can you eliminate? Where can you reduce factors and not reduce value? Which factors can you raise to exceed customer expectations? What new factors can you create that will bring new values in new ways to customers?
Module 10: Opportunity Identification
What evidence can you provide that your proposed problem is significant? What key customer values does your solution offer? How will you make your advantages superior and sustainable? What steps will you take to build the right team at the right time?
Learning Experience
Asynchronous Lectures
Coaching and Mentoring
Live Office Hours
Peer Interactions and Networking
Project-Based Learning
Real-World Assignments
Learner Testimonials
Anthony Casalena
Founder and CEO, Squarespace
Faculty
James V. Green
Managing Director of Learning and Development
Maryland Technology Enterprise Institute
University of Maryland
Dr. Green is a globally-recognized leader in educating entrepreneurs and innovators, and an award-winning faculty in online learning. He’s advised over 100 startups who’ve raised over $1B in venture capital and reached valuations of over $10B. As a consultant for Google, Infosys, the World Bank, and the U.S. Small Business Administration, he’s helped shape how corporate innovation and startup entrepreneurship is taught and practiced throughout the world. At the University of Maryland since 2004, Dr. Green has created and launched a number of new online master’s program and initiatives to serve startup entrepreneurs and corporate innovators.
Take a Peek at Innovative Ideas & Concept Development
Our no-cost pre-application is the first step to the formal application, and allows our admissions team to give you a preliminary assessment of the strength of your application.
