MBA Entrepreneurship
Booth’s innovative entrepreneurship MBA curriculum is taught by world-class faculty who are leading researchers and seasoned practitioners.
Our interdisciplinary approach combines classroom courses in the fundamentals of entrepreneurship with exciting experiential programs and competition courses. Students consult with real-world companies, develop business ideas in experiential lab classes, and apply classroom learning to competitions and internships within the entrepreneurial community.
By competing in the Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge (NVC), one of the nation’s top-ranked accelerator programs, you can gain first-hand experience as an entrepreneur. Be part of a team that identifies a marketplace problem, offers a solution to that problem, and turns that idea into a business. Top teams in the NVC receive funding to embark on their new ventures. Run by our Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, the NVC has helped launch more than 300 companies to date including Grubhub, Braintree / Venmo and Simple Mills. The John Edwardson, ’72, Social New Venture Challenge (SNVC), the social impact track of the NVC, offers a similar experience for students who are focused on launching social enterprises.
Choose Your Courses
Customize your MBA education with a concentration in entrepreneurship by choosing three entrepreneurship courses to match your interests. Here are just a few of the options.
You will explore private equity from a number of perspectives, beginning with the entrepreneur/issuer, moving to private equity—venture capital and leveraged buyout—partnerships, and finishing with investors in private equity partnerships.
Improving your ability to assess the attractiveness of a new venture, anticipate the problems likely to be encountered as the business evolves, and predict its success or failure is the focus of this class. You will learn a set of qualitative models into which all entrepreneurial companies can be categorized.
Through class lectures, “game” assignments, and real-world cases, you will learn how to raise initial seed funding, compensate for limited human and financial resources, establish initial brand values and positioning, leverage a strong niche position, determine appropriate sourcing and sales channels, and develop execution plans in sales, marketing, product development, and operations.
Students who have advanced to the second round of the New Venture Challenge further develop their ideas to accelerate their businesses. The students receive mentorship and constructive criticism from a network of venture capitalists, private investors, and entrepreneurs. The course also helps students improve their presentation and financial modeling skills.
This course will focus on the strategy and tactics of forming, acquiring, and growing new ventures, i.e., increasing shareholder value for business ventures funded with private equity. It is designed to aid those who are considering being part of an entrepreneurial project or evaluating such enterprises from the position of a public investor, private investor, or any stakeholder serving these emerging companies. The course will consider ventures representing broad sectors of the economy, including retail (both traditional and online), health care, telecommunications, consumer services, and businesses enhanced by the internet.
To see more entrepreneurship courses, visit our course catalog and search by concentration area for your program of interest.
Our Distinguished Faculty in This Area
At Chicago Booth, you’ll work with faculty who conduct pioneering research, collaborate with entrepreneurial and private equity leaders, and bring their own entrepreneurial experiences into the classroom.
Spotlight on Research
Chicago Booth Review and other publications regularly feature the insights of Chicago Booth scholars.
Equity Crowdfunding Is Inflating a Bubble
Millions of small investors are likely to lose a lot of money, writes Chicago Booth’s Waverly Deutsch.
Equity Crowdfunding Is Inflating a Bubble
Startup Founders, Put on Your Sales Hat
Chicago Booth’s Michael D. Alter says effective sales skills are an undervalued component of a successful startup.
Startup Founders, Put on Your Sales Hat
The Right Questions to Ask for Startup Success
Booth’s Steve Kaplan outlines the framework he developed to help investors and entrepreneurs evaluate startup companies.
The Right Questions to Ask for Startup Success
Learn from Industry Experts
Faculty members at Booth are connected to some of the most important leaders across industry. Our faculty regularly invite these leading practitioners and influencers to speak to students in the Booth classroom, providing you with greater access to learn, network, and grow.
Learn from Industry Experts
Catalyzing Ideas into Impact
Catalyzing Ideas into Impact
The Polsky Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation fuels the next generation of entrepreneurs and innovators with the knowledge, skills, and experience they need to turn their ideas into successful companies, products, and services.
The Polsky Center runs the Edward L. Kaplan, ’71, New Venture Challenge (NVC), which is recognized as one of the top accelerator programs in the nation along with accelerators such as Y Combinator and Techstars. Polsky has more than 60 professionals on staff and works with seasoned entrepreneurs and investors to provide guidance and support along the entrepreneurial journey.
The center manages the Svider Private Equity Program, which includes a variety of networking opportunities and experiential programs such as the Private Equity/Venture Capital Lab class and the Innovation Fund Associates program. These opportunities prepare students for a potential career in private equity and venture capital.
In recent years, the Polsky Center has helped Chicago Booth emerge as a leading university for training students on the model of entrepreneurship through acquisition (ETA), the process of running a search fund and seeking a company to acquire and manage. ETA resources include an annual conference, podcast series, and class at Booth, as well as additional resources for students interested in this career path.
Polsky is also home to the University of Chicago’s technology transfer office, which manages the technology and invention portfolio emerging from faculty research. Through events such as the Collaboratorium, MBA students and scientists come together to bring these nascent scientific discoveries to the market.
Beyond the Classroom
Develop your skills, meet new people, and build a dynamic global network. As an MBA entrepreneurship student at Booth, you’ll have many opportunities to get involved in student groups, competitions, and other activities.
Participate in a Competition
Test your theories and gain valuable experience in some of the world’s most prestigious competitions on campus and around the globe.
Participate in a Competition
Join a Full-Time MBA Group
Get involved, develop new skills, and meet new people in a wide array of student-led groups.
Join a Full-Time MBA Group
Explore Part-Time MBA Student Groups
Pursue your interests and expand your network by joining a student-led group for Part-Time MBA students.
Explore Part-Time MBA Student Groups