The entrepreneurship minor will teach you to think like a startup founder and creative innovator.
You don’t need to have an idea for a startup already. The purpose of the minor is to equip you with entrepreneurial knowledge, tools, and frameworks you can deploy at any point in your career—whether you start a company, join a startup, invest in new ventures, or strive to enact social change. You will gain hands-on experience in elaborating an entrepreneurial idea. The minor is also useful for those looking to apply an entrepreneurial approach to drive innovation in a corporate setting.
With this minor, you’ll prepare for careers that include:
- Capitalizing on opportunities through the creation of new businesses
- Working within startups or large innovative firms
- Participating in initiatives to address social and environmental issues
- Contributing to entrepreneurial ecosystems through consulting, finance, accounting, law, and policy
Eligibility
All Cornell undergraduates except students enrolled in Dyson, and any major that includes overlap of two or more core courses. Students are eligible to sign up for the minor as early as their first year and no later than their sixth semester.
Academic Policies
A minimum of 12 unique credits (outside of major’s core discipline) must be taken to complete any/all minors. Some majors may be required to take an additional course to satisfy this requirement. Students may not use course codes within their home college/major to satisfy minor requirements unless noted as an approved overlap (ex. HADM 1210, ORIE 3150). All courses must be taken for a letter grade, and a grade of C or better is required. Courses may not be double counted across categories.
Required Credits
This minor requires a total of 16.5 core credits to complete. From the total credits, 9 must be taken at Cornell University, and 7.5 must be Johnson College of Business (JCB) courses, which include any course code of AEM, HADM, NBA, or NCC. *Note - in many cases, the Cornell and JCB requirements will overlap (e.g. AEM 2210: Financial Accounting is a JCB course and a Cornell course, so it will satisfy 3 credits for each requirement).
Core Requirements
This minor requires coursework in six areas: 1) overview, 2) accounting, 3) ideation, 4) entrepreneurial strategy, 5) industries and topics, and 6) practicum. Please note that 7.5 credits must be SC Johnson College of Business courses, which include any course code of AEM, HADM, NBA, or NCC.
Overview (3 credits)
The following course is required:
Accounting (3 credits)
One of the following courses is required:
*Students in the ORIE major must take ORIE 3150, which will satisfy both a core ORIE requirement and part of the Entrepreneurship accounting requirement. ORIE students are also required to take an advanced accounting course (3 credits). Please refer to the website for advanced course options.
Ideation (1.5 credits)
1.5 credits are required. Every great company begins with an idea. Even if that idea changes later, you need a starting point. These courses will provide you with frameworks and hands-on practice in finding your starting point.
Entrepreneurial Strategy (3 credits)
3 credits are required. These courses focus on developing your idea further by engaging with customers to gather feedback, and by planning your go-to-market strategy.
Industries and Topics (4.5 credits)
4.5 credits are required. Courses in this category will help you dig deeper on entrepreneurship in a specific sector, or help you develop particular skills valuable for entrepreneurs. Some of these are experiential courses that are also listed for the practicum; note that courses cannot double-count across categories.
Practicum (1.5 credits)
1.5 credits are required. These experiential courses give you first-hand experience in founding and running a new venture.
*If you are engaged in practical experience during the semester through your own start-up or someone else’s, you may petition to use that experience as an independent study.