Entrepreneurship

2025/2026

Academic Year

ENG

Instruction in English

Delivered at:

Department of Management

Course type:

Compulsory course

When:

2 year, 1 module

Instructor

Karpinskaya, Emilia

Course Syllabus

Abstract

The course explores the fundamental principles, concepts, methods, and tools of entrepreneurship. Its primary goal is to provide students with both theoretical understanding and hands-on experience necessary to identify opportunities, solve problems, and drive projects forward. The course includes theoretical blocks that cover fundamental entrepreneurship concepts and methods, including effectuation, lean startup, design thinking, customer development, etc. The practical block is structured to deepen the knowledge, cultivate entrepreneurial mindset, and develop practical skills that are associated with entrepreneurial activity.

Learning Objectives

• To understand the basic concepts of entrepreneurship, core principles of the entrepreneurial mindset
• To learn how to generate and validate solutions to complex problems
• To know the basics of customer development and product development
• To learn to identify and leverage personal and external resources
• To cultivate the ability to articulate value persuasively through storytelling and pitching
• To practice necessary skills and instruments

Expected Learning Outcomes

• Apply entrepreneurial method to professional and personal development
• Conduct effective empathy and customer discovery interviews to deeply understand a problem space
• Formulate testable hypotheses regarding career or project/business opportunities and design appropriate minimum viable experiments to validate them
• Synthesize qualitative research findings using tools like empathy maps and customer journey maps
• Make strategic decisions to pivot or persevere with an idea based on evidence gathered from experiments and fieldwork
• Create a simple prototype of a solution and gather meaningful feedback on it
• Construct and deliver a compelling pitch for personal and professional purposes
• Analyze feasibility of the project and plan resources
• Employ creativity techniques to generate possible solutions to complex problems

Course Contents

• Entrepreneurial mindset
• Creativity and ideation
• Design thinking and validation
• Prototyping and getting feedback
• Pivoting and persevering
• Pitching and storytelling
• Resources and ecosystem

Assessment Elements

• In-class activities
• Intermediate presentation
• Final presentation
• Individual portfolio

Interim Assessment

• 2025/2026 1st module
  0.2 * Final presentation + 0.3 * In-class activities + 0.3 * Individual portfolio + 0.2 * Intermediate presentation

Bibliography

Recommended Core Bibliography

• Csikszentmihalyi, M. (1997). Happiness and creativity: Going with the flow. Futurist, 31(5), 8. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=f5h&AN=9710064070
• Daniel Marco-Stefan Kleber. (2018). Design Thinking for Creating an Increased Value Proposition to Improve Customer Experience. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsbas&AN=edsbas.B1673540
• Jonathan P. Allen. (2019). Digital Entrepreneurship. Routledge.
• Kelley, T., Littman, J., & IDEO (Firm). (2016). The Ten Faces of Innovation : Strategies for Heightening Creativity. Profile Books.
• KUPOR, S. (2019). THE ART of the PITCH. Entrepreneur, 47(4), 50–53. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=bsu&AN=136458911
• McGrath, R. G., & MacMillan, I. C. (2000). The Entrepreneurial Mindset : Strategies for Continuously Creating Opportunity in an Age of Uncertainty (Vol. [Academic Subscription]). Boston, Mass: Harvard Business Review Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1798897

Recommended Additional Bibliography

• Cohen, A. M. (2015). Prototype to Product : A Practical Guide for Getting to Market: Vol. First edition. O’Reilly Media.
• Norman M. Bradburn, Seymour Sudman, & Brian Wansink. (2004). Asking Questions : The Definitive Guide to Questionnaire Design —— For Market Research, Political Polls, and Social and Health Questionnaires: Vol. Rev. ed. Jossey-Bass.
• Sahlman, W. A., Hoffman, R., Andreessen, M., & Blank, S. G. (2018). HBR’s 10 Must Reads on Entrepreneurship and Startups (featuring Bonus Article “Why the Lean Startup Changes Everything” by Steve Blank). Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business Review Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=1798805
• Shalley, C. E., Hitt, M. A., & Zhou, J. (2015). The Oxford Handbook of Creativity, Innovation, and Entrepreneurship. Oxford: Oxford University Press. Retrieved from http://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&site=eds-live&db=edsebk&AN=974520
• Stam, E., & van de Ven, A. (2019). Entrepreneurial ecosystem elements. Small Business Economics ; ISSN 0921-898X 1573-0913. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11187-019-00270-6

Authors

• Karpinskaia Emiliia Olegovna
• Миронова Алена Геннадьевна