​​Kickstart Entrepreneurial Practices

This course gives you the tools and mindset to kickstart and grow your own entrepreneurial venture. You’ll dive into the practical side of entrepreneurship - spotting opportunities, testing ideas, designing business models, pitching, and managing early-stage ventures. Working in teams, you’ll tackle real-world challenges that mirror the journey of real entrepreneurs. By the end of the course, you’ll have sharpened your entrepreneurial mindset, boosted your creativity and innovation skills, and built a versatile skill set that you can apply both in startups and within existing organizations.

​Throughout the process, you’ll step outside your comfort zone and strengthen your ability to deal with uncertainty, collaboration, and creative problem-solving. By the end, you might even decide to take your project further — and if you do, TU/e innovation Space and the Brainport ecosystem offer extra-curricular programs to help you continue your entrepreneurial journey.

​You’ll work on a project developed from a real-life challenge provided by an external partner - or continue developing a project you’ve already started, turning it into a product or service ready to be piloted and potentially launched to the market. The course also encourages social entrepreneurship - combining business skills with a strong mission to create a positive impact on people, communities, or the planet, while remaining financially sustainable.

Material:

​Challenge-Based Learning for Social Entrepreneurship Education https://ideas.repec.org/a/nwe/eajour/y2025i3p773-796.html

​Social Enterprise Course (Impact Toolbox) https://impacttoolbox.org/courses/socialenterprisecourse/

​Yunus Social Business (context) example of social impact entrepreneurship practice. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Yunus_Social_Business

​Challenge-Based Learning & Entrepreneurial Mindset (Springer chapter) https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-031-11578-3_2

​Entrepreneurial Mindset Network — free tools, webinars, and articles on mindset development https://entrepreneurial-mindset.network/

​Entrepreneurial Mindset in Education https://school-education.ec.europa.eu/en/learn/courses/entrepreneurial-mindset-education-fostering-creativity-initiative-innovation

​Apply Lean Startup Principles to Open Source Projects – explains Lean Startup concepts like MVPs and iterative feedback in an open-source context https://opensource.com/article/21/7/lean-startup-open-source

​Why the Lean Startup Changes Everything https://steveblank.com/2013/05/06/free-reprints-of-why-the-lean-startup-changes-everything/

​Beginner’s Lean Startup Guide on GitHub https://gist.github.com/amerkay/4ea962d865580d9e0f0c67badf80471c

​Lean Startup Canvas & Tools Overview https://leanpivot.ai/lean-startup-guide/tools-resources/

​Stanford Lean LaunchPad Resources https://learn.marsdd.com/article/lean-startups/

​Lean Startup Stack https://leanstartupstack.com/​

​​After this course, students are able to:

• ​Deliver convincing entrepreneurial pitches tailored to diverse audiences (for e.g., investors, partners, societal organizations) while demonstrating adaptability to uncertainty, creativity, and resilience in navigating ambiguity, risk, and failure.
• Apply effective collaboration strategies in entrepreneurial context increasing collaboration within interdisciplinary entrepreneurial teams and with external stakeholders to identify, validate, and address real-world challenges.
• Critically reflect on team dynamics, individual roles, and personal development within the entrepreneurial process.
• Apply entrepreneurial methods such as the Business Model Canvas, Lean Startup, and Design Thinking to explore market opportunities and develop initial prototype solutions.
• Iteratively, refine entrepreneurial concepts based on stakeholder feedback and evidence from practice.

You must meet one of the following collections of requirements

• Collection 1
• Completed Final examination Bsc program
• Completed none of the course modules listed below
• Practicing entrepreneurial processes (1ZM150)
• Collection 2
• Completed Pre-Master
• Completed none of the course modules listed below
• Art & tech (1ZM250)

• ​​All the materials will be made available for you on Canvas but here there are some initial materials, see content.