Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship
Thanks to the growing field of virtual education, you can find free courses on entrepreneurship delivered by the well-known universities. At the moment I am taking one delivered by the University of Maryland, which discusses entrepreneurial motivation and behavior and points you to some really interesting personality tests and suggestions how you can develop and improve entrepreneurial behavior.
The session also covers Industry and Customer understanding and Business modelling.
The video lectures are also highly entertaining and engaging, from the courses I'm taking at the moment (4) I love this most.
http://www.coursera.org/course/innovativeideas
Thanks to the growing field of virtual education, you can find free courses on entrepreneurship delivered by the well-known universities. At the moment I am taking one delivered by the University of Maryland, which discusses entrepreneurial motivation and behavior and points you to some really interesting personality tests and suggestions how you can develop and improve entrepreneurial behavior.
The session also covers Industry and Customer understanding and Business modelling.
The video lectures are also highly entertaining and engaging, from the courses I'm taking at the moment (4) I love this most.
http://www.coursera.org/course/innovativeideas
Law and Entrepreneur
This course is prepared by Northwestern University and strives to discuss legal and business issues when you are planning to launch a business. It will help you to choose the right entity (corporation, limited liability company, partnership or sole proprietorship), discuss a company name, patents and trade secret, trademark and copyright law, how to structure agreements among owners, venture capital and other financing arrangements, and also the relationship between entrepreneur and attorney.
I am sure my lawyer friends will appreciate me taking this.
http://www.coursera.org/course/law
This course is prepared by Northwestern University and strives to discuss legal and business issues when you are planning to launch a business. It will help you to choose the right entity (corporation, limited liability company, partnership or sole proprietorship), discuss a company name, patents and trade secret, trademark and copyright law, how to structure agreements among owners, venture capital and other financing arrangements, and also the relationship between entrepreneur and attorney.
I am sure my lawyer friends will appreciate me taking this.
http://www.coursera.org/course/law
Have a look also at this article about the mindset differences between attorney and entrepreneur. We suggest you pass it to your attorney, too.
Why Working with Entrepreneurs Is Different
Why Working with Entrepreneurs Is Different
Grow to Greatness: Smart Growth for Private Businesses, Part I
We are not quite there yet, but it can't do us any harm to prepare ourselves for a success.
This course from University of Virginia is built for existing small businesses and aims to answer the question of how to successfully grow a business. Among the areas discussed are tools for growth planning, examining preconditions of growth and effectively managing risks, all explained on the five case studies.
As the course site says:
"Growth, if not properly managed, can overwhelm a business, destroying value and in many cases even causing the business to fail. However, the research shows that every growth business faces common challenges. You can learn from others' experience—you do not have to "reinvent the wheel"."
http://www.coursera.org/course/growtogreatness
We are not quite there yet, but it can't do us any harm to prepare ourselves for a success.
This course from University of Virginia is built for existing small businesses and aims to answer the question of how to successfully grow a business. Among the areas discussed are tools for growth planning, examining preconditions of growth and effectively managing risks, all explained on the five case studies.
As the course site says:
"Growth, if not properly managed, can overwhelm a business, destroying value and in many cases even causing the business to fail. However, the research shows that every growth business faces common challenges. You can learn from others' experience—you do not have to "reinvent the wheel"."
http://www.coursera.org/course/growtogreatness
For more information on growth, have a look at the transcript of an interview with Ken Favaro, senior partner at Booz & Company and coauthor of the article Creating an Organic Growth Machine:
Growth isn't a Rocket Science
Growth isn't a Rocket Science
Grow to Greatness: Smart Growth for Private Businesses, Part II
The second course (they are supposed to be independent but I think it makes sense to take both), focuses on the challenges related to leadership, culture, and people: how to engage with employees, build strong management team and most importantly discusses the challenges of the leadership. The entrepreneur has to grow with a company and become a good leader and coach.
This course complements well with the Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence course.
http://www.coursera.org/course/GTG
The second course (they are supposed to be independent but I think it makes sense to take both), focuses on the challenges related to leadership, culture, and people: how to engage with employees, build strong management team and most importantly discusses the challenges of the leadership. The entrepreneur has to grow with a company and become a good leader and coach.
This course complements well with the Inspiring Leadership through Emotional Intelligence course.
http://www.coursera.org/course/GTG