iStartup Lab

Courses

Entrepreneurship courses at the iSchool

Two new entrepreneurship courses were developed and offered at the iSchool during the 2023-24 academic year, and are scheduled to be offered again in autumn 2024:

INFO 498: Entrepreneurship Fundamentals for Devs, Designers, and PMs

Autumn 2024

Instructor: Jeremy Zaretzky

Designed for INFO majors who are interested in startups and entrepreneurship, this course will cover how new companies are founded, managed, funded, and grown. Through readings, guest speakers, activities, and case studies, students will learn what life is like as a startup founder and how to navigate the inevitable challenges that arise, as well as the mechanics of raising money for a startup through both equity and non-dilutive funding options. While the course material is applicable to many different types of startups, there will be a particular emphasis on social impact startups, SaaS companies, and online marketplaces. Developers, designers, and product managers who are thinking about launching a startup at some point in their career, as well as those interested in joining an early-stage startup after graduation, are encouraged to enroll in the course.

IMT 589 / LIS 598: Foundations of Entrepreneurship

Autumn 2024

Instructor: Mike Teodorescu

This course will create a welcoming environment for students of all degrees to learn about the fundamentals of starting a new business, venture capital, developing intellectual property, and writing a business plan. The theoretical foundations will draw from the management, economics of innovation, and entrepreneurial finance literature. The course will rapidly develop skills needed to think about building a business, such as defining a problem area, finding a market, feasibility analysis of proof of concept, IP considerations, and finally how to pitch for funding. The course will conclude with group projects where students develop a business idea proposal and will pitch it to a panel of judges for feedback, as in traditional startup accelerators. External judges such as angels, business faculty, or venture capitalists will be invited for the event by the instructor to provide diverse viewpoints and feedback for the business plan proposals.

Additional entrepreneurship courses at the iSchool

iSchool grad students may be interested in the following MSIM course:

IMT 565: Designing Information Experiences

Explores experience design including user experience, customer experience, and service design. Covers the philosophical foundations of experience, how to design and evaluate experiences, and the business aspects of customer experience. The focus is on experiences of and with information.

Entrepreneurship courses in other UW departments

There are several other startup-related academic programs at UW. These include: