What are the key factors are critical in the process of creating a company?  What fundamental knowledge and skillset do entrepreneurs need to develop to turn an idea into a business opportunity? The Entrepreneurship Honors course provides students in grades 10-12 with the ability to go through the process of planning and development to launch their own startup during this yearlong, project-based course.  Students will build upon the lessons and skills learned in the Business Fundamentals course and work through the process from ideation to product development.  Students will interact with top industry leaders in Silicon Valley through personal mentoring as they go through the process from concept to launch.  As part of this course, all students will participate in the President’s Business Challenge and/or a Social Innovation Challenge. The President’s Business Challenge gives students an opportunity to work through the process of creating a startup idea and earning the opportunity to pitch their idea in front of venture capitalist at Radar Partners in Palo Alto. For more information on the President’s Business Challenge, go to: bei@vcs.net.

Students will use a variety of curriculum such as the Entrepreneurship, the Practice and Mindset by Professor Heidi Neck at Babson College and/or the Disciplined Entrepreneurship developed by Professor Bill Aulet at the MIT Center for Entrepreneurship and go through the 24 steps to take their startup idea from inception to implementation. They will gain valuable experience in teamwork and collaboration as they learn to problem solve and develop innovative business solutions that are viable, profitable, scalable, and sustainable. The end product will be a formal pitch deck including identification of their problem/opportunity, solution/product, TAM (total addressable market), go-to-market strategy, pro forma income statements, product brochure, and mock prototype.

(DECA approved course)

Additional Expectations: As with other advanced academic courses, students can expect two to three hours of homework per week.