Spring 2027 Innovation & Entrepreneurship Courses at Tulane

Pictured: Startup Lab Spring 2026 winning team, GiVV

Tulane offers students a wide range of opportunities to explore innovation, entrepreneurship, and creative problem-solving across disciplines. Through programs and resources offered by the Tulane Innovation Institute and the Albert Lepage Center for Entrepreneurship and Innovation, students can access courses, mentorship, experiential learning opportunities, and venture support. Entrepreneurship and innovation are embedded throughout the university's academic ecosystem, encouraging students to develop ideas, address challenges, and pursue meaningful impact.

This list reflects the course catalog at the time of publication, according to the Office of the University Registrar's Spring 2027 course list. If you are offering an entrepreneurship or innovation course at Tulane and would like to be added to this list, please email innovation(at)tulane.edu.

Tulane Innovation Institute Affiliated Courses

Startup Lab: Build Your Idea (SLAM 2911)
Anyone can have an idea. This course focuses on what happens next, turning an idea into a viable business or venture. Working in teams, students identify a problem they care about and test it using the same questions entrepreneurs, investors, and customers ask in the real world: Is the problem real? Who experiences it? What do customers value? Does the proposed solution work? Students interview potential customers, analyze markets, develop and test an initial solution, and build the strategy and storytelling needed to make a compelling case for their venture. Entrepreneurs, investors, and other leaders from the local startup ecosystem provide feedback and mentorship throughout the process. The course culminates in a competitive pitch, giving students the opportunity to demonstrate their ideas, evidence, and entrepreneurial thinking while competing for startup funding. Open to undergraduate students. John Ross

Innovation & Technology Development (SCEN 6090)
This 1-credit hour workshop teaches students the basics of technology development, market assessment, and spinout formation. This project and discussion-based course allows students to apply methods and tools, including customer discovery research and the business model canvas, to their own research. Open to School of Science and Engineering undergraduates and graduate students, and School of Medicine students. Claiborne Christian

Venture Capital and Angel Investing (BUSG 4230)
Designed for those intrigued by the prospect of funding the next big idea, this course is tied to the Tulane Venture Fund, a vehicle that currently has $10 million of capital to be deployed within Louisiana to support startup ventures. Students will explore the fundamentals of angel and venture capital investing within a very hands-on environment that will expose students to opportunity sourcing and evaluation, decision-making, deal structuring, follow-on investing, and successful exiting. The course will be mentored by two industry veterans with a diverse background and extensive experience who will share their insights from real-world cases while exposing students to the day-to-day operations of the Tulane Venture Fund. As part of this experience, students will sharpen their investment acumen, gain insight into entrepreneurial finance, and prepare to navigate the complexities of a venture capital job with confidence. David Thompson

UNDERGRADUATE LEVEL COURSES

Entrepreneurial Leadership & Problem Solving (SLAM 1010)
How do we make effective decisions, lead others, and use evidence to navigate an increasingly complex world? This course introduces students to the foundational concepts and practices of strategy, leadership, and analytics through an interdisciplinary liberal arts perspective. Students examine how individuals, organizations, and communities define problems, make strategic choices, lead through change, and use data and evidence to inform decisions. Through contemporary examples, discussion, engaged activities, and conversations with leaders and professionals who bring real-world challenges and experiences into the classroom, students explore how they can apply these skills across industries, organizations, and communities. Along the way, students reflect on their own interests, strengths, and goals while beginning to connect their liberal arts education to future academic, professional, and career pathways. Marcus A. Coleman, Erica Larsen

Entrepreneurial Landscape of New Orleans (TIDE 1555)
Students receive a behind-the-scenes look at New Orleans' entrepreneurial ecosystem - from the lessons learned after Hurricane Katrina to the ongoing work required to build an equitable, accessible, and collaborative startup community. Students hear directly from local entrepreneurs, support organizations, community partners, and investors who shape the region's innovation economy. The course also incorporates data from the Greater New Orleans Startup Report, with insights shared by the Lepage Center, offering students an in-depth understanding of the current state of early-stage business activity in the city. Evan G. Nicoll, Rob Lalka

Entertainment Entrepreneurship (DMPC 2910)
Build a creative career on your own terms? In this course, students will explore what it takes to work as an independent media producer, blending production skills with business strategy. They will develop an entrepreneurial mindset and a framework for using their future media courses and skills to launch and grow their venture. Whether a filmmaker, designer, podcaster, or media company founder, learn the foundation to become a creative entrepreneur. Casey Beck

Music Industry Entrepreneurship (SLAM 2910)
Behind every artist is a team making decisions about money, timing, and risk. Over the semester, students will build a complete artist business plan: brand identity, fan development, touring and streaming revenue, rights and royalties, and long-term career strategy. They will run the numbers on real show deals, use the same data tools the industry uses, and hear from working professionals about the calls they got right and wrong. The plan grows each week and ends as a finished pitch deck. Students will learn how to build analytical, financial, and persuasive skills that carry into management, marketing, live events, and entrepreneurship. Takuya Hirano

Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship (MGMT 3200)
Students learn skills for careers in entrepreneurship, venture capital, and startup ecosystems. They will evaluate business models, conduct due diligence, and pursue funding. Classes include discussions with entrepreneurs, readings by investors, and exploration of entrepreneurship's societal role. Emphasis is on understanding the local ecosystem and gaining tools to pursue opportunities strategically. Alissa Bilfield, Brandon Soltwisch

Digital Entrepreneurship (SLAM 3100)
This course examines entrepreneurship in the context of new media and digital technologies. Students explore cultural transformations from digital innovation and initiate entrepreneurial projects using emerging technologies. Hands-on activities develop creative problem-solving and practical business skills. Jason S. Seidman

Social Entrepreneurship (SISE 3042)
Focusing on social entrepreneurship, this course explores the development of innovative solutions to social and environmental issues. Students assess business models for social impact, integrating mission with strategy, and examine skills necessary to create sustainable change in communities worldwide. Verse C. Shom

Entrepreneurship (BSLS 3600)
In this interactive online course, students examine the concept and quality of entrepreneurship, identify the personality traits common to entrepreneurs, explore methods for analyzing new venture opportunities from marketing, production, and organizational perspectives; and analyze the legal considerations involved in developing and financing a new business venture and protecting intellectual property. Joshua Forman

Management of Technology and Innovation (MGMT 4180)
Technology, innovation and entrepreneurship are among the most frequently used terms in today's business environment. We are bombarded by products and technologies that are changing the ways we live and work, but how do we analyze the processes that bring them to market? What exactly is technology? What forces shape its evolution? What roles do strategic alliances, standards and intellectual property play in forecasting? How should we create product development teams? How should we create organizations that foster innovation? What is the role of creativity in the development of new technologies? These are some of the topics that are covered in this course. Michael S. Wilson

Student Venture Accelerator 2 (MGMT 4210)
In this course, students will deepen their understanding of the resources, strategies and management skills required to launch a new business - with a goal of creating a profitable venture that they can pursue well beyond the end of the course. Working out of the Lepage Center's Student Venture Incubator, students will have the opportunity to take an idea to fruition by undertaking customer interviews to test their ideas, determine product-market fit and obtain their first paying customers. Throughout this course, student teams will work on their new ventures by improving the business model and business strategy; developing financial, marketing, sales and hiring plans; finalizing founding documents and policies; refining charts of accounts; and preparing for a board meeting simulation. To support the launch of each new venture, the professor, a team of mentors that includes entrepreneurs/executives-in-residence, and the Lepage Center's expert network will provide coaching, referrals and guidance that will be customized to the unique challenges facing each startup. Rob Lalka

Social Venture for a Sustainable Future (MGMT 4300)
This course introduces undergraduate students to social entrepreneurship, broadly defined as the development of innovative, sustainable solutions to address persistent social problems. Drawing from a wide range of academic fields (business management, public administration, economics, psychology, political science, sociology, etc.) and through a team-based, experiential learning approach, students will learn many of the concepts and tools associated with social venturing (e.g., the impact business model canvas, theories of change, logic models, social impact measurement techniques) and actively apply them in one of the social problem domains identified by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (UNSDGs), such as Extreme Poverty, Affordable and Clean Energy, Responsible Consumption and Production, etc. Furthermore, by actively developing a potential solution to that social problem, students will explore, discuss, and live the unique challenges and opportunities associated with social venturing. Alissa Bilfield

Management of New Ventures (MGMT 4610)
This course focuses on entrepreneurs who are relentless in their pursuit of marketplace opportunities. This highly experiential and team-based course provides students with the opportunity to practice the basic tools of business discovery and validation, both as a means of new venture formation and as a core capability for addressing challenges in competitive landscapes. It also reviews the key conceptual and theoretical antecedents that underpin opportunity recognition. By the end of this class, students should have a clear understanding of how to take an entrepreneurial idea and run a series of iterative tests to assess its potential and viability in the market. Sandeep Devanatha Pillai

Entrepreneurial Hospitality (BUSG 4050)
This course challenges students to identify a market deficiency within the service industry and create a new hypothetical business to fulfill or enhance the guest experience. Students will combine traditional business strategy, along with the methods and mindsets of design thinking, to prototype three parts of a service business - value proposition and offer, revenue model, and sales channel. This course is not for the passive student. Lectures are purposefully kept short, giving students ample time for in-class activities including primary and secondary market research, trend identification, brainstorming sessions, business model construction, prototyping, customer journey mapping, brand identity creation, forecasting sales, and crafting a final pitch deck. Entrepreneurial Hospitality encourages students to get out of the classroom and co-create the curriculum, guided by their instructor, a resident in-class mentor, and a host of industry professionals, to take a deep dive into the areas of the service industry that interest them most. Sophomore standing or above. James S. Geier

Cases in Entrepreneurship (MGMT 4110)
MGMT 4110 reviews thirteen actual business cases. A visiting CEO (or other top executive) and the professor teach each case jointly. The class explores problems and opportunities encountered in the search, evaluation and acquisition of new, as well as ongoing, ventures. Students will further develop analytical skills in finance, accounting, business analysis, management and marketing that they have acquired in other courses. Brainstorming sessions will challenge and improve innovative thinking while assignments and presentations hone business communication skills. Discussion of entrepreneurship, family business and small business management gives the student an overview of the alternatives to traditional corporate employment. Most importantly, students interact with top-level executives who are role models from whom they can learn how to be successful entrepreneurs. Sophomore standing or above. Rob Lalka

GRADUATE LEVEL COURSES

Entrepreneurship Engineering & Bioscience (SCEN 6000)
This course focuses on taking graduate and senior capstone engineering and bioscience research projects to a commercial stage. Not only does one need to take the research projects to an advanced engineering/bioscience stage in order to be commercialized, one needs to develop a competitive business plan, an intellectual property position, and a sustainable competitive advantage. Additionally, this course explores the major economic and technological developments that are shaping the world, how to develop and sustain a competitive bioengineering or biotech start-up firm, how to write a competitive business plan and the proper interaction with venture capitalists, lawyers and investment bankers through the entire business cycle. All through this process, the importance of ethics is continually studied, stressed and examined. Guest speakers are incorporated throughout the semester including a venture capitalist, a business ethicist, startup attorney, investment banker and several bioscience and biomedical engineering entrepreneurs. Edward Karp

Social Innovation Tools (SBPS 6700)
Students gain skills in systems thinking, systems-led leadership, and human-centered design to address complex societal problems like climate change, violence, and health inequities. Training includes mapping systems, identifying intervention points, reframing challenges, and collaborative problem-solving. Examples span domestic, international, and global contexts, with design thinking workshops for hands-on learning. Participation in the Fast 48 workshop incurs an additional fee. Jylana L. Sheats

Bioinnovation Research (SCEN 7020)
Students research to advance bioinnovation, developing new technologies with potential for commercial or societal impact. The course emphasizes rigorous methods, critical thinking, and applications of research in real-world contexts. Donald P. Gaver

Management of Technology & Innovation (MGMT 7210)
Maintaining or creating a competitive advantage requires innovation in process and product technologies. In many industries, top companies in one decade are struggling or absent in the next due to an inability to deal effectively with innovation development. In many cases, top companies fade from prominence due to an inability to anticipate or adjust to the introduction of disruptive technologies by other firms. In this course, frameworks and tools for managing technology advancement are introduced. Sherif A. Ebrahim

Innovation and Technology Commercialization (MGMT 7180)
This course is designed to teach students to develop models of innovation and apply innovation theory and practices from across a range of commercial size-scales-from small startup companies to intrapreneurial units within large, established companies. The twin poles of theory and practice are balanced through classroom lectures and experiential training. Weekly lectures furnish students with effective and portable theoretical frameworks for identifying, selecting, and executing opportunities for technological innovations in healthcare, energy, water, and the environment. In the experiential training component, students will apply their classroom learning to develop targeted, formal innovation and entrepreneurship business models. Completion of this course will supply students with intellectual groundwork and practical experience in advancing inventive technological ideas toward commercialization and ultimately public benefit. This course builds on the frameworks and case method teaching utilized in MGMT 7210 Management of Technology and Innovation, which is a recommended prerequisite. Sherif Ebrahim

Innovation & Entrepreneurship (SBPS 8650)
This advanced, applied course builds on foundational innovation and design competencies to focus on implementing, scaling, and sustaining equitable solutions to complex public health and community challenges. The course integrates design and systems thinking, implementation science, and social entrepreneurship to support adoption, sustainability, and measurable real-world impact. Emphasis is placed on addressing the behavioral, social, cultural, economic, and structural factors that contribute to health inequities across populations and communities. Students work in interdisciplinary teams to identify, develop, and test opportunities for innovation through collaboration with community members, public health agencies, health systems, and private-sector partners. Emphasis is placed on translating ideas into operational, fundable, and scalable solutions through financial modeling, implementation planning, and measurement of projected impact. Richard Priore