Entrepreneurship Careers

Entrepreneurship is at the very heart of the Carlson School. The Carlson MBA program provides a blend of coursework and hands-on experiences to give entrepreneurial students the tools they need to start and grow new companies or to drive innovation in established organizations.

Resources for Entrepreneurs

The Carlson School offers programs, mentoring, and funding to support entrepreneurs to launch successful businesses.

Carlson MBA students also go on to work at start-ups, including the following companies, which recruited a recent Carlson MBA.

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Alumni Network

Carlson MBA graduates are leading up-and-coming, and established start-up companies:

SPOTLIGHT ALUMNI

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• Ryan Petz
  Founder, Fulton Beer

Academics

The Carlson MBA program leverages expertise form across the University of Minnesota and the start-up community to provide an up-to-the-minute entrepreneurship curriculum. Get the tools, knowledge, and hands-on experience to launch your own venture.

EXPERIENTAL LEARNING

Carlson Ventures Enterprise (CVE)

The Carlson Ventures Enterprise (CVE) is designed for students who are passionate about creating, developing, and growing new ideas. CVE students work in teams with clients that include Fortune 500 companies, mission driven social ventures, startups, and everything in between. Students learn both about the creation of new high potential ventures and about new business development in corporate settings.

Learn more

SPOTLIGHT COURSE

START-UP

STARTUP is an intensive 2-credit course in which students test business model assumptions and receive recurring feedback from instructors and mentors while pursuing their own entrepreneurial ventures. Participating students are eligible to receive pro bono legal assistance and small seed capital grants to fund prototype development and testing.

Popular MBA Courses

• Start-Up
• Corporate Venturing
• New Product Design and Business Development
• Business Formation
• Managing the Growing Business

FEATURED OPPORTUNITY

Sands Fellowship

The Sands Fellowship is a unique opportunity supported by generous benefactors, Bill and Susan Sands, who have created an opportunity that supports Carlson students who are interested in starting their own social venture or a project that builds upon an existing social impact organization.

See what Class of 2016 Sands Fellow, Elise Maxwell, is doing here!

SPOTLIGHT FACULTY

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  Ventures Enterprise
• Toby Nord
  Managing Director, Carlson Ventures Enterprise
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• John Stavig
  Professional Director, Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship

Beyond the Classroom

The Carlson School offers a variety of clubs and organizations for students to explore entrepreneurship beyond the classroom and expand their networks.

FEATURED ORGANIZATION

Gary S. Holmes Center for Entrepreneurship

The Holmes Center engages students, faculty, and the entrepreneurial business community to inspire and educate the next generation of entrepreneurs.

Learn more

FEATURED CLUB

Business Opportunities Society (BOS)

The Carlson Business Opportunities Society's goal is to provide a forum for students to identify, discuss, and develop business opportunities while promoting the inner-businessman or woman within themselves. Our mission is to connect people on a regular basis who are interested in discussing business challenges regardless of industry sector, size, or phase.

SPOTLIGHT STUDENTS

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• Tim O'Neil
  Founder, Fidelis Co.
  Named one of "The World's Best & Brightest MBAs: Class of 2015" by Poets & Quants 

FEATURED EVENTS

MN Cup

MN Cup supports emerging entrepreneurs from across the state through events, educational programming and an annual new venture competition that provides them with tools, resources and support to launch and accelerate the development of their new ventures.

Acara Challenge

A venture competition that rewards University of Minnesota students developing viable venture solutions to address global social and environmental challenges including issues related to water, sanitation, energy, waste, health, education, sustainability, and poverty.

20 Under 200

The fall networking event brings over 20 companies that have fewer than 200 employees on campus to network with students. This is a great chance to engage with the growing start-up community in the Twin Cities​