9 Reasons Why You Should Study Entrepreneurship and Innovation
What is one benefit of studying entrepreneurship and innovation?
To help you determine if studying entrepreneurship and innovation is right for you, we asked Eller Alumni and experienced entrepreneurs this question for their best insights. From expanding your entrepreneurial toolbox to leveraging your creativity, there are several reasons why studying entrepreneurship and innovation can benefit your personal development and future careers.
Here are nine reasons you should study entrepreneurship and innovation:
- Expand Your Entrepreneurial Toolbox
- Live a Life You Will Love
- Entrepreneurship Forces You to Continue Learning
- Learn Business Skills for Every Aspect of Your Venture
- Apply Your Knowledge to Various Roles
- Become More Business Agile
- Ability to Recognize Opportunity
- Solve Daily-life Problems
- Leverage Your Creativity
Expand Your Entrepreneurial Toolbox
To me, the biggest benefit of studying entrepreneurship and innovation is the chance to expand and enhance what I call your "entrepreneurial toolbox." Being a successful entrepreneur requires a mix of knowledge, strategy, discipline, experience and other things that you aren't just born with. Studying entrepreneurship and ways to innovate can help you develop new ways to solve problems and gain insights on ways to navigate the path to success from ideation to market adoption.
Outside of on-the-job training, the best way to achieve your entrepreneurial aspirations is to learn from others who can impart the necessary knowledge and tools to help you become more well-rounded in whatever endeavor you decide to embark upon. Having a well-rounded toolset has made starting companies, navigating challenges and achieving success a lot easier throughout my career.
Josh Benveniste MBA and BA (Economics), Chief Marketing Officer of Paydala
Live a Life You Will Love
My parents started their advertising agency in our garage when I was just six years old. Growing up around their business I always felt entrepreneurship was "in my blood." I love running businesses, wearing many hats and building great teams! The right school will give you the breadth of knowledge needed to run a business, but it is passion and persistence that will make you succeed. This can't be learned in the classroom, rather it comes from being around like-minded, big-thinkers who feed your "energy". While the life of an entrepreneur can feel like a roller coaster, the energy you experience translates into living a life you will love!
Eric Lituchy ‘91 BSBA (Marketing), CEO of Hunter Digital
Entrepreneurship Forces You to Continue Learning
I spent over a decade at Merrill Lynch in a variety of roles, and I learnt more in my first year as an entrepreneur than my entire time at Merrill combined, and that’s not to say I didn’t learn a lot at Merrill! Entrepreneurship keeps you on your game. You are forced to continue learning and innovating; by giving you ownership over every aspect of your company, it instills an incredible drive to learn. This continuous learning is not just within one specific area you focus on, but entrepreneurship allows you to learn about all the different divisions within your company and most importantly, learn about yourself—what drives you, what makes you happy! It’s an unbelievable benefit of being an entrepreneur that leads to incredible opportunities in life.
Rishi Ramchandani ‘07 BSBA (MIS/Operations Management), Founder of Cafe Cash Flow
Learn Business Skills for Every Aspect of Your Venture
No specific type of person is best suited to become an entrepreneur and launch a successful business venture. It takes determination, perseverance and tenacity. But it also requires that you understand your specific area of focus, such as your major in college, in addition to a wide variety of business skills that will all be leveraged every single day in your business. This includes financial literacy, marketing, leadership, product management, negotiation, strategic thinking, soft skills and so much more. Studying entrepreneurship and innovation gives you a well-rounded training that focuses on all of these areas, and more, to help you become well-versed in all of the areas that will impact your business venture.
Elyse Flynn Meyer ‘07 BSBA (Marketing/International Business), President and Founder of Prism Global Marketing Solutions
Apply Your Knowledge to Various Roles
The job market is continuously changing, and companies of all sizes have to offer innovative solutions to stay competitive. That's why a professional who studied "entrepreneurship and innovation" will always be needed. A big plus of holding this degree is that you will be able to pursue a career in many different industries and fields, in big companies as well as startups. Or, if you are interested in starting your own business, you will have the right skills and knowledge to do so successfully.
Jessica Ulloa, MyPerfectResume
Become More Business Agile
Develop your business leadership agility skills by studying entrepreneurship and innovation. Knowing the latest trends in entrepreneurial startups and innovations in business planning and implementation refutes ineffective people management and sales and marketing strategies.
With a more agile and innovative entrepreneurial mindset, you can take your business to greater heights, thriving, adapting and outperforming others in the competition.
James Parsons, Content Powered
Ability to Recognize Opportunity
One major benefit of studying entrepreneurship and innovation is the gained ability to recognize opportunity. Entrepreneurial studies focus on the application of one’s knowledge and skills to commercial opportunities. Being able to determine a company’s worth through analysis of their strategies, practices, etc. can be critical for those who want to invest. Being able to describe one’s own vision thereafter becomes priceless when one is ready to leap into business ownership.
Phillip Akhzar, Arka
Solve Daily-life Problems
Educating students about innovation and entrepreneurship can help them develop real-world skills to lead extraordinary lives in this time-paced and fast-changing world. The future is uncertain, and everyone should be ready to face and conquer. Entrepreneurship and innovation help individuals become independent and channel their creativity into creating something of their own in this competitive world. Studying entrepreneurship and innovation enhances one's analytical and logical skills that enable one to solve any problem. Entrepreneurship mainly helps solve daily-life problems and eases pain points with the help of innovative products and services provided. Entrepreneurs secure their futures and secure the world's future by making it a better place with simple solutions to complex problems.
Madhurima Halder, Recruit CRM
Leverage Your Creativity
Human beings are all born with creativity that can be used to solve many complex problems of life. But to be able to use it takes a certain level of skill. Learning entrepreneurship and innovation helps people learn a lot about using creativity to simplify things in daily life. In entrepreneurship, your creativity and out-of-the-box thinking are used as a necessity. They are seen as the means to function more efficiently. And what is true success if it isn't being able to implement in real life what you learn from the books?
Samantha Odo, Precondo
Expand both your entrepreneurial thinking and the skills to bring your best ideas to fruition. Whether your goal is to launch your own venture or apply your skills in a corporation, nonprofit or public organization, you’ll emerge ready to confidently lead and make a lasting impact.
Terkel creates community-driven content featuring expert insights. Sign up at terkel.io to answer questions and get published.