The Entrepreneurship Minor is open to students in all majors except business administration and economics. The Entrepreneurship Minor builds on a set of core courses designed specifically to cover the diverse aspects of the entrepreneurial skillset and mindset. Made-for-the-minor electives along with a select set of elective courses from across campus lead to a balanced and interdisciplinary approach to entrepreneurship. You’ll acquire the tools, develop the skills, and cultivate the mindset of an innovator and entrepreneur. In the minor, you will work alongside students from more than 35 majors who are also interested in developing their entrepreneurial side.

For Questions About The Entrepreneurship Minor
Contact: Professor Tom Katona
tkatona@calpoly.edu

What kind of careers will the Entrepreneurship Minor support?

Every business needs team members who bring an entrepreneurial mindset to their jobs. You may go on to found your own startup, design or improve upon a new product, lead a small business, or pursue a corporate position. Whatever pathway you choose, you’ll contribute an entrepreneurial business perspective to your role.

Curriculum

The minor consists of three required and three elective courses (24 units). The three core courses have been designed to leverage GE prerequisites, which makes the Entrepreneurship Minor accessible in your freshman or sophomore years. You’ll find the full list of required and elective courses in the minor here.

Declare the Entrepreneurship Minor

We give preference to students who:

• Have strong academic performance
• Are connected to the co-curricular innovation and entrepreneurship programs on campus (learn more below).
• Have already taken BUS 310: Introduction to Entrepreneurship

To be considered for the minor, complete the online application. We will review your application and send you an email containing next steps.

Co-Curricular Opportunities for Students in the Entrepreneurship Minor

In the Entrepreneurship Minor, you’ll find a community of students to inspire you—and an entrepreneurial ecosystem outside of the classroom via the Cal Poly Center for Innovation & Entrepreneurship, which provides direct, hands-on experiences.

Cal Poly Entrepreneurs is a thriving student entrepreneurial community on campus that brings together creative thinkers and doers from all majors.

The Hatchery is an on-campus incubator that offers student entrepreneurs workspace, makerspace resources, and mentoring support. The program is open to all Cal Poly students interested in learning how to take a business from idea generation to launch.

The HotHouse Startup Accelerator is a summer program designed to give you everything you need to launch a real, scalable company. In addition to hands-on mentorship and weekly workshops, companies in the accelerator program have access to $10,000 in seed funding.

Innovation Quest (iQ) is a competition designed to encourage student innovators to showcase what they’ve built, coded, designed or prototyped throughout their efforts at Cal Poly. iQ awards have helped Cal Poly student innovators and entrepreneurs to launch businesses.

Innovation Sandbox is a shared makerspace for students to “play” with the latest prototyping and ideation tools, enabling them to formulate and develop their ideas in a collaborative workspace.