CLab: Startup Studio

3 Credits · Level: Graduate, Undergraduate

This SFS course helps train and enable top students to create ambitious, entrepreneurial solutions to global challenges. Students will work individually or in self-selected teams to identify societal needs and innovative, financially-sustainable solutions that fit their long-term passions and life/career goals. Working in collaboration with Citi Ventures and its network, students will liaise with individuals in and outside the university, including other entrepreneurs, engineers, designers, mentors, alumni, policy think-tanks, potential funders, incubators/studios, regulators, and existing institutions (corporate, government, academic, and/or NGO) to move their proposals toward feasible proposals worthy of implementation and investment. Students are pushed to quickly field-test their ideas and pivot as needed, to embrace fast, productive failures that accelerate learning and optimize resource allocation. The course will allow participants in the spring SFS Global Issues Pitch Competition (Hyperlink found here: https://ibd.georgetown.edu/research/gipc/) to advance their proposals. Broader long-term goals include the successful implementation of solutions, the education of global-citizen leaders, the further development of Georgetown's entrepreneurial-ecosystem, the strengthening of SFS' role as the leading institution for innovative answers to global issues, and deepening its partnerships with top thinkers and institutions around the world. For the 1cr experiential fieldwork class component ( GBUS 4971 /5971), students will have an opportunity to connect with entrepreneurs, investors, Citi Ventures, and alumni working in their areas of interest, to further field-test, pivot, and network and prepare for the GIPC. No specific background is required, although some knowledge of the topic is helpful.