Do we Practice What we Preach? Applying Startup Practice to Entrepreneurship Education

Abstract

Definitions of the term “entrepreneurship education” vary from the process of passing the necessary skills and concepts to individuals to identifying new business opportunities and to reach high levels of self-confidence to benefit from such opportunities. Some scholars refer to entrepreneurship education as more of skill building and leadership programs, focused on new product development, creative thinking and technology innovation. This study set out to examine the entrepreneurship faculty perspective on applying venture creation methods to entrepreneurship courses.  Through interviews with 15 entrepreneurship faculty in two entrepreneurship programs, in Israel and the United States, it examines their professional and academic backgrounds, thought processes and best practices for teaching entrepreneurship. Building on the Lean Startup Methodology, it mostly looks at the extent that lean startup guidelines such as iterations, customer feedback and product development are applied to their teaching methods and curriculum. The study found that many of these guidelines were applied by the professors, especially among those with an industry oriented professional background.