Advising

The advising team works with you on course exploration, and co-curricular and professional opportunities. Advisors also process major declarations and minor releases.

How to Declare

To declare your minor, you must have a declared major, be in good academic standing, and have at least sophomore standing. If you meet those criteria, schedule an appointment with one of the Entrepreneurship Minor staff advisors.

We strongly recommend meeting with a Peer Advisor, listed below, before that appointment. Peer Advisors can walk you through minor requirements and offer valuable student perspectives and advice. Appointments are available during Fall and Winter terms.

Entrepreneurship Academic Advising Appointment

Peer Advisors

Students interested in the Entrepreneurship Minor should meet with an Entrepreneurship Minor peer advisor to discuss minor requirements and gain valuable student perspectives and advice. Students can schedule advising appointments with peer advisors during the Fall and Winter terms.

Eli Gray

Senior • Biomedical Engineering

Book an appointment with Eli

Eli is a senior studying Biomedical Engineering with a minor in Entrepreneurship. He plans to pursue a career in medical devices, biomaterials, or biotechnology after graduation and would love to have his own startup one day. His favorite class was ENTR 390 because it allowed him creative liberty and freedom with his projects.

He is involved with Sigma Eta Pi (Entrepreneurship Fraternity), 3D Printing Club, and various soccer and volleyball groups. Outside of school, he enjoys cooking, baking, trying new foods, playing sports, binging TV series, or playing card games.

Ivana Vera Sanchez

Sophomore • Industrial and Operations Engineering

Book an appointment with Ivana

Ivana is a sophomore from Mexico City, majoring in Industrial and Operations Engineering and pursuing a double minor in Entrepreneurship and Environmental Engineering. Currently a member of the ELP 2026 cohort, she is actively developing her own fintech startup. Her favorite class so far has been ENTR 402: Concept to Prototype. Before taking the course, she had no prior knowledge of APIs or backend development, but the class empowered her to learn these skills from scratch, ultimately allowing her to build and successfully launch her startup’s website.

On campus, Ivana is highly involved in the entrepreneurial community and advocacy efforts. She serves as a Director and Co-founder of MCombinator for MPowered Entrepreneurship, an Analyst and Merch Director for NOBE Consulting, and an Article Writer and Illustrator for the American Cancer Society’s CAN publication. Outside the classroom, she is fluent in Spanish, English, and French, and is a huge F1 and car enthusiast. She also enjoys visual arts (having sold four of her own paintings), playing basketball, soccer, and the piano, and running with the U-Mich Casual Running Club.

Staff Advisors

In order to declare the minor students must meet with a staff advisor for the Entrepreneurship Minor. Furthermore, students can discuss petitioning, course mapping and/or longer term professional aspirations associated with the Entrepreneurship Minor. Advising is available year round.

Schedule an Advising Appointment

Timothy Webb, PhD

Entrepreneurship Minor Faculty Director

Tim graduated from the University of Michigan with an Honors BA in History and Classical Archaeology before completing his PhD in Roman Archaeology from the University of Bradford. Professionally, Tim ran international archaeological field schools in Pompeii, Italy; Taught undergraduates in Italy, England, California and Michigan; worked in finance for HSBC Bank; and advised in the College of Literature, Science and the Arts at U-M prior to directing the minor.

Outside of work, Tim loves hiking, baking, and spending time with his daughters. He is also a huge soccer fan and loves watching Liverpool F.C.

Caitlin Diefenbach

Entrepreneurship Minor Faculty Director

Caitlin earned a dual BS degree in Mild-Moderate and Moderate-Intensive Special Education from Bowling Green State University and an M.Ed. in Curriculum & Instruction from Liberty University. Before joining the Ross School of Business, she spent five years as a special education teacher, working with diverse learners. This experience fueled her passion for supporting students and advocating for their unique learning needs.

Outside of work, Caitlin enjoys basketball, golf, traveling, and summers on the lake. She is a fan of college basketball, Michigan Football, and Grey’s Anatomy.

Lisa Ferrara

Entrepreneurship Academic Advisor and Ross BBA Undergraduate Academic Advisor

Lisa is passionate about helping students realize their goals and potential through co-creating an enriching university experience. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Political Science with minors in Communication Arts and Psychology from Benedictine University in Lisle, Illinois. She also holds Master’s of Business Administration and Master’s of Science of Organizational Behavior degrees. Lisa joined the University of Michigan after nine years at Benedictine, where she worked within the Offices of Financial Aid and Undergraduate Transfer Enrollment.

Lisa enjoys yoga, martial arts, kayaking, hiking, reading, listening to NPR, and watching science fiction movies and TV shows.

Kellie White

Entrepreneurship Academic Advisor & Ross Curriculum Support Coordinator

Kellie graduated from Western Michigan University with a major in Secondary Education and Social Studies, with a minor in History. She also holds an MA in History from Fitchburg State University. Prior to working at Ross, she taught history for 7 years across the US. Kellie’s passion for education and student experiences allows her an empathetic approach in her role.

Beyond working, Kellie enjoys hiking the national parks, is a huge Michigan football fan, enjoys a good horror novel, and loves going to rock concerts.

Ané Wolfe

Entrepreneurship Academic Advisor & Academic Programs and Records Specialist

Ané graduated from St. Olaf College with a History degree. After graduation, she worked in the AmeriCorps as a Vocabulary Coach for an elementary school in the Twin Cities for two years. She then came to the University of Michigan and earned a Master’s degree in Higher Education. and has worked as a Career Coach at the University Career Center, and currently as an Academic Operations team member for the Center for Entrepreneurship.

Her “after-school activities” include running, horseback riding, watching Michigan football with her family and friends, and is currently learning how to cook beyond pasta and tossing salads.

Petition a course to count toward the Entrepreneurship Minor

Students may submit a petition to request that a course count toward Entrepreneurship Minor requirements. Petitions must include a syllabus and a brief explanation of how the course aligns with either the ideation, elective, or practicum category. Students may also petition to receive practicum credit for experiences completed prior to reaching senior standing or before completing the core course.

Please note: If a petitioned course is taken outside of U-M, it is the student’s responsibility to verify that it will transfer to U-M. The Entrepreneurship Minor does not evaluate transfer credit; your home school/college determines how the credit transfers back. Petition approval simply means that the course was evaluated to meet elective or practicum criteria. To count toward the minor, the course must post as departmental credit or an approved area credit on your U-M transcript. Courses that transfer as “TRGENCR” cannot be applied to the minor.

Definition
Ideation: This course will teach the processes and tools needed to support bi-directional analysis to address how to create a solution for a particular (market) need or to create a (market) need for a solution. This would include problem identification, empathy building, stakeholder identification and engagement, moonshot thinking, and ideation prototyping.

Required course coverage (must include all):

Problem Identification
Teaches framing problems/opportunities; articulates clear problem statements and assumptions.

Empathy Building
Uses interviews, observations, or analogous research; produces empathy maps or similar artifacts.

Stakeholder Identification & Engagement
Maps primary/secondary stakeholders; plans and executes engagement (e.g., interviews, co-creation, feedback loops).

Moonshot Thinking
Practices divergent thinking beyond incremental improvements; explores bold, high-impact concepts with feasibility reflection.

Ideation Prototyping
Creates low- to mid-fidelity prototypes (paper, click-throughs, role-plays, storyboards, quick technical mocks) and iterates based on feedback.

Bi-Directional Opportunity Analysis
Explicitly trains both pathways:
Market-to-Solution (need → solution concepts → prototyping →testing)
Solution-to-Market (solution concept → market discovery/creation→ positioning and early validation).

Entrepreneurship Process & Entrepreneurial Mindset
Being alert to opportunities in one’s environment and willing to take action to create value as a result.

Other Supporting Criteria: *at least two of the following categories

Ideation, Applied Creativity, & Innovation
Outcomes of entrepreneurial ventures and projects have their basis in ideas of a new, future possibility. The entrepreneurial process can be considered the shaping, testing, and refining (and at times abandoning) of the foundational idea–the idea for the perceived opportunity.

Therefore, a course that covers topics on creativity theory and topics or practice related to the creation of ideas, putting those ideas into forms others can interact with and experience, and applying those ideas to problems or needs in the external environment, fulfills this criterion. History of ideas and their evolution over time are topics that are encouraged, but
the emphasis in the course should be on topics and or practice related to generating new ideas that could potentially support value creation.

Empathy, Intercultural Intelligence, & Ethical Reasoning
Ideas are necessary but ideation is only the first step. We also want students to select better ideas by getting outside their head and analyzing others’ needs and problems in the world. This is where opportunities are more likely to reside.

The human default is to use one’s perspective to make sense of others and the environment. Hence, increased awareness and practice are necessary to consider what others see and feel and what problems or needs they have–that is, to be empathetic.
Knowledge of group differences in norms, customs, history, identity, and values (e.g., cultural, ethnic, political, socio-economic) is useful in this regard, as are topics that inform how to act and make decisions that consider the consequences for self and for others, as well as the broader society and environment.

Self-Agency, Risk Taking, Leadership & Decision-Making
The pursuit of new ideas and enlisting others in that pursuit requires that the individual exert influence over his or her environment to help shape reality and make a difference. At times this requires a willingness to disrupt default ways of thinking or doing things and questioning what is real or possible.

Pursuing new ideas and guiding others to follow is facilitated by exposure to topics on leadership. These would likely include topics on individuals’ capacity to help spark change and why that matters, in addition to individuals recognizing the need to find problems and see opportunities in them. Other topics should deal with analysis (planning, strategy) and effective decision-making. Further, exposure to situations that require thinking through ill-defined, unscripted, or “wicked” problems can increase recognition that making a difference and setting direction are many times linked to taking risks by engaging uncertain and discomfiting situations.

Teamwork, Negotiation, Collaboration & Organizational Processes
Little of importance gets done without teams because rarely is an individual as smart or effective as a group, and this is especially true in entrepreneurship. But having a team is not enough; what also matters is sustaining and managing the team and its evolution.

This criterion is thus supported by exposure to topics and or practice on the importance of teams and collaboration, knowledge of personnel selection, team dynamics, and team motivation. Topics that center on team dysfunctions and how to overcome them are also important. A course could also focus on effective negotiation and conflict resolution–which
is ongoing within teams and with social contacts outside the team. Finally, a course could provide coverage on organizational structure and forms, organizational culture, and management practice.

Communication, Persuasion, and Selling
To give ideas life and move them from one’s mind to a place others can consider them requires effective communication and persuasion. So does enlisting the help of others and interacting effectively with team members, mentors, and other stakeholders.

These skills are strengthened by exposure to topics and or practice in effective communication, different forms of communication, and the need to be facile with different platforms for communicating with others. Other course topics may focus on technical/business writing, different types of presentations as a function of audience and venue, and knowledge of or practice in conducting different types of meetings. A course could also leverage knowledge on persuasion and interpersonal influence techniques and marketing principles.

exposure to concepts, but the focus should be on applying concepts–that is, practicing and taking action.
regular mentoring and coaching to guide students in their practice but to also provide feedback on how their performance does or does not meet standards or learning objectives for that aspect of the course.
reflection by students throughout the practicum and a way to document these reflections. Some categories for reflections might include:
- recognizing and describing how performance did not meet standards and attempting to explain why (e.g., why a pitch did not go well)
- recognizing and describing why a concept did not apply in some situation
- open-ended reflections where students use criteria categories (see Appendix B) to describe how experiences for that week touched on the different categories (e.g., bringing in team dynamic concepts to think about how the team functioned that week)
- fine-tuning of operational model based on week’s experiences

Instructors are welcome to come up with their own ideas for inducing and documenting reflection. Also, instructors need to provide a statement of learning objectives / success metrics for following skill areas.

Skills to be practiced in Practica; see Appendix B for elaboration and examples.

Skills related to ideation, iterative prototyping, minimal viable product generation
Skills in opportunity thinking and market analysis
Skills related to needs analysis, problem validation, client-user discovery
Skills related to solution description, initial validation, and testing (for some practica product development)
Skills related to written communication, pitching and doing effective presentations
Skills in determining and reporting financial feasibility and sustainability of proposed venture
Skills related to relationship and team building and broader social networking

Appendix B: Elaboration of Gateway Practica Requirements and Elaboration of Skill Categories

Gateway Practicum 1 (Ideation Focus)

Ideation, Iterative Prototyping, Minimal-MVP Generation

Definition of Element: Ideation occurs throughout the entrepreneurship process. But here ideation refers more to generating ideas that serve as the starting point for a venture. Thus, it is important that students as individuals and as part of teams practice generating ideas, idea shaping, and making ideas manifest so others can think about the ideas but also interact with physical or alternative forms that represent the ideas.

Example experiences/behaviors: brainstorming, exaptation practice (applying tested ideas from one domain to another domain, market, or for another purpose), value cost inversions for established market/product, idea blending based on different industries, idea prototype creation, sketches or versions of art forms, draft of business model canvas.

Opportunity Thinking, Market Analyses

Definition of Element: Opportunity thinking, like ideation, also occurs throughout the entrepreneurship process. But here opportunity thinking refers to the envisioning of a product, service, process, or technology that could potentially create value for self and others. Opportunity thinking involves analysis to find gaps in available offers and the imagining of new offers to fill these gaps. Opportunity thinking provides the context for ideation. Compared to needs analysis (next topic), this is more of a top-down, strategic process.

Example experiences/behaviors: analysis of societal trends and their implications (economic, cultural, technological, regulatory, global), analysis of markets to be addressed and industries to be affected by offer, utilities provided by offer, analysis of competitors (e.g., SWOT, Strategy Canvas, 5 forces analysis, value cost tradeoffs or inversions), business model generation, active discussion of ideas with diverse audiences to get feedback.

Client-User Discovery, Needs Analysis, Problem Validation

Definition of Element: The creation of a product, service, or process can bring intrinsic value to the creator, but this value is many times tied to other people (person/group in need, customer, community, society). This requires analyzing the problems faced by these groups or broader community and thus specifying and validating those needs. In addition, it is important to assess how big the need or “pain” is. Compared to opportunity thinking (previous topic), this is more of an on the ground process to assess end user or customer reactions. But it’s important to keep in mind that even though you can validate a need, if you’re only servicing 20 individuals with little growth potential, that will not make for a good opportunity.

Example experiences/behaviors: documentation and explanation of problems/needs/pains, anthropological/ethnographic observation, building end user profiles, cross-cultural learning, empathy and perspective taking practice, interaction with different types of potential end users, testing/validating the hypothesized need, iteration practice.

Solution Statement/Testing

Definition of Element: Once hypotheses about the assumed needs and problems of a group have been validated (as well as evolving opportunity), additional validation is needed, in this case for the proposed solution. A big need may be discovered, but that is no guarantee the idea for the solution, or the team and resources available, will necessarily help fill the need or solve the problem.

Example experiences/behaviors: documentation and explanation of solution, prototype generation to make idea more real for end user (customer), design of tests/experiments to gauge solution’s fit with need/problem, testing to gauge interest, attention, behavior. Focus on end user and less on perfecting product/service, iteration practice.

Communication, Pitching, Persuasion

Definition of Element: Communication, pitching, and persuasion are constants in entrepreneurship and are thus key ingredients, whether this involves translating an idea into words, providing descriptions team members understand, crafting need and solution statements that will capture end users’ and customers’ attention, to crafting pitches that are succinct and persuasive. Without the ability to communicate clearly and persuade and motivate, chances of carrying out the entrepreneurship process are reduced.

Example experiences/behaviors: descriptions of idea/opportunity, documentation of needs & solutions, pitching contests, submitting crowd sourcing videos, conducting meetings, recruiting team members and mentors/board.

Financial Feasibility and Sustainability of Venture

Definition of Element: A venture cannot create and distribute value without determining whether available resources and investments offset current costs of operation. In addition, a venture cannot grow and stabilize without additional investment. Thus, it’s important to engage in actions related to determining costs and revenues for current operations and near-future projections.

Example experiences/behaviors: basic accounting practice and budgeting, bootstrapping, creating sales pitch, financial forecasts, some form of business plan development.

Relationship Building and Team Management and Broader Social Networking

Definition of Element: Entrepreneurship is a team sport and requires the recruitment of team members and also the establishment of broader social contacts that support the project. But having people interested in the venture is not enough, as a key determinant in project/venture success is recruiting good talent, acquiring supportive contacts, the collaborative creation of work and interpersonal processes, and management of those processes.

Example experiences/behaviors: Networking experiences, pitching to potential teammates, generating team needs and criteria for selecting teammates (or teams to join), ability to discuss value of venture team, establishing connections with a mentor or other key partners, negotiation and conflict management, convening and leading meetings.

Gateway Practicum 2 (Implementation Focus – Specialized)

Continued Needs & Opportunity Analysis due to Different End Users, Market Segments

Definition of Element: Validation and fine-tuning of customer or end user needs is critical in entrepreneurship. But as projects and ventures evolve, so may the markets or customer bases that can be reached. Different customer segments or end users many times have different needs. What is valued by a lead user may not appeal to a member of the mainstream market or late adopter. Thus, it’s important for teams as they continue to fine-tune their opportunity to continue to assess whether their needs analysis is current and on the mark.

Example experiences/behaviors: see as previously described, along with practice comparing and rationalizing different end user profiles, continuing to test evolving opportunity hypothesis.

Continued Solution Testing/Crafting

Definition of Element: Just as customers’ needs require continued assessment due to different types of end users and markets, the solutions conceived for those needs should be adjusted or redefined. Thus, it is necessary to continue to validate current and future solutions.

Example experiences/behaviors: based on continued needs analysis engage in prototype generation, design tests/experiments to gauge solution’s fit with need, testing to gauge interest, attention, behavior, testing of different end users.

Continued Relationship Building and Team Management and Broader Social Networking

Definition of Element: Team needs can change as projects evolve. In addition, processes for key activities will continue to take shape. And the team will continue to establish broader social contacts and potential partnerships, as well as begin to potentially establish contact with board members. Thus, mindful management of the group, external relations, and fit with evolving opportunity will continue to be an important activity for the team.

Example experiences/behaviors: Establishing process for internal and external meetings, maintaining connections with a mentor and or advisory board or other key partners, negotiation and conflict management, establishing rudimentary team culture and core values, explicit but “working” vision/purpose.

Resource Acquisition and Management

Definition of Element: Resources are important throughout the process but take on more importance as projects evolve. To become more real ideas require some level of resource support, such as cash, space/materials/tools to do the work, computer software and storage, access to information/research, and resources to incentivize and compensate personnel.

Example experiences/behaviors: finding and learning about sources of funding, developing pitch/slide deck/video for potential funders, practice in bootstrapping, business plan writing, familiarity with debt and equity financing.

Financial Feasibility and Sustainability of Venture

Definition of Element: A venture cannot create and distribute value without determining whether acquired resources and anticipated revenue streams offset current and future costs. In addition, a venture cannot grow and stabilize without additional investment. Thus, it’s important to engage in actions related to determining costs of operation and financial support at present and into the future. Practice in validating different financial streams (even just from lead or early users) is also relevant as is practice in “selling.” An inability to create revenue streams that offset costs suggests the need to re-visit earlier stages of the opportunity development process.

Example experiences/behaviors: presentation of solution to potential customers, design of tests/experiments to gauge willingness to pay or spend time, creating sales pitch, financial forecasts, some form of business plan development, basic accounting practice and budgeting, bootstrapping.

Product/Service Development & Commercialization, Further Testing of Value and or Growth

Definition of Element: Validated hypotheses of proposed needs and solutions are important outcomes, and validation or falsification of these may be enough to meet requirements for some practica. But many times validation of one’s solutions represents the beginning of the development of the product or service to be offered, which then can require additional solution testing.

Example experiences/behaviors: MVP creation/iteration, gauging interest and appeal and whether need is fulfilled, testing scaling assumptions.

Communication (oral or written), Pitching, Persuasion

Definition of Element: As stated previously, communication, pitching, and persuasion are constants in entrepreneurship and thus will continue to be key ingredients across practica.

Example experiences/behaviors: see previously described examples.

Submit a Petition

How to obtain your graduation audit or senior release

Prior to graduation, students must obtain an audit from all their programs of study as well as apply to graduate through Wolverine Access. We recommend getting your minor release the term prior to your expected graduation. To obtain a release, please email entrepreneurshipminor@umich.edu. It can take up to 2 weeks for the program to process your minor request.

Contact Us

Questions about declaring or fulfilling the minor? The Entrepreneurship Advising Team is here to help.
EntrepreneurshipMinor@umich.edu