Developing Entrepreneurial Education at the University Focused on Start-ups

Abstract

Research have shown that majority of start-ups fail. The reasons can be expressed as follows: premature scaling, poor product, ignoring customer needs, etc. This failure is caused by the lack of entrepreneurial skills of founders and their co-workers. Creating favorable start-up ecosystem requires cooperation of many stakeholders such as companies, public institutions (universities, self-governing regions, etc.) as well as enthusiastic individuals. Universities play crucial role in the ecosystem creation. They are actively trying to prepare students for their entrepreneurial career. They are organizing events as well as offering courses, which should help students to succeed with their start-ups. This paper describes the development of an entrepreneurial course at the University of Žilina. There was used case study method for describing several years of experiences with creation of such a course. Authors have tested various approaches in order to develop complex system of startup education which consists of university course, related thematic events and practical experience for students aiming to establish their own business. The system consists of using simple visual tools and related practical activities which will further improve their entrepreneurial knowledge. This proposed system serves as a basis for future research.