Schools & Resources

13 Free Online Courses for Entrepreneurs

Free online courses from universities and industry experts can help launch a business and bolster entrepreneurial ability.

Here is a list of free online courses for entrepreneurs. There are courses on how to think like an entrepreneur, launch a business, access financing, and master essential skills such as marketing and accounting.

Free Online Courses for Entrepreneurs

Essentials of Entrepreneurship: Thinking & Action (University of California, Irvine) teaches entrepreneurs to recognize opportunities to generate and assess a business idea. Explore business strategies for new businesses and discover how creativity, opportunity, and feasibility are best evaluated. Learn about the entrepreneurial process and how to manage it.

Home page: Essentials of Entrepreneurship: Thinking & Action. University of California, Irvine.

Essentials of Entrepreneurship: Thinking & Action. University of California, Irvine.

Business Accounting Basics (Purdue University) covers the building blocks and accounting cycles that create financial statements. The course will provide the essential tools to project profitability and break costs down to help analyze any company.

Finance for Non-Financial Managers (Emory University) presents a series of nine modules that move from understanding basic financial principles to applying financial analysis and ratios to drive decisions. Learn the language of finance, read and assess financial statements, and use the numbers to make informed decisions. Each module ends with a self-evaluation exercise to ensure you’ve absorbed the key objectives.

New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs (University of Maryland) is for aspiring or active entrepreneurs who want to understand how to secure funding for their companies. Learn the basics of finance, valuations, funding sources (dilutive and non-dilutive ), and capital structure for new ventures. Develop an understanding of winning investor pitches, and learn how to get to the close.

Home page: New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs. University of Maryland.

New Venture Finance: Startup Funding for Entrepreneurs. University of Maryland.

Beyond Silicon Valley: Growing Entrepreneurship in Transitioning Economies (Case Western Reserve University) explores the options for entrepreneurs to grow their companies outside of well-developed entrepreneurial ecosystems like Silicon Valley. The course explores innovative financing approaches from business leaders and government officials in transitioning markets where entrepreneurs lack significant access to private-sector financing.

Social Media Advertising (University of Colorado, Boulder) explores the different types of social media ads. Learn to target audiences and execute effective advertising campaigns.

Developing An Entrepreneurial Mindset: First Step Towards Success (Michigan State University) is the first course in a six-part series. In this first course, learn to re-frame your thinking to maximize your chances for entrepreneurial success. Learn to operate effectively within the new framework or model for starting a business, and make your initial startup decisions.

Home page: Developing An Entrepreneurial Mindset: First Step Towards Success. Michigan State University.

Developing An Entrepreneurial Mindset: First Step Towards Success. Michigan State University.

Strategic Innovation: Managing Innovation Initiatives (University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign) explores frameworks, tools, and concepts to address the challenges in managing innovation. Develop your capacity to lead your organization in implementing innovation initiatives.

Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies (University of Maryland) assists aspiring and active entrepreneurs in developing great ideas into great companies. Identify and analyze entrepreneurial opportunities, enhance your entrepreneurial mindset, improve your strategic decision-making, and build innovative business models. Students experience a sampling of the ideas and techniques explored in the University of Maryland’s Masters in Technology Entrepreneurship.

Entrepreneurship 1: Developing the Opportunity (Univesity of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School) introduces the foundational concepts of entrepreneurship, including the definition of entrepreneurship, the profile of the entrepreneur, the difference between entrepreneurship and entrepreneurial management, and the role of venture creation in society. Learn proven techniques for identifying and assessing the opportunity, hypothesis testing, and creating a prototype.

Home page: Entrepreneurship 1: Developing the Opportunity. University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School.

Entrepreneurship 1: Developing the Opportunity. University of Pennsylvania, The Wharton School.

Entrepreneurship 101: Who is your customer? (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) explores the essential skills to identify and target customers. Entrepreneurship 101 is based on case studies of MIT startup companies and their founders. Entrepreneurship 101 prepares you for the MIT Global Entrepreneurship Bootcamp, a one-week, intensive entrepreneurship education program that challenges you to start a company in five days.

Becoming an Entrepreneur (Massachusetts Institute of Technology) explores the business skills and startup mindset needed to embark on an entrepreneurial path from MIT Launch, the university’s program for aspiring entrepreneurs. Perform market research to find your customer, define your goals, and develop your entrepreneurial strategy. Learn to overcome the hurdles to starting a company.

Renewable Energy and Green Building Entrepreneurship (Duke University) explores how to launch a new business in the energy, finance, real estate, design, engineering, or environmental sectors, while also helping to create positive environmental and human health impacts worldwide.

Home page: Renewable Energy and Green Building Entrepreneurship. Duke University.

Renewable Energy and Green Building Entrepreneurship. Duke University.

Sig Ueland
Sig Ueland
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