Entrepreneurship & Innovation - MBA - Harvard Business School

Entrepreneurship

Entrepreneurship

 

Fuel Your Entrepreneurial Passion

 
The HBS community is a place where students are encouraged and inspired to pursue their entrepreneurial passions. There is a vast ecosystem of resources that supports the unique needs of innovators both inside and outside the classroom.

The global perspectives brought together in the HBS immersive learning environment drive a constant flow of dynamic ideas, leading to true change and lasting impact.

Given our longtime legacy of entrepreneurship with over 50% of our graduates who create at least one new venture, we continue to support our alumni with robust programming for collaboration and lifelong learning.

#1
  • Female Founders
  • Founder Count
  • Company Count
  • Capital Raised*
*Pitchbook 2023 Rankings

Resources

Departments

Programs

Landscape

Student & Alumni Stories

  • Introducing LivelyHood, A Volunteer Nonprofit Founded in Response to COVID-19

    Justin Crist Lee
    • 20 APR 2020
    • | 
    • MBA Students
    LivelyHood is a safe and simple platform that connects healthy, young volunteers with elderly and immunocompromised individuals who need help running errands. Our mission is to help diminish the impact of the pandemic by enabling the most vulnerable among us to stay safe in their homes.

    Black Visionary Leadership and Redefining What's Possible

    AASU
    • 20 FEB 2020
    • | 
    • MBA Students
    The statistics regarding Black entrepreneurs are staggering. Fewer than one percent of Black entrepreneurs get VC funding, and of that .0006 percent goes to Black women entrepreneurs. This is not because there is a lack of innovative ideas and lucrative ventures from Black founders.

    Taking the Risk to Start a Company at Business School

    Aparna Atluru
    • 23 DEC 2019
    • | 
    • MBA Students
    There is never a good time to start a company, so you have to go ahead and take the risk. “If you don’t ever try, you won’t know. Don’t ever wait. If there is a market opportunity, run the tests and get clarity on if you should go full throttle.”

  • All Is Well in Texas: How Julia Cheek Founded Her At-Home Lab Testing Startup, EverlyWell

    Aparna Atluru
    • 13 DEC 2019
    • | 
    • MBA Students
    Julia Cheek started EverlyWell in Austin, Texas so that she could be close to her family. The health and wellness company provides at-home lab testing kits and digital results to consumers, and offers a suite of validated tests, including; food sensitivity, fertility, STDs, and thyroid. This past year Everlywell did $40M in sales.

    Mollie Breen (MBA 2020) Talks Mathematics, Being a Twin, and the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Degree

    Admissions Staff
    • 22 NOV 2019
    • | 
    • MBA Admissions
    After demonstrating exceptional math and computer science talent at Duke University, and more than three years of service as an applied research mathematician in the Department of Defense, Mollie Breen took the next, not-so-obvious step: as a reality television contestant on Girl Starter, a women's-only start-up competition that ran on TLC and Discovery Channel in spring 2017.

    Improving Lives One Data Set at a Time

    Admissions Staff
    • 02 OCT 2019
    • | 
    • MBA Admissions
    “We’re tackling challenges like hunger, sanitation, water, and agriculture in Africa, Asia, and about a dozen countries around the world.”

  • A Guided Experience into the World of Entrepreneurship

    Recruiting
    • 04 SEP 2019
    • | 
    • HBS Community
    Although Stan had no commitments to any particular industry, he saw his internship as a gateway to entrepreneurship. “Microsoft was immense,” he says. “I wanted to work at a smaller company.”

    Entrepreneurship and Global Capitalism - Discovering the Business of Storytelling

    Snigdha Sur
    • 06 AUG 2019
    • | 
    • Alumni
    I’ve been drawn to media since I was little. During a traditional Bengali ceremony for babies when they can eat their first solid food, they are presented with three choices on a tray: grain, a pen, and a gold coin. Grain represents a love for food. The pen, a love for learning. And gold, a love for business. My mom told me I picked up the pen with one hand and the gold coin with another. Even as a baby, I wanted to have it all.

    SEI25 Series: Misan Rewane, MBA 2013, CEO WAVE

    Misan Rewane
    • 29 MAR 2019
    • | 
    • Alumni
    This post is part of the Social Enterprise Initiative 25th anniversary blog series, which highlights some of the faculty, staff, students, and alumni who have been a part of SEI throughout the years. In this post, Misan Rewane (MBA 2013, NVC 2013 Winner) shares her insights on founding and leading a social enterprise. Misan is the cofounder and CEO of WAVE (West Africa Vocational Education), an organization dedicated to tackling youth unemployment in West Africa.

  • When Ideas Become Reality: Entrepreneurship at HBS

    Clare Simonis
    • 02 NOV 2018
    • | 
    • MBA Students
    When people talk about a founder, there's often commentary around her magnetic confidence, her natural ability to convince everyone in the room that what she's doing is part of the universe's design. I've certainly never been that person.

  • Introducing LivelyHood, A Volunteer Nonprofit Founded in Response to COVID-19

    Justin Crist Lee
    • 20 APR 2020
    • | 
    • MBA Students
    LivelyHood is a safe and simple platform that connects healthy, young volunteers with elderly and immunocompromised individuals who need help running errands. Our mission is to help diminish the impact of the pandemic by enabling the most vulnerable among us to stay safe in their homes.

  • Black Visionary Leadership and Redefining What's Possible

    AASU
    • 20 FEB 2020
    • | 
    • MBA Students
    The statistics regarding Black entrepreneurs are staggering. Fewer than one percent of Black entrepreneurs get VC funding, and of that .0006 percent goes to Black women entrepreneurs. This is not because there is a lack of innovative ideas and lucrative ventures from Black founders.

  • Taking the Risk to Start a Company at Business School

    Aparna Atluru
    • 23 DEC 2019
    • | 
    • MBA Students
    There is never a good time to start a company, so you have to go ahead and take the risk. “If you don’t ever try, you won’t know. Don’t ever wait. If there is a market opportunity, run the tests and get clarity on if you should go full throttle.”

  • All Is Well in Texas: How Julia Cheek Founded Her At-Home Lab Testing Startup, EverlyWell

    Aparna Atluru
    • 13 DEC 2019
    • | 
    • MBA Students
    Julia Cheek started EverlyWell in Austin, Texas so that she could be close to her family. The health and wellness company provides at-home lab testing kits and digital results to consumers, and offers a suite of validated tests, including; food sensitivity, fertility, STDs, and thyroid. This past year Everlywell did $40M in sales.

  • Mollie Breen (MBA 2020) Talks Mathematics, Being a Twin, and the MS/MBA: Engineering Sciences Degree

    Admissions Staff
    • 22 NOV 2019
    • | 
    • MBA Admissions
    After demonstrating exceptional math and computer science talent at Duke University, and more than three years of service as an applied research mathematician in the Department of Defense, Mollie Breen took the next, not-so-obvious step: as a reality television contestant on Girl Starter, a women's-only start-up competition that ran on TLC and Discovery Channel in spring 2017.

  • Improving Lives One Data Set at a Time

    Admissions Staff
    • 02 OCT 2019
    • | 
    • MBA Admissions
    “We’re tackling challenges like hunger, sanitation, water, and agriculture in Africa, Asia, and about a dozen countries around the world.”

  • A Guided Experience into the World of Entrepreneurship

    Recruiting
    • 04 SEP 2019
    • | 
    • HBS Community
    Although Stan had no commitments to any particular industry, he saw his internship as a gateway to entrepreneurship. “Microsoft was immense,” he says. “I wanted to work at a smaller company.”

  • Entrepreneurship and Global Capitalism - Discovering the Business of Storytelling

    Snigdha Sur
    • 06 AUG 2019
    • | 
    • Alumni
    I’ve been drawn to media since I was little. During a traditional Bengali ceremony for babies when they can eat their first solid food, they are presented with three choices on a tray: grain, a pen, and a gold coin. Grain represents a love for food. The pen, a love for learning. And gold, a love for business. My mom told me I picked up the pen with one hand and the gold coin with another. Even as a baby, I wanted to have it all.

  • SEI25 Series: Misan Rewane, MBA 2013, CEO WAVE

    Misan Rewane
    • 29 MAR 2019
    • | 
    • Alumni
    This post is part of the Social Enterprise Initiative 25th anniversary blog series, which highlights some of the faculty, staff, students, and alumni who have been a part of SEI throughout the years. In this post, Misan Rewane (MBA 2013, NVC 2013 Winner) shares her insights on founding and leading a social enterprise. Misan is the cofounder and CEO of WAVE (West Africa Vocational Education), an organization dedicated to tackling youth unemployment in West Africa.

  • When Ideas Become Reality: Entrepreneurship at HBS

    Clare Simonis
    • 02 NOV 2018
    • | 
    • MBA Students
    When people talk about a founder, there's often commentary around her magnetic confidence, her natural ability to convince everyone in the room that what she's doing is part of the universe's design. I've certainly never been that person.

Rock Center 

The Rock Center for Entrepreneurship supports students in their entrepreneurial ambitions through a variety of programming including the annual New Venture Competition (more on this below), one-on-one meetings with our Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, and Rock Summer Fellows.

In addition, the Rock Center supports faculty research, fellowships, symposia, conferences and alumni programming like the Rock 100, a worldwide exclusive HBS network for founders of early stage, high impact ventures.

The New Venture Competition is an annual student competition sponsored by the Rock Center and Social Enterprise Initiative. There are two tracks for HBS students to participate in: the Business Track for ventures with economic returns that drive substantial market value, and the Social Enterprise Track for ventures that drive social change using nonprofit, for-profit, or hybrid models. There is also a New Venture Competition Alumni Track which serves as a launch pad for innovative new ventures from HBS alumni, providing access and exposure to potential investors, mentors, and advisors.

View the Rock Center Startup Guide.

An annual student competition sponsored by Harvard Business School’s Rock Center for Entrepreneurship and Social Enterprise Initiative.
A worldwide exclusive HBS network for founders of early stage, high impact ventures.

Harvard i-labHarvard i-lab   

The Harvard i-lab is a resource available to all current students from any Harvard school who are looking to explore innovation and entrepreneurship at any stage. It provides all the physical and intellectual resources current students need to develop and grow, including one-to-one advising, office hours with industry experts, workshops, an incubator program, and a competition. 

President's Innovation Challenge 

The President’s Innovation Challenge is a call to action for Harvard students and alumni who are passionate about developing ideas that make a difference. It celebrates what we can accomplish through collaboration, ingenuity, and rigorous exploration.

Courses 

The entrepreneurial courses at HBS provide the foundation for understanding the processes, finances and context of entrepreneurship. They bridge the gap from the theoretical to the practical and offer invaluable takeaways for the real world of startups.

HBS students take a variety of entrepreneurship courses throughout both the Required Curriculum and Elective Curriculum. There are 35 faculty members in the Entrepreneurial Management unit, one of the largest teaching units.

First year (RC) students can participate in Startup Bootcamp, an immersion program where you join a team and work alongside 150 students as you learn how to launch a new venture.

MBA Voices Blog: Entrepreneurship Courses

HBS Startup Bootcamp and Founders Unfiltered

Chris Hutchens
  • 04 SEP 2017
  • | 
  • MBA Voices
The aim of the 10-day program was to provide both practical tools and hands-on guidance to help bring an idea from inception to MVP (minimum viable product) in a short period of time.

Black New Venture Competition and Black Tech Master Series Recap

Admissions Staff
  • 25 MAR 2020
The Black Tech Master Series was designed to inspire, engage, and elevate Black tech professionals and aspiring entrepreneurs through interactive workshops, dynamic panel discussions, and networking opportunities.

7 Tips for a Successful Technology Venture Immersion

Andy Harris
  • 06 FEB 2019
  • | 
  • MBA Voices
During the two-week intensive course, co-taught by SEAS and HBS faculty, students practice prototyping physical goods and develop a business plan for a new venture.

Loan Reduction & Summer Fellows

Rock Center, in consultation with MBA Financial Aid, eagerly supports current students who want to pursue their passion for startups during their summer in between RC and EC years as a Rock Summer Fellow. One such way is through our Rock Loan Forgiveness program, a one-time need-based award of $10,000-$20,000 to graduating MBA students who are committed to pursuing their own for-profit entrepreneurial ventures. 

Career & Professional Development (CPD)

Career and Professional Development offers personalized career advice, opportunities to work one on one with 50 career coaches, programming on various industries, workshops on interviewing skills, resumes, and cover letters. Entrepreneurs-in-Residence, Venture Capital Partners and Legal Experts are also available by appointment.

Entrepreneurship Clubs & Forum

HBS students can join the Entrepreneurship Club, Entrepreneurship through Acquisition Club (ETA), as well as the industry-focused student clubs. ETA hosts an annual conference in December. There is also an Entrepreneurship Forum, a group of 8–10 RC students for bi-weekly sessions focused on feedback and support.

Boston & Cambridge

Students can take advantage of opportunities across Boston and Cambridge to attend local events, hackathons, groups, and conferences. Boston is one of the largest cities for startups in the U.S. with venture investment growing year-after-year, making it a breeding ground for innovative ideas to grow into new ventures.  

Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab 

The Pagliuca Harvard Life Lab is a wet laboratory with co-working space for early-stage, high-potential biotech and life science start-ups founded by Harvard students, alumni, faculty, and postdoctoral scholars. Learn about the current venture teams.

As part of the Harvard Innovation Labs ecosystem, the community fosters connections with biotech industry experts, academics, and investors. Moreover, the Harvard Innovation Labs ecosystem offers ventures a selection of diverse resources —from business-building and industry-specific programming to expert advisors and mentors.

Founder Journey 

Discover the Rock alumni and students who are turning opportunity into reality and view a list of companies started by HBS alumni. Download our Entrepreneurship Brochure to view the Founder Journey at HBS.
“I look at the startup journey as the next 10, 20, 30 years, and what HBS really gives you is a community of friends to go through it with. Startups can be really lonely but I don’t feel that way now.”
Cathy Han
MBA 2020, Co-Founder of 42 Technologies, Inc.
“I look at the startup journey as the next 10, 20, 30 years, and what HBS really gives you is a community of friends to go through it with. Startups can be really lonely but I don’t feel that way now.”
Cathy Han
MBA 2020, Co-Founder of 42 Technologies, Inc.

Entrepreneurship Webinars