Class 1: August 18, 2026 · ENTR 5500
Notes from August 18, 2026. These notes record the discussion and instructions given that day. For current requirements and due dates, use the assignment guidelines and semester schedule.
Class slides · ENTR Announcements slides
What mattered
Entrepreneurship begins with agency: seeing yourself as someone who can take action, learn what is missing, bring people together, and change a situation. Starting a company is one application; entrepreneurial action also happens inside established organizations and nonprofits.
The slides trace the word from undertaking a project through risk-bearing, coordination, innovation, and startup founding. The discussion emphasized the common thread: acting under uncertainty, rather than waiting until every resource and answer is available. Entrepreneurship is also a team activity; coordination matters as much as individual initiative.
Two useful distinctions came out of the discussion:
- AI at work versus AI at the gym: use assistance when the goal is completing a task; do the thinking yourself when the effort is what develops the skill. Think–pair–share writing is a gym activity.
- Stories, literacies, capacities: case studies supply situations to reason through; terminology and frameworks make those situations legible; activities let us practice applying the ideas. A case is like game tape paused at a decision: propose a response using the information available then.
The Grown-Up Swimming example illustrated how noticing something you wish existed can lead to organizing it, and eventually to a venture. The useful lesson is to act on an opportunity, not simply admire the idea.
Introductions began as preparation for the name-learning extra-credit challenge; the aim is to build connections across the class.
Before the next class
- Read the main tab of the syllabus before Thursday, August 20. Be ready for the syllabus Kahoot; unfinished supplementary tabs are outside its scope.
- Bring a device for Slack setup. Slack will handle course communication; ELC will hold grades.
- Begin arranging access to the Harvard Business Publishing course pack through the syllabus. It is needed for upcoming readings, not immediately today.
- Keep brief notes for the remaining introductions. The name challenge was initially announced for two weeks from today, September 1, for one point on the final course average; watch Slack for later scheduling changes.