Undergraduate Courses

Develop Your Entrepreneurial Mindset Through Our Undergraduate Courses and the Entrepreneurship Minor

The Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship (Lilie) is the home of experiential learning and co-curricular activities in entrepreneurship and innovation at Rice University. We prepare our students to be entrepreneurs and innovators in whatever walk of life they choose, be it a technology startup, government agency, civic group, non-profit, small business, or large corporation.

Students are encouraged to complement their major area of study by enrolling in Lilie courses, which teach frameworks for solving problems and navigating ambiguity. For those students looking for a deeper dive into the startup and venture funding space, the Entrepreneurship Minor is an 18 credit journey that will position students to be the change makers, innovators, and trendsetters they desire to be. Whether students take one course or complete the entire minor, our curricula will equip them with an entrepreneurial mindset which allows them to:

  • Identify critical problems or market opportunities and to develop validated solutions to meet these needs
  • Design solutions that are sustainable, inclusive, and equitable
  • Embrace empathy to better understand customers, users, clients, and team members
  • Excel in interdisciplinary teams and in communicating messaging across departments, organizations, and industries

Come courses are cross-listed as part of the curriculum in schools and programs, including Engineering and Social Science. If you have questions, just stop by the Liu Idea Lab for Innovation & Entrepreneurship or schedule office hours at lilie@rice.edu. We are here to help you build the skills and mindset you need to be a successful innovator in whichever path you choose.

For course schedules by semester and course section, time, and location information, please visit courses.rice.edu

Undergraduate Courses

BUSI 220 LILIE DESIGN THINKING

Design isn’t about aesthetics, products, or experiences; design is a process that mandates empathy for the user you are designing for. Understanding the design process will make you a better leader, colleague, and human by providing a toolkit that you can apply to your personal and professional life.

BUSI 221 NEW ENTERPRISES

Entrepreneurs and innovators build products and companies in ambiguous environments. This class will give you the skills and mindset to navigate this uncertainty with proven frameworks. You’ll explore potential venture opportunities, identify unmet needs, draft a value proposition and concept for a solution, and test your assumptions quickly and cheaply; these are all processes which can be used to build a new enterprise or innovate within an established industry.

BUSI 223 MODELING FOR ENTREPRENEURS

Have a business idea but terms like cash flows and key performance indicators make you want to run for the hills? Don’t worry, in this course you will tackle these intimidating concepts and more. Learn about building a quantitative financial model from first principles of your business.

BUSI 361 ENTREPRENEURIAL COMMUNICATION

Working and communicating with team members, investors, and mentors is an essential skill set, especially for entrepreneurs.  Learn the key concepts, tools, and practices behind effective communication in the context of start-ups, small businesses, and other entrepreneurial ventures, and practice the skills valuable throughout the new venture life cycle.

BUSI 461 FINANCING THE STARTUP VENTURE

This class is perfect for those seeking to understand what funding sources may be best for their venture or those interested in a career in venture financing. You’ll understand the differences between angel funding, venture capital, crowdfunding, and accelerators. In addition to quantitative analysis, this class hosts regular guest speakers who share about their experiences in the field. This course is a pre-requisite for BUSI 465: Student Venture Fund: Evaluating Startup Investment Opportunities.

BUSI 463 ENTREPRENEURIAL STRATEGY

Gain a deep understanding of the core strategic challenges facing startup innovators and learn a synthetic framework for choosing and implementing entrepreneurial strategy in dynamic environments to establish a competitive advantage.

BUSI 464 SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP

Learn how to apply an entrepreneurial approach to address social challenges through the project-driven course that works on social issues relevant to Houston.

BUSI 465 STUDENT VENTURE FUND: EVALUATING STARTUP INVESTMENT OPPORTUNITIES

Students in this experiential course will evaluate early-stage startups and make recommendations for venture investment by the $2M student venture fund at Rice. The applied course gives you the opportunity to sit in the shoes of a venture investor and place investment capital into early-stage ventures. Pre-requisite: BUSI 461 Financing the Startup Venture.

BUSI 469 LILIE NEW VENTURE CHALLENGE

Are you looking for structure and guidance to push you to finally act on your business idea? In this course, you will work on your venture using a set of tools and frameworks that will help you get from idea to launch. This individualized lab course provides the mentorship and guidance you need to build your startup. Applications are open to venture teams with at least one Rice undergraduate student. Application required.

ENGI 525 PITCHING NEW IDEAS

Learn to create a highly competitive, highly distinctive pitch that succeeds in venture capital and professional environments. You will study the pitch framework used by over 90% of successful startups, review examples of pitches that won funding, practice continuously, and learn strategies to interact with investors.

*ENGI 525 credits hours are not counted towards the Entrepreneurship Minor