In the E&I Venture Building course, students support the development and growth of startups or corporations seeking to build new ventures or explore new markets. This course combines elements of entrepreneurship, business development, and consulting, offering a highly practical, hands-on learning experience. Students work directly with real founders and innovation teams, to help them overcome challenges and accelerate their growth. 

Throughout the course, students will engage in understanding the current situation, defining and analyzing problems, setting objectives, and structuring projects. Typical activities include conducting customer and market analyses, engaging in data collection and analysis, testing assumptions and business hypotheses, and developing data-driven growth strategies. The aim is to deliver concrete, actionable recommendations that create measurable impact.

A central focus of the course is guiding project partners through the venture-building process by identifying strategic gaps and opportunities. Students conduct both primary and secondary research - such as interviews, surveys, prototype testing, and analysis of market data - to generate deep insights. Based on these findings, they develop innovative concepts and solutions tailored to the partner’s specific context. This holistic and analytical approach ensures that outcomes are not only creative but also strategically sound and practically implementable.

Click here to watch the E&I Venture Building Course Intro!

The aim of the course is to provide students with a deep understanding of venture building and, therefore, the process of new venture creation, combining theoretical knowledge with practical application. This forms a key pillar of entrepreneurship education. To achieve this learning outcome, students work closely with real entrepreneurs and startups, providing advice and recommendations based on rigorous analysis. Through interactions with lecturers, external coaches, and project partners, students gain hands-on insights into the field of entrepreneurship and innovation.

Upon successful completion of the course, students will have acquired and/or applied the following competences and skills:

• Conceptualize innovative business ideas
• Analyze and assess market potential and opportunities
• Develop and validate viable business models
• Craft comprehensive project and financial plans
• Independently manage complex innovation projects collaboratively
• Enhance proficiency in professional written and oral communication, using advanced tools for research, data collection, and analysis

In addition, participants expand their soft skills (communication, presentation, project and time management) by working with team members, coaches and external partners.

Active in-person participation is an integral part of this course, as interaction with fellow students and external stakeholders is essential.

Students must attend at least 80% of all classes and events to successfully complete the course. However, due to their importance in reaching the course goals, 100% attendance is required for the kick-off, mid-term and final presentations as well as the E&I Touchdown event.

For the kick-off, absences of up to 1.5 hours due to a scheduled written exam at WU may be excused, provided that students notify the course instructors in advance and submit proof of the exam or a medical certificate in case of illness.

All other absences in the course must be communicated to the course instructors via email (if possible in advance) and confirmation (for example a medical certificate, or in case of an exam a note confirming the date of the written examination) must be submitted as soon as possible. Absences can result in additional compensation work to ensure the course's learning outcomes.

Except for the kick-off, all other dates shown are subject to change! More detailed information can be found at the introductory event and at the kick-off. Many dates are arranged individually with course instructors and project partners, or take place externally, which is standard practice for business projects. Exact dates for presentations, workshops, and coaching sessions will be announced at the kickoff.

• Real-world projects completed with mentoring from course instructor and external coache
• Teamwork during the semester
• Collaboration and Milestone meetings with the project partner
• Skills workshops and practical input from externals
• Presentation and discussion of results
• A written report and a final presentation

Performance is assessed based on individual as well as group work throughout the semester.

Grading system:

• 60% Group-based performance
  • 10% Midterm presentation
  • 10% Midterm report
  • 15% Final presentation
  • 20% Final report
  • 5% Touchdown (adherance to deadlines, implementation of feedback and quality of pitch)
• 40% Individual performance
  • 10% Kickoff Comprehension Test
  • 25% ongoing participation and project management (presenting and participation during Q&A; contributions in kickoff, coaching and workshops)
  • 5% Reflection task

Additionally, there will be mid-term and end of term peer ratings of the team members which may result in individual up- or downgradings.

Attendance: In order to successfully pass this course, your absence is limited to 20% of our appointments. Please note that the attendance of the kick-off, the presentations with our project partners and the E&I Touchdown is obligatory! Therefore, make sure being available at the course dates!

Information for E&I students taking a semester abroad that starts in January
At E&I we value the international experience our students get from taking an exchange semester abroad. We also understand that some exchange semesters already start in January, leading to schedule overlaps with our courses. In that case, we will enable you to take the project course. Please inform your course instructors and fellow team members when the semester starts to make the necessary arrangements and counterbalance the absence in the last month by distributing the workload in a fair and reasonable manner among all team members in advance.

Students enrolled in the Entrepreneurship and Innovation Specialization Program.

Please note that course registration is binding. The moment your registration is received, it is regarded as a clear commitment on your part. Students cannot transfer to another course (once the add/drop period is over) with no exceptions, as it would be unfair to other students (who might not have gotten into the course of their choice because of the spot you registered for). The number of students accepted to the course will only be expanded if there is no space in any other course 4/5.

Please log in with your WU account to use all functionalities of read!t. For off-campus access to our licensed electronic resources, remember to activate your VPN connection connection. In case you encounter any technical problems or have questions regarding read!t, please feel free to contact the library at readinglists@wu.ac.at.

During the E&I Venture Building course, each team will have four coaching sessions (approx. 1 hour each) to be scheduled in advance with the lecturer. Additionally, each team must arrange individual time slots with the lecturer and the project partner for both the mid-term and final presentations (1 hour each).

See Unit Details!