Carnegie Mellon University

Electrical and Computer Engineering

College of Engineering

Course Information

18-655: Entrepreneurial Engineering Project

Units:

12

Description:

In this course, Undergraduate (18-555) and MS (18-655) students participate in developing and/or advancing a viable entrepreneurial offering with an ECE flavor. Students propose a product idea, validate it using a process of simple customer discovery, and then design and deploy an initial round of customer testing. Students build whatever artifacts are necessary for that testing, whether it be mock-ups or working prototypes. Students can work in teams or alone, depending on the degree of maturity of their idea. The course is intended to support engineering students who are interested in tech startups but do not know how to get started. It can also cater to students who are a little farther along in the process. Students will complement their customer testing with some simple analysis for the financial viability of their business model, adjusting their technical offering accordingly. The final product of the class is a pitch deck presented to illustrate a viable business idea that students can pursue after the class is complete. There is also a focus on finding networking opportunities for students to get to talk to founders. Course admission is by instructor approval.


Last Modified: 2024-06-28 10:42AM

Semesters offered:

  • Fall 2024
  • Spring 2024
  • Fall 2023
  • Spring 2023
  • Fall 2022
  • Spring 2022
  • Fall 2021