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Center for Entrepreneurial Studies

The Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, founded in 1996, works to prepare effective, insightful entrepreneurial leaders and to enhance knowledge about entrepreneurship and innovation. Stanford GSB has a broad and varied expertise in entrepreneurship — a wide range of courses in entrepreneurship and innovation, engaging co-curricular learning options, and faculty research on innovation, startups, venture funding, and entrepreneurial ecosystems.

Entrepreneurial Education

Stanford GSB offers more than 50 different courses in entrepreneurship and innovation, taught by academic faculty, frequently in partnership with accomplished entrepreneurs and seasoned investors. Students also have access to dozens of entrepreneurial courses at other Stanford schools, enabling them to create a personalized curriculum to meet their learning goals.

A group of students sitting at desks | Startup Garage, Stanford Graduate School of Business

Where student teams design and test new business concepts that address real-world needs

Students at Stanford GSB have the unique opportunity to custom-tailor their curriculum, with over 60 courses in entrepreneurship and innovation to choose from.

Professor George Foster speaking in a classroom | Stanford Graduate School of Business

Stanford GSB offers students who want to undertake an entrepreneurial career by pursuing opportunities leading to ownership of a business. The course deals with case situations from the point of view of the entrepreneur rather than the passive investor. Many cases involve visitors, since the premise is that opportunity and action have large idiosyncratic components.

Two women talking outside on a sunny day | Stanford Graduate School of Business

Explore challenges faced by entrepreneurs as they rapidly scale a company. Throughout the course, emphasis is placed on the application of analytical tools to administrative practice.

One female taking a picture of a female holding a tea kettle.

Stanford GSB offers students many opportunities to extend their entrepreneurial learning outside the classroom. Co-curricular programs such as Stanford Venture Studio, entrepreneurial workshops, and the Entrepreneurial Summer Program create unique educational experiences to augment classroom learning.

Research & Thought Leadership

Stanford faculty conduct research on a wide set of entrepreneurial topics from the valuation of unicorn firms, to the impact of experienced entrepreneurs, to the unique challenges facing Latino and Black entrepreneurs in the United States.

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Insights

Alumni Entrepreneurs

Alumni have found the entrepreneurial curriculum, programs, and community at Stanford GSB essential in developing their leadership skills. We invite you to hear the stories of some of those alumni.

After meeting in school, Cervantes and Livas teamed up to build a successful bakery chain around the idea that good food brings people together.

History

CES was founded in 1996 through a visionary partnership of two Stanford GSB faculty, Charles A. Holloway and H. Irving Grousbeck, to address the need for greater understanding of issues facing entrepreneurs and the entrepreneurial community.