COMM 493Entrepreneurship in the Information Age
Provides students with knowledge/tools to take their innovation/technology idea through the business planning, capital, and operations budgeting processes. COMM 493 Entrepreneurship in the Information Age (3) COMM 493 provides students with knowledge and tools to take their own idea for a media or communications innovation and determine the feasibility of launching it as a small business. Students bring their own ideas for a communications product or service. They work through the market feasibility, business planning, capital and operations budgeting processes to finally researching and seeking start up capital. This course is designed for both students plan to pursue careers as entrepreneurs and those who wish to learn more about small business management in the information age. Topics include entrepreneurship, business planning and budgeting, starting and managing a small media or communication technology firm, economic history of media, telecommunications and information innovation, trends and opportunities in media and information sectors, high tech start up legal and employment issues, financing options, overview of venture capital, COMM 493 and market capitalization, market feasibility analysis. Cases of recent successes and failures in the information and media sectors are used to illustrate principles of business planning, market and financing trends and entrepreneurship.