Today, the concepts of entrepreneurship and innovation extend to every industry in every corner of the economy and the globe. With that in mind, the Lang Center has developed a goal-oriented framework to guide our curriculum and programming: "Think, Start, Scale, Invest."
This framework will be the North Star around which the Lang Center builds its curriculum and programming. The "Think" path is for those students who might want a more traditional job upon graduation, but also want to learn the language, tools, and ways of thinking common to entrepreneurs and innovators. The "Start" path is for those students who come to Columbia Business School wanting to start a business of their own, while the all-important “Scale” path is for those students who want to catalyze the growth of an existing startup, as the first, fifth, or fiftieth employee. Finally, the "Invest" path is for those students who would like to learn the skills and hone the instincts needed for funding startups.
Curriculum will be the skeleton upon which the framework is built. Our curriculum will leverage the world-class faculty of Columbia Business School and take full advantage of our New York City location by engaging the brightest and most experienced subject matter experts to serve as adjuncts, many of which are already teaching here. Our robust programming – consisting of workshops, events, advising programs, and panels — will serve to complement and round out our curriculum. We will maximize this programming by building it in conjunction with the Columbia Entrepreneurs Organization (CEO Club) and the newly-launched Startup Founders Club, Venture Capital Club, Entrepreneurship Through Acquisition Club and FinTech Club.
By expanding the definition of entrepreneurship beyond its traditional definition of simply starting a business, we are able to involve more tenured and tenure-track faculty in teaching entrepreneurship, promote a broader range of faculty- driven research, and involve a wider variety of alumni and external partners in our mission.
An "entrepreneurial mindset," should be an attribute of all Columbia Business School graduates.
At the Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center, we believe that the flexible and adaptable ways of thinking common to many startup founders, an "entrepreneurial mindset," should be an attribute of all Columbia Business School graduates. When taken together, our programming, curriculum and the support of our alumni and faculty ensures Columbia Business School graduates will be the best equipped and qualified to start, scale, invest in, and lead businesses around the globe for the next 100 years to come.