Doctoral Introduction to Entrepreneurship

Academic unit or major

Entrepreneurship courses

Instructor(s)

Akira Kurabayashi / Keisuke Yamada / Yoshiki Shiraishi / Yuri Matsuzaki / Mayu Watanabe

Class Format

Exercise (Face-to-face)

Media-enhanced courses

-

Day of week/Period
(Classrooms)

Intensive

Class

-

Course Code

ENT.V601

Number of credits

010

Course offered

2026

Offered quarter

3-4Q

Syllabus updated

Sep 2, 2026

Language

Japanese

※ Courses with parentheses in the course number have different subject codes depending on the student's year of admission.

Syllabus

Course overview and goals

Subtitle: Thinking about entrepreneurship with leading venture capitalists: Understand the current state of entrepreneurship as an option from the perspective of social needs and the motivations of those involved, and learn its essence in a practical way.

This course is a program positioned within the "Motivation and Awareness-Building Stage"—the first of the three stages of entrepreneurship education, which also include the "Competency Development Stage" and the "Social Implementation Stage."

Leading venture capitalists with extensive experience in nurturing and investing in startups across Japan and the U.S., along with startup founders who are creating new value, will provide insights and explanations on various themes—ranging from corporate structures, the significance and social necessity of launching new businesses, and organizational challenges faced by both large corporations and startups, to the motivations, objectives, and hurdles encountered by entrepreneurs themselves. In addition to sharing these perspectives, they will present their own "entrepreneurship" derived from day-to-day operations and engage in discussions with participating students.

While the course uses startups as a starting point, the lectures are grounded in the latest information on business in general rather than being limited to startups alone. Furthermore, the two sessions featuring startup executives touch upon the personal motivations and objectives of the entrepreneurs, allowing participating students to gain a tangible sense of reality while directly broadening their horizons and expanding their range of options.

This course is the basis of our university's "Entrepreneurship Course", and we hope that all students, including not only students interested in startups but also students who are aiming to pursue academic/research careers, bureaucrats, and students who aim to work for large companies, will participate in the discussion.

Furthermore, we hope that students will go on, after completing this course, to participate in various entrepreneurship development workshops offered in the courses of ENT.L501, ENT.L502, ENT.L503, ENT.L504 and ENT.L505, as well as the business development program (LLP) and web service development program (PBC) offered in the courses of ENT.V505 and ENT.V506.

Course description and aims

1. Understand the social background and needs of "starting a business" and the mechanisms of motivation and intentions of the parties involved.
2. Understand the diversity of options for your future direction
3. Communicate in a way that elicits necessary information from instructors and guest speakers.
4. Demonstrate your "Entrepreneurship" and use it as a step to connect to actions to "develop and create new value."

Student learning outcomes

実務経験と講義内容との関連 (又は実践的教育内容)

The knowledge and experiences of faculty members who are well versed in the practical aspects of business development is essential to this course.

Keywords

Entrepreneurship, Leadership, Motivation, Creating new business, Start ups, Initiative, Value Creation

Competencies

• Specialist skills
• Intercultural skills
• Communication skills
• Critical thinking skills
• Practical and/or problem-solving skills

Class flow

1. This is an intensive course, and the specific dates and content of each session will be announced at the Entrepreneurship "Leadership and Value Creation" course information session (pre-registration required) held at the beginning of the term, as well as the Academy for Leadership (ToTAL)nwebsite (https://www.total.titech.ac.jp/).
2. Those who wish to enroll are strongly encouraged to attend the information session, check the schedule, and then declare their enrollment.
3. Each session consists of a lecture and a Q&A session.
4. After the session, please complete the questionnaire and use it to consolidate your understanding.

Course schedule/Objectives

Study advice (preparation and review)

To enhance effective learning, students are encouraged to spend approximately 100 minutes preparing for class and another 100 minutes reviewing class content afterwards (including assignments) for each class.
They should do so by referring to textbooks and other course material.

Textbook(s)

None

Reference books, course materials, etc.

Reference books, lecture materials, etc. will be provided during class from time to time.

Evaluation methods and criteria

1. Evaluation is based on a comprehensive assessment of factors such as the participant's awareness of their objectives, their understanding of and engagement with the workshop themes, and the quality of their communication with instructors and guest speakers.
2. "Attendance" is recorded upon the submission of the post-session questionnaire required after each meeting.
3. Full participation is strongly encouraged, as the program is designed to build understanding progressively across all sessions; furthermore, much of the information provided by instructors and guest speakers is best absorbed in real-time during the session, and the program places high value on interaction with them.
4. The evaluation result will be either "Pass" or "Fail."

Related courses

• ENT.L601 ： Doctoral Essential Course of Group Work for Entrepreneurship A
• ENT.L602 ： Doctoral Essential Course of Group Work for Entrepreneurship B
• ENT.L603 ： Doctoral Essential Course of Group Work for Entrepreneurship C
• ENT.L604 ： Doctoral Essential Course of Group Work for Entrepreneurship D
• ENT.L605 ： Doctoral Fundamental Group Work for Entrepreneurship
• ENT.V607 ： Doctoral Practical Group Work for Entrepreneurship I
• ENT.V608 ： Doctoral Practical Group Work for Entrepreneurship II

Prerequisites

None

Contact information (e-mail and phone) Notice : Please replace from ”[at]” to ”@”(half-width character).

Prof. Yamada (yamada.k.9f82[at]m.isct.ac.jp）

Office hours

Personal meetings can be booked upon request; we also have drop-in virtual office hours on Friday, 13:00-14:00, except for holidays. For detail please contact above.

Other

Graduate Attribute: GA0D is available.