Master in Entrepreneurship: Our Curriculum

Before September

The pre-master module provides foundational concepts and principles across key business topics, helping you build a solid foundation, refresh prior knowledge, or deepen your understanding of certain business topics. The pre-master module courses are delivered entirely online, providing a self-paced learning experience.

The following courses are highly recommended for Master in Entrepreneurship students:

• Foundations of Management
• Financial Accounting 

Additionally, the following course can be taken if interested:

• Introduction to Economics
• Python Programming
• Quantitative Methods

September - Mid-October

Core Modules:

• Beyond the Numbers: Financial Acumen for Entrepreneurs
• Founder Legal Bootcamp
  This intensive bootcamp at Orrick in Düsseldorf is designed to provide aspiring founders with essential legal knowledge for navigating entrepreneurship. It covers equity splits, company setup, employee incentives, tax pitfalls, and compliance with key laws. Special workshops include U.S./German holding structures and AI business models.
• Sprint2Berlin
  The Sprint2Berlin has been the starting point for several start-ups of our students in the past. During this course you develop a real business idea (either given or new) and then finally pitch it to real investors at the end of the course.

Electives:

• B2B Pricing: Negotiation, Calculation, Strategy
• B2C Price Management
• International Strategy
• The Analytics’ Edge

Mid-October - December

Core Module:

• Advanced Entrepreneurial Finance
  This course will help all students who consider starting their own company to build and run more successful firms and aims to familiarize students with entrepreneurial finance and business models.
  Students will solve two interactive entrepreneurial case studies in the two areas and one in-class case in Berlin, while building up a network of future partners among startups, consultancies, investors, and a law firm in Berlin.

Electives (choose two courses):

• Actionable Customer Analytics
• Advanced Corporate Finance
• Advanced Organizational Behavior
• Entrepreneurial Selling
• Heinz-Nixdorf-Lecture: Strategic Intellectual Property Management
• Performance Management and Controlling
• Prescriptive Analytics and Machine Learning
• Value Creation in Family Firms
• Venture Capital Finance

January - February

Core Module:

• Entrepreneurship through Acquisition and Search Funds
  The overall goal of this course is to provide students with essential knowledge on establishing Search Funds and becoming competent entrepreneurs, capable of taking over successful companies in Germany and ensuring their long-term growth and success.

Electives (choose two courses):

• Business & Analytics Integrator Skills
• Designing Sustainable Global Supply Chains
• Financial Technologies
• Leadership in Practice
• Luxury Brand Management
• Managing Data Science
• Mergers & Acquisitions
• Negotiations
• Strategic Technology and Innovation Management
• Sustainability and Marketing

March - April

Core Module:

• Building and Scaling Successful Companies - the WHU founder lecture (watch the video below for course insights)

Electives (choose two courses):

• Data Driven Entrepreneurship
• Financial Statement Analysis and Valuation
• Innovating for a sustainable future
• Leadership in Professional Services
• Leading the High-Performance Sales Force
• Managing The Family Business
• Psychology & Economics: Applications in Leadership, Entrepreneurship, and Finance
• Strategic Marketing
• Strategy Execution
• Sustainable Operations Management
• Visual Prototyping

September - April

Career Tracks allow you to specialize in selected business fields. Each Track consists of three consecutive modules.

The Master in Entrepreneurship program currently offers the following six Career Tracks, each with its associated courses:

• Innovation & Product Development
  • Heinz-Nixdorf-Lecture: Strategic Intellectual Property Management (Quarter 2)
  • Strategic Technology and Innovation Management (Quarter 3)
  • Visual Prototyping (Quarter 4)
• Sales Expertise for the Entrepreneur
  • Entrepreneurial Selling (Quarter 2)
  • Product and Shopper Marketing (Quarter 3)
  • Leading the High-Performance Sales Force (Quarter 4)
• Analytical skills for Entrepreneurs
  • Actionable Customer Analytics (Quarter 2)
  • Business & Analytics Integrator Skills (Quarter 3)
  • Data Driven Entrepreneurship (Quarter 4)
• Family Business Entrepreneurship
  • Value Creation in Family Firms (Quarter 2)
  • Leadership in Practice (Quarter 3)
  • Managing The Family Business (Quarter 4)
• Entrepreneurial Finance
  • Venture Capital Finance (Quarter 2)
  • Financial Technologies (Quarter 3)
  • Mergers & Acquisitions (Quarter 3)
• Sustainable Innovation & Entrepreneurship
  • Designing Sustainable Global Supply Chains (Quarter 3)
  • Sustainability and Marketing (Quarter 3)
  • Innovating for a sustainable future (Quarter 4)

The 90 credit track also includes a one-week capstone module.

The capstone is a week-long module abroad where students gain valuable experience in international business ecosystems by attending tailor-made lectures and visiting local companies.

May - July

You will gain valuable work experience and the opportunity to apply theory learned in class through an internship in Germany or abroad. The Career Center supports you in finding an internship position via a broad range of activities such as individual career counseling, workshops, and company presentations.

September - December

The Master in Entrepreneurship Program also includes a semester abroad at one of WHU's 200 partner universities worldwide. During the semester abroad, you will gain a global perspective and immerse yourself in another culture.

September – January (90 ECTS), January – May (120 ECTS)

The Master thesis concludes your studies, providing you the opportunity to apply the skills and knowledge you have gained throughout the course of the Master Program. While writing your thesis, you will be supervised by a WHU faculty member. You may also write your thesis in collaboration with a company.