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University of Pennsylvania (Wharton) · on Coursera

Entrepreneurship 1: Developing the Opportunity

4.7(8,900) on Coursera·430K enrolled
Beginner 11 hours English University Certificate
SkillsEntrepreneurshipOpportunity assessmentBusiness modelsIdea validationMarket analysis

Is this course right for you?

Our take
A useful, structured way to pressure-test a business idea before you build it, taught by Wharton. It is free to audit.

Good for: aspiring founders who want a structured way to develop a business idea.

Skip if: you want hands-on startup execution, or you already run a business.

Lori Rosenkopf starts earlier than most entrepreneurship courses — not with the business plan but with the opportunity: recognising a real market gap, testing whether an idea solves an actual problem, and weighing competition and feasibility. It is the first course in Wharton's entrepreneurship specialization.

It is concept-led and academic, so it does not cover hands-on execution — fundraising, building, operating — and someone already running a business will find it basic. The certificate needs a paid Coursera subscription; the free audit covers the learning. The frameworks are durable and still relevant.

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About this course

Most entrepreneurship courses start with the business plan. Wharton's Entrepreneurship 1 starts earlier — with how to identify and evaluate an opportunity before you've committed to building anything. Lori Rosenkopf covers how to recognize a genuine market gap, how to test whether an idea addresses a real problem (not just an assumed one), and how to think about competitive dynamics and the feasibility of execution.

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Instructor

LR
Lori Rosenkopf
Coursera instructor
430K+ learners4 courses4.7 instructor rating

Taught by Lori Rosenkopf, Simon and Midge Palley Professor of Management at Wharton and Vice Dean of Entrepreneurship, whose research focuses on technology strategy and innovation networks.

Frequently asked questions

Both. It is the first of five courses in Wharton's Entrepreneurship specialization, which runs from spotting an opportunity through launch, growth, and financing. You can take it alone purely for the opportunity-assessment thinking, and many people do, but the full sequence is designed so each course builds on this one — so if you enjoy it, there is a clear onward path.

How to find, shape, and evaluate new venture ideas before you sink time and money into them. You get a framework for judging whether an opportunity is genuinely worth pursuing, drawn from Wharton faculty and supplemented with insights from real founders and financiers. The focus is the disciplined front end of entrepreneurship — deciding what to build and why — rather than the mechanics of running an established business.

It leans conceptual, giving you frameworks and cases rather than walking you step by step through building your own startup. The real value is the structured way of thinking it hands you; you then supply your own idea and do the actual customer conversations and testing outside the course. Go in expecting mental models and analysis, not a build-along accelerator, and it delivers well.

Aspiring founders, certainly, but also employees who want to spot and pursue growth opportunities inside an existing company. It assumes no business degree and works as an accessible taste of Wharton's MBA-style thinking on entrepreneurship, which is why it appeals both to people with a specific idea in mind and to those simply wanting to sharpen how they evaluate opportunities at work.

Yes, auditing on Coursera lets you watch all the lectures at no cost. The graded assignments and the certificate require a subscription, though financial aid is available through Coursera if you apply and are approved. If you want the frameworks and the founder insights rather than a formal credential, auditing gives you the core of the course for nothing.
Paid
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