MIT Sloan School of Management

Disciplined Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Approach for Building Innovative Products and Ventures

MIT Sloan School of Management

Entrepreneurship

About Programme

Why attend Disciplined Entrepreneurship?

There are many myths about entrepreneurship. For example, that successful entrepreneurs are born, not made. Or that entrepreneurs are mercurial individualists, that they love risk, and that they are undisciplined. In most cases it is quite the opposite; entrepreneurship is a skill that can be taught.

Led by Bill Aulet—MIT Professor, Managing Director of The Martin Trust Center for MIT Entrepreneurship , and longtime successful entrepreneur—this new entrepreneurship course explores the framework outlined in his award-winning and international best-selling book Disciplined Entrepreneurship: 24 Steps to a Successful Startup and explains in detail the strategy and tools used by successful startup founders and corporate teams to build new ventures.

In this entrepreneurship training course, you will learn how to hone entrepreneurial skills and follow a framework for startup success.

Course Topics

Programme Content

Day 1

8:30 AM – 12:45 PM

Welcome, Overview & What is Disciplined Entrepreneurship (DE)?

Overview of DE in Action

Who is Your Customer? Market Segmentation & Beachhead Market

Doing Good PMR

Day 1 Wrap-Up and Day 2 Preview

Day 2

8:30 AM – 12:45 PM

Welcome Back, Day 1 Review and Day 2 Overview

What Can You Do for Your Customer?

What is Your Core i.e. the Crown Jewels?

How Does Your Customer Acquire Your Product? Part I

Day 2 Wrap-Up and Day 2 Preview

Team Assignment, Project and Introduction to DE Canvas

Day 3

8:30 AM – 12:45 PM

Welcome Back, Day 2 Review and Day 3 Overview

How Does Your Customer Acquire Your Product? Part II

Rewind: The Importance of Doing Step 9 Right

How Do You Make Money?

How Does Your Customer Acquire Your Product?

Team Project – More Details on DE Canvas

Day 3 Wrap-Up and Day 4 Preview

Day 4

8:30 AM – 12:45 PM

Welcome Back, Day 3 Review and Day 4 Overview

Meet the Coaches

Team Exercise with DE Canvas

Team Presentations and Feedback

Program Wrap-Up: Where Do We Go From Here?

Certificate Presentations

Day 1

8:15 AM - 9:00 AM

Registration & Breakfast

9:00 AM - 9:45 AM

Welcome, Overview & What is Disciplined Entrepreneurship (DE)?

9:45 AM - 10:30 AM

Overview of Disciplined Entrepreneurship in Action

10:30 AM - 10:45 AM

Break

10:45 AM - 12:30 PM

Who Is Your Customer? Market Segmentation and Beachhead Market Part I

12:30 PM - 1:15 PM

Lunch

1:15 PM - 2:25 PM

Who Is Your Customer? Market Segmentation and Beachhead Market Part II

2:45 PM - 4:45 PM

PMR - Getting to Know Your Customers in Inquiry Mode

4:45 PM - 5:15 PM

Intro to Team Assignment, Project, and Introduction to DE Canvas

5:15 PM - 5:30 PM

Day 1 Wrap Up

5:30 PM - 6:15 PM

Reception

Day 2

8:30 AM - 9:00 AM

Breakfast

9:00 AM - 10:45 AM

What Can You Do For Your Customer?

10:45 AM - 11:00 AM

Break

11:00 AM - 12:45 PM

How Does Your Customer Acquire Your Product?

12:45 PM - 1:30 PM

Lunch

1:30 PM - 3:00 PM

Entrepreneurial Operations, Leadership & Culture

3:00 PM - 3:15 PM

Break

3:15 PM - 4:45 PM

How Do You Test the Market with Tactics?

4:45 PM - 5:00 PM

Team Project – More Details on DE Canvas

5:00 PM - 5:15 PM

Day 2 Wrap Up

Day 3

8:30 AM - 9:00 AM

Breakfast

9:00 AM - 9:15 AM

Review and Look Ahead to Pulling It All Together

9:15 AM - 10:45 AM

How Do You Scale Your Business?

10:45 AM - 11:00 AM

Break

11:00 AM - 12:30 PM

How Do You Make Money?

12:30 PM - 12:45 PM

Meet the Coaches & Team Project Next Steps

12:45 PM - 2:15 PM

Working Lunch with Coaches

2:15 PM - 2:30 PM

Break

2:30 PM - 4:00 PM

Team Presentations and Feedback

4:00 PM - 4:15 PM

Program Wrap-Up: Where Do We Go From Here?

4:15 PM - 4:30 PM

Certificate Ceremony & Closing

Programme Objective

You will leave this course with a better understanding of:

The importance of the initial discovery phase, from brainstorming about products and services to defining potential customers

How to conduct primary market research—and why the quality of this research has an outsized impact on the success of your venture

How and why to narrow your focus and find the sweet spot where your product or service meets customers and future loyal brand ambassadors

The steps and resources required to scale a business

Entrepreneurship as a framework to assess and improve antifragility in teams and companies

Programme Audience

Participants may be first time entrepreneurs, experienced entrepreneurs interested in doing it again, or members of large organizations that are developing, sponsoring, or investing in startup companies or are trying to improve their organization’s innovation capacity. This course is designed for individuals and teams who wish to learn the Disciplined Entrepreneurship (DE) approach to:

Enhance their entrepreneurial skills to make themselves more productive in their current jobs
Start their own new venture and understand the process
Interact and evaluate new ventures
Simply understand what entrepreneurship is and what it is not

Programme Benefits

Roadmap

Presents a step-by-step strategic road map for launching a successful venture or more efficiently bring innovative products and ideas to market

Coaching

Learn the Disciplined Entrepreneurship framework through coaching from experienced entrepreneurs

MIT Faculty Insights

Gain insights from world-renowned MIT Faculty

Certificate

Confers a certificate of completion from the MIT Sloan School of Management in the Strategy and Innovation Executive Certicate track

Testimonials

"Excellent course with compelling lecturers and an impressive amount of material crammed into 3 days. It clarified for me a few mistakes I was making in trying to flesh out my product offering and gave me some new avenues to explore."

Paula G

"The Disciplined Entrepreneurship course was great and truly inspiring from start to finish. I highly recommend it!"

Tali O

"Disciplined Entrepreneurship gave me a much clearer way to think about building businesses and evaluating ideas. A lot of things I previously understood only loosely now feel much more structured and actionable. Bill Aulet and the team are incredible teachers. The program is practical, engaging, fast-paced, and full of insights and memorable one-line nuggets that stick with you long after the sessions end. I could have easily spent another one or two days in the program because theres so much valuable material to cover. I would have loved to go even deeper into the 24 steps and spend more time discussing what comes after, like team building, scaling, fundraising, and long-term growth. If youre serious about building something meaningful, this course will challenge how you think in the best way possible."

Hrag N

"Very interesting course with many new insights!"

Thiemo K

"."

Khaled A

"Entrepreneurship goes beyond starting a company; its about using structured methods to identify real problems, design solutions, and turn ideas into impact. The course was especially powerful because we applied the theory in class through active discussion and real business cases. The experience was intense and engaging, shaped by two-way interaction, thoughtful questions from classmates, and faculty who encouraged us to challenge assumptions. A diverse panel of coaches added another layer, providing direct, insightful feedback from multiple perspectives. As we enter a decade of rapid disruption, entrepreneurship is becoming an essential skill for professionals. Technology may automate tasks, but creativity, judgment, and problem-solving remain uniquely human. This course shows not only why cultivating an entrepreneurial mindset is critical for shaping the future, but also how to do it in a structured, disciplined way. The good news: entrepreneurship can be taught, and it should be."

Marta S

"The course provides a clear, structured framework for thinking about entrepreneurship and market selection. The concepts are useful, but much of the material stays at a high level. It is most valuable as a conceptual foundation, especially for early-stage founders, but less so for those seeking deeper, practical application."

Aziz A

"I walked away from this amazing workshop even more convinced that entrepreneurship is the key to fixing problems throughout the world, and that anyone can learn how to innovate and solve tomorrow's challenges."

Benjamin C

"Disciplined Entrepreneurship was the most useful and energizing few days I've had in a long while. In addition to providing clear frameworks that I can use in my consulting practices, the team provided great insights into where we are going with entrepreneurship and the powerful new tools that underpin every phase of the process. The team was impressive, each member had a different optic on new ventures and they whipped our cohort through dense material with humor and fun."

Susan M

"I loved this course. The solution seems almost too simple to be true. Can a single page of information capture enough information about a business to evaluate the true opportunity for success? As someone attempting to champion intrapreneurship in my company, it has been extremely valuable to learn this toolset and has helped get cross-functional teams aligned much better than in the past. I'd recommend to anyone looking at increasing their chances of success with new ventures and ideas."

Paul W

Other programs in this subject area you might find useful

Same topic, Similar duration - Broader exploration across all institutes

Contact us for the further details

Speak with an Advisor

  1. Pedagogy (case method, experiential learning, coaching, simulations)
  2. Contact Person Details

Prashansa Uttam

Programme Advisor

+91 9403890085[email protected]Mon – Fri, 9am – 5pm IST

MIT Sloan School of Management

Executive Education Office

NA
NA
NA
https://mitsloan.mit.edu
Cambridge, USA

Tell us about your program enquiry

Fill out the form below and our team will get back to you within 24 hours.

Disciplined Entrepreneurship: A Systematic Approach for Building Innovative Products and Ventures | MIT Sloan