What’s Your Big Idea?

Whether your interest lies in solving the world’s biggest problems, creating the next commercial success or addressing something closer to home, this course will give you a toolbox to vet your ideas and test them in the real world.

• Think
• We start at the beginning with your big idea and where it comes from: your everyday experience and known sources of innovation as described by Peter Drucker.
• Listen
• This second phase of the entrepreneurial lifecycle encourages you to take the big idea you’ve thought about and solicit feedback from the people whose problems you’re trying to solve.
• Plan
• Strategy, the art and science of being different than your competition, is the next element we introduce, based on Michael Porter’s work.
• Clarify
• In this module, we coach you on continuing to refine your big idea and beginning to communicate it clearly to a wider audience.
• Support
• To make your big idea into a reality, you’ll need the personal, professional, and financial resources we discuss in this module.
• Iterate
• This final step of the entrepreneurial lifecycle outlines a method to continue thinking, listening, planning, clarifying, and supporting your big idea.
• Peer Assessment (Optional)
• Create a pitch for your Big Idea, then give and receive feedback.
• Reverse Pitches (Optional)
• In these optional videos, experts from UNC Chapel Hill and Washington University in St. Louis offered their insider perspectives on a number of pressing problems that present unprecedented opportunities for meaningful innovation.