Wharton Stories: Entrepreneurship & Innovation

“If you can’t distill and communicate the value props of your company succinctly, then you’re not going to be able to sell the product; if you can’t say it, you can’t sell it.”

Q&A with Investor Jillian Manus: How Student Entrepreneurs Can Overcome Failure and Find their Superpower

If you’re a first-year MBA student at Wharton and you’re launching or leading a social venture, learn how the Jacobs Impact Entrepreneur Prize can help power your startup.

Two Crucial Things Student Social Entrepreneurs Need — and How to Get Them

“We’re not going to judge ourselves by the least happy customer. We’re going to judge ourselves by the most valuable customers.”

Customer Centricity: Why Companies Should Play a Long Game Strategy

“A college atmosphere brings with it lots of opportunities. You have opportunities to address a dense cluster of people that you can experiment with and try selling products and services to in a very tight geographic area.”

Q&A with Investor Phil Nadel: How College Students Can Seize the Entrepreneurial Spirit on Campus

At the competition kick-off in September, Penn researchers and last year’s Y-Prize runner-up spoke on new inventions, taking the innovative approach, and why participation matters.

Y-Prize Calls On Entrepreneurs to Reimagine Nature-Inspired Tech

Andrea Contigiani, GrW’19, does research on experimentation in early-stage ventures. Knowledge@Wharton sat down with him to talk about what implications his research has on the “lean startup” methods.

Wharton PhD Candidate Explores the Downside of the Lean Startup

AKT Investments CEO and President Chrysanthy (Chrysa) Tsakopoulos Demos, WG’18, earned an MBA and gained skills, confidence, and credibility to lead a multi-generational family business that has helped shape the Sacramento region.

Five Ways that Wharton’s EMBA Program Helped this Alumna Take the Reins of Her Family’s Business

From augmented reality to agriculture, these five Penn grads in the new Moelis Advance Access Program are taking risks their business passions before returning to Wharton for their MBAs.

Inaugural Moelis Fellows Share Why They Will Be Returning to Wharton for Their MBAs

How Wharton’s EMBA Program helped Kali Bhandari, WG’18, Camila Noordeloos, WG’18, and Autumn Huiatt, WG’18, launch a venture dedicated to solving gender inequality.

These Three EMBA Alumnae Founded a Startup to Rewrite Gender Stereotypes — and Children’s Classics

Gayatri Karandikar, WG’19, spent a summer at PepsiCo as a global strategy intern, reflecting on oats, healthy food innovation, and cultural awareness as she combines her passion for nutrition with global business knowledge.

How a Personal Journey to Nutritional Balance Led This MBA to the Food Industry