Top Business Schools for Entrepreneurs 2024

New York City is a global center for startups: by some estimates, billions of dollars in venture capital is dumped into the city’s startups each year. Columbia is tapping into the city’s entrepreneurial spirit with the Columbia Build Lab, which provides space and resources to help nurture student-created startups. Although Columbia doesn't offer an MBA in Entrepreneurship per se, the school's Eugene Lang Entrepreneurship Center offers many resources for entrepreneurs, including some specialized MBA curriculum.

Through the school's close ties to Silicon Valley, its Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, and a variety of related electives, Stanford has been laying the groundwork for successful entrepreneurs. And indeed, Stanford MBAs tend to be strongly entrepreneurial: the school reports that 25 percent of its most recent MBA class started their own businesses. MBA students can pursue the school's unique "Startup Garage," a project-based course which allows teams to develop, prototype, and test a business idea. Although the school does not offer an MBA focused specifically on entrepreneurship, it does offer a number of entrepreneurship electives.

Currently ranked as a top-10 MBA program for Entrepreneurship by US News and World Report, students have many opportunities to explore startups and new business investments at Ross. For instance, the school hosts around $10 million in student-led funds, which are invested in student startups. Courses in new venture creation and entrepreneurship can help round out studies. There’s also the Ross Entrepreneur & Venture Club, which helps connect students with relevant resources. 

Located in one of the most active places for entrepreneurship in the world, MBAs can take advantage of Haas’ location to network in San Francisco and Silicon Valley. The business school’s Lester Center for Entrepreneurship, which offers a range of accelerators and other programs, serves as a hub for students who want to start their own businesses. Entrepreneurial-minded students can pursue the school's MBA Entrepreneurship area of emphasis, which covers topics in venture capital, private equity, and social entrepreneurship. The school offers a “Startup Lab” course, where Haas MBAs can help local startups identify and address business challenges.

With specialized curriculum, the school's International MBA program is designed with entrepreneurship in mind. Through the year-long MBA Entrepreneurial Leadership Project and a venture funding competition, students can put the theory to a practical test. The school, along two other international schools, offers an 18-month long MSc in Global Innovation & Entrepreneurship, which, while not an MBA, is a program where students can build their entrepreneurial skills through practical experience.

ESADE MBA students have the option of pursuing multiple relevant activities, including Entrepreneurship Study Tours to places like Amsterdam and Berlin, where they can see real startups in action. According to the school, some 65 percent of ESADE MBA students have direct involvement with a startup during the course of their studies. During the second year of the program, students can also do an Entrepreneurship Internship. 

As is the case with many university towns across the world, the region around Cambridge is a hotbed for entrepreneurial activity. And the Judge MBA program leverages this in many different ways, including through the Cambridge Venture Consulting Project where students can get hands-on experiences with local startups. Through Cambridge's concentration in Entrepreneurship, MBA students can gain the skills they need to launch their own startups. The school's Entrepreneurship Centre provides new entrepreneurs with resources to get their businesses off the ground. Beyond the MBA, the school also offers a postgraduate diploma in entrepreneurship, a part-time program that is delivered over 12 months.

LBS’ MBA offers a robust range of entrepreneurship electives, through which students can begin to understand the complexities of starting a new business. In recent years, London, with its Silicon Roundabout in the east part of the city, has been attracting startups and venture activity. Beyond offering a range of entrepreneurship courses, LBS MBAs can also take part in the "Entrepreneurship Summer School” program, where they can begin developing their startup ideas.
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Recently voted one of the top American business schools for entrepreneurship by the magazine Entrepreneur, Babson's MBA program features curriculum that's focused on entrepreneurship from the ground up. The school's Arthur M. Blank Center for Entrepreneurship provides business plan competitions and other resources to help students launch their own business ideas. In recent years, almost one in five of the MBA class has started their own business.

As part of its MBA program, Schulich is one of only a handful of accredited business schools that offer a specialization in Entrepreneurial Studies. In this specialization, students learn to start and grow businesses. Although students can tailor this specialization to their own needs (for example, focusing on family businesses), they are also required to take a class on venture capital and private equity. The school’s Office of Innovation and Entrepreneurship, which has supported over 200 student-led ventures, provides a range of resources to startup-oriented MBA students.