A three-course, self-paced program designed to help professionals turn ideas into action
PHILADELPHIA, January 21, 2026 – Wharton Online today announced the launch of its new Entrepreneurship Certificate, a fully online, self-paced credential designed to help professionals cultivate an entrepreneurial mindset, identify high-potential opportunities, and execute ideas that create real-world impact.
Built around a clear three-stage learning journey – Inspiration, Identification, and Implementation – the certificate brings together Wharton faculty research and practical frameworks to demystify entrepreneurship and make it accessible to a broad range of learners. Participants may enroll in individual courses or complete all three to earn the Entrepreneurship Certificate.
“Entrepreneurship is not limited to founding a startup,” said Lori Rosenkopf, vice dean of entrepreneurship at the Wharton School and academic director of the program. “It is about creating value through innovation, whether you are building something new, leading change inside an organization, acquiring and growing an existing business, or pursuing a mission-driven venture. This certificate meets learners where they are and gives them evidence-based tools to move forward with confidence.”
The Entrepreneurship Certificate is designed for professionals navigating uncertainty, career transitions, and increasing pressure to innovate. Drawing on decades of Wharton research, the program emphasizes disciplined thinking, experimentation, and relationship-building rather than anecdotal advice or one-size-fits-all formulas.
The certificate consists of three integrated online courses, each requiring approximately 12–18 hours of engagement and featuring short faculty-led videos, applied exercises, and guided reflections:
- Becoming Entrepreneurial: Purpose, Paths, and Inspiration – Led by Professor Rosenkopf, this course reframes entrepreneurship as value creation through innovation. Participants explore seven distinct entrepreneurial pathways and clarify how their skills, values, and experiences align with different routes to impact.
- From Idea to Impact: Entrepreneurial Opportunity Identification – Taught by Professors Christian Terwiesch and Karl Ulrich, this course equips learners with structured methods to distinguish promising opportunities from distractions. Participants apply proven frameworks such as innovation tournaments, jobs-to-be-done, and the triple diamond model to evaluate and test ideas with rigor.
- From Plan to Performance: Venture Implementation – Led by Professor Henning Piezunka, this course focuses on execution. Learners examine how to build and lead teams, manage boards, engage investors, and form partnerships that enable sustainable growth and effective implementation.
Together, the three courses form an end-to-end learning experience that mirrors the real stages of an entrepreneurial journey, moving from mindset and inspiration to opportunity validation and execution.
Courses are delivered fully online and asynchronously, allowing participants to begin at any time and progress at their own pace. Each course awards a digital badge and continuing education units upon completion, and learners who complete all three earn the Entrepreneurship Certificate, a verified Wharton credential that can be shared on professional profiles and resumes.
The program is designed for aspiring entrepreneurs, intrapreneurs, career changers, founders, and leaders across industries who want to apply entrepreneurial thinking to their work. No prior background in entrepreneurship is required.
Enrollment for the Entrepreneurship Certificate and each individual course is now open.
About Wharton Online
Wharton Online, the Wharton School’s digital learning platform, makes high-quality business education available to learners anytime and anywhere. From certificate programs that issue Continuing Education Units to specializations across a variety of business and management topics, Wharton Online’s offerings equip learners to advance their careers. And with 100K certificate-earning learners and more than one million total learners who have accessed courses, Wharton Online boasts an impressive network of business leaders around the globe.
About the Wharton School
Founded in 1881 as the world’s first collegiate business school, the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania is shaping the future of business by incubating ideas, driving insights, and creating leaders who change the world. With a faculty of more than 235 renowned professors, Wharton has 5,000 undergraduate, MBA, executive MBA, and doctoral students. Each year 100,000 professionals from around the world advance their careers through Wharton Executive Education’s individual, company-customized, and online programs, and thousands of pre-collegiate students explore business concepts through Wharton’s Global Youth Program. More than 105,000 Wharton alumni form a powerful global network of leaders who transform business every day. For more information, visit www.wharton.upenn.edu.
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