For W. David Tarver, teaching is all about making an impact on students. “I love exploring entrepreneurship with students, and I love watching them realize what it takes to develop a successful venture as we progress through the course,” he says.  Today, W. David Tarver motivates students in ENTR 490.012, the Urban Entrepreneurship Practicum, where students delve into the strategies of urban-focused ventures that actively enhance our cities. This course illuminates Detroit’s thriving entrepreneurial landscape, allowing students to engage firsthand through a semester trek to the city. Whil ..read more

Summer is almost here! As the temperatures rise and the days lengthen, it’s the perfect time to kick back, relax, and explore new horizons.  Classes may not be in session, but that doesn’t mean the learning has to stop. We’ve asked CFE staff to provide some recommendations to keep your mind engaged and entertained throughout the summer break. You may even learn something new along the way! Let’s get into the recommendations. Vibrant Voices GZero World This podcast embraces the constantly evolving global geopolitical and economic scene, adding fuel to your entrepreneurial fire. It uncovers ..read more

Vicki Powell, a distinguished alumna of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (ELP) and the innovative founder of a groundbreaking health-tech startup, recently made a triumphant return to North Campus. Engaging with students enrolled in CFE experiential learning courses, Vicki shared her remarkable journey and the invaluable insights gleaned from her experiences in the world of entrepreneurship. From the outset of her academic career, Vicki’s passion for leveraging technology to drive positive change in healthcare was evident. Her decision to pursue mechanical engineering at U-M, despite bei ..read more

Our final EHour session for the winter semester went out with a bang thanks to Fuel Finale, which wrapped up the EHour series on one last innovative note. The atmosphere was buzzing as student entrepreneurs from U-M geared up to pitch their ideas. Under the guidance of Eric Bacyinski, the audience critiqued each pitch with a sharp investor’s perspective. These­ standout teams from previous Fuel competitions were on hand to pitch the crowd: Devon Riter and Himanish Kolli from Community Connect shared their vision of using AI to transform K-12 education into a community-building tool for Michi ..read more

As we near the end of another academic year, we’d like to celebrate a major milestone: the graduation of our stellar Instructional Aides (IAs) for ENTR courses! These remarkable individuals have played a huge role in educating students this year, and their accomplishments are worth celebrating.  Picture this: a group of dedicated minds, hustlers extraordinaire, now ready to take on the world as they bid farewell to their roles as IAs and embrace what’s next. From sparking innovative startup ideas to guiding their peers through the intricacies of business plans, they’ve done it all with pa ..read more

Blog post by Natalia Sanchez (Industrial & Operations Engineering | Class of 2022) Interning at Shoptelligence in Ann Arbor Even though startups are considered high-risk jobs due to the lack of stableness that comes with the territory, there are many benefits from interning at them, and the experience can be worthwhile. Here are the top five benefits of interning at a startup that I see. There’s much to do and much to learn Given that a typical startup doesn’t have that many employees, there’s usually much to do and, as a byproduct, much to learn. Everyone who works there will wear many ha ..read more

Meet Brian Hayden, the entrepreneurial wizard and Lecturer at the Center for Entrepreneurship (CFE). Brian’s journey into the world of entrepreneurship is a thrilling tale of chasing customer happiness, learning from failure, and turning a spark of an idea into a blazing success. From bussing tables to selling mortgages, Brian always had a knack for customer service. “Making the customer happy and getting paid for it is fun,” he quips. Fueled by the desire for efficiency and a bigger impact, Brian saw entrepreneurship as the perfect avenue to focus entirely on customers. “Having a boss and wor ..read more

Written by Nick Moroz, Director of Entrepreneurial Practice at the Center for Entrepreneurship Intro Each spring break, students in the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (ELP) and Perot Jain TechLab series of programs join CFE staff on excursions to the nation’s most robust startup ecosystems. This break, 30 students traveled to the San Francisco Bay Area for the Weather Underground Startup Trek (WUST trek) to experience the lauded Silicon Valley entrepreneurial ecosystem and some incredible startups changing the transportation, food, and aerospace industries. Day One After spending the previ ..read more

Written by Nick Moroz, Director of Entrepreneurial Practice at the Center for Entrepreneurship intro As part of the Entrepreneurial Leadership Program (ELP) and Perot Jain TechLab series of programs, student participants have the opportunity to join excursions to startup ecosystems across the country. The Northeast Entrepreneurship Startup Trek (NEXT trek) to Washington D.C., this spring break, took 25 students on a whirlwind tour of our nation’s capital and the entrepreneurial activity so intertwined with the public sector. Day One Students first met with U-M alum Donna Harris (MBA Strategy a ..read more

Written by Nick Moroz, Director of Entrepreneurial Practice at the CFE. Modeled after ABC’s famous Shark Tank, MPowered students conducted their own version of the pitch competition featuring a lineup of impressive student-led startup projects. With support from the CFE, MTank Director Samantha Jayasundera (Electrical Engineering ‘26) and her team executed the event first piloted by MPowered last year. The MTank team fielded more than 40 submissions from student teams, which were assessed the MTank student team. 11 semifinalists were then paired with six professional entrepreneurial mentors fr ..read more