From Idea to Impact: Entrepreneurial Opportunity Identification

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Program Experience

Highlights and Key Outcomes

This course helps you turn ideas into evaluated opportunities, giving you the clarity and confidence to choose what to pursue. At the end of your learning experience, you will be equipped to:

Assess potential opportunities across multiple dimensions (market demand, value creation potential, personal fit, scalability, risk/reward tradeoffs)
Use structured frameworks and criteria to compare and prioritize different ideas or ventures
Conduct market and competitive analysis to evaluate demand, barriers, and competitive landscape
Estimate resource needs, investment requirements, and potential returns (financial, social, or strategic)
Evaluate timing, uncertainties, and personal readiness to move from idea to action
Align opportunity choices with your preferred entrepreneurial pathway (startup, acquisition, intrapreneurship, social impact, etc.)

Experience and Impact

Delivered fully online and self-paced, this course guides you through several in-depth modules (each approximately four to six hours) that combine faculty video lectures, structured worksheets, real-world case examples, and hands-on opportunity-evaluation exercises. As you move through the course, you’ll examine where opportunities come from, analyze unmet needs and market dynamics, and apply frameworks built on Wharton research to sharpen and compare your ideas.

You’ll work through structured assessments that help you gauge demand, feasibility, risk, and personal fit; practice using tools for defining customer needs and testing assumptions; and refine your concepts through iterative analysis and low-cost experimentation. Throughout the experience, you’ll build a prioritized set of opportunities grounded in evidence rather than intuition, along with a clear rationale for which ideas merit further development or action.

Certificate Pathway

This is the second of three courses that comprise Wharton Online’s Entrepreneurship Certificate. The certificate is earned by completing all three:

Course 1: Becoming Entrepreneurial: Purpose, Paths, and Inspiration
Course 2: From Idea to Impact: Entrepreneurial Opportunity Identification
Course 3: From Plan to Performance: Venture Implementation

Each course may be taken individually, but together they form a comprehensive progression — from building an entrepreneurial mindset and understanding your path, to identifying and validating opportunities, to implementing ventures through teams, boards, investors, and partners.

Completing all three courses not only deepens your entrepreneurial capabilities; it also earns you the Entrepreneurship Certificate, recognizing your ability to move from inspiration to opportunity to implementation.

Tuition

The tuition for this course is $1,350. You can also enroll in the full three-course Entrepreneurship Certificate at a bundled rate, gaining access to the entire pathway and the recognized Wharton credential.

Attend as a Team. Amplify the Impact.

Wharton Executive Education offers group-enrollment benefits for organizations sending four or more participants. Learn More »

What Do I Earn?

CEU Credits

To receive CEUs for your Wharton Online course(s), you must complete all coursework and pass all assessments in a CEU-eligible program of study with a score of 70 percent or above.

CEUs are included with every Wharton Online course. Upon successful course completion, learners automatically earn one CEU, which is noted in the digital credentials.

Credentialing

Upon successfully completing your course, you'll receive a digital badge recognizing your achievement. The badge is a verified, shareable credential that showcases your dedication and newly acquired skills.

You can easily share your digital badge on LinkedIn, your personal website, digital resume, or email signature — making it simple for employers, peers, and your professional network to see what you've accomplished.

Who Should Attend

This course is designed for learners who want clarity, confidence, and direction in their entrepreneurial journey, including:

Aspiring entrepreneurs who want to explore options before committing to a specific venture
Career-changers and mid-career professionals seeking more autonomy, impact, or purpose in their work
Intrapreneurs and corporate innovators who want language and frameworks to drive change from within organizations
Side hustlers and freelancers looking to build sustainable, values-aligned businesses
Social-impact and mission-driven builders who want to connect purpose with pragmatic entrepreneurial approaches
Investors, mentors, and ecosystem builders who support entrepreneurs and want deeper insight into the mindsets and pathways founders follow

Group Enrollment

To further leverage the value and impact of this program, we encourage companies to send cross-functional teams of executives to Wharton. We offer group-enrollment benefits to companies sending four or more participants.

Faculty

Christian Terwiesch, PhDSee Faculty Bio

Andrew M. Heller Professor; Department Chairperson and Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions; Co-Director, Mack Institute of Innovation Management, The Wharton School; Professor of Health Policy, Perelman School of Medicine, University of Pennsylvania

Research Interests: Analyzing operational performance, innovation management, R&D management

Karl Ulrich, ScDSee Faculty Bio

CIBC Endowed Professor; Professor of Operations, Information and Decisions; Professor of Management; Dean’s Office Advisor on Asia Strategy, The Wharton School

Research Interests: Environmental issues, product design and development, innovation