Entrepreneurial Pipeline

The Entrepreneurial Pipeline trains students to be founders, owners, and innovators — not employees. Starting in the DTC Mentoring Framework and deepening through dedicated entrepreneurship coursework, students learn the business and legal fundamentals needed to turn a great idea into a real company — with access to MDN manufacturing, the ICC network, and DTC's investor relationships to make it real.

Core Curriculum

• Business entity formation — LLC, S-Corp, C-Corp, B-Corp — structure, liability, tax implications
• Intellectual property basics — patent, copyright, trademark, trade secret — when to use which
• Market research and validation — how to know if your idea has customers before you build it
• Financial modeling — unit economics, gross margin, burn rate, runway, valuation basics
• Pitch skills — investor deck construction, verbal pitch, question handling
• Contracts and agreements — NDAs, term sheets, equity splits, employment agreements (not legal advice)
• Sales fundamentals — how to sell to a business, not just market to consumers
• Product development cycle — from idea to prototype to pilot to product at MDN