Learn to turn ideas into validated market opportunities with Babson’s Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® (ET&A™) approach. This certificate covers rapid prototyping, opportunity evaluation, and customer acquisition strategies, equipping you with practical tools to reduce risk, test solutions, and attract the right audience for early-stage business success.

This self-directed course introduces design thinking as a human-centered, action-driven approach to solving problems. You will learn to reframe challenges as opportunities, cultivate empathy, and ideate rapidly. By the end, you will be able to apply design thinking principles to create practical, innovative solutions across industries and roles.

Channel your energy into planning your own business. This self-paced, low-cost toolkit from the #1 institution for entrepreneurship helps you keep your dream on track. Take single courses, earning a badge for each, or earn certificates by stacking all three courses within a topic area. Complete all four certificates to earn an Advanced Certificate.

Certificates span Thinking and Acting Like an Entrepreneur; Prototyping and Market Evaluation; Business Models, Finance, and Culture; and Financing and Pitching your Venture.

Amplify your impact as an innovator and changemaker and hone your skills as an entrepreneurial leader as you explore all stages of innovation, from initial ideation to long-term scaling. Discover how you can create and foster a human-centric approach to problem solving and create lasting impact.

Some of the most successful and well-known innovations got their start as spin-offs from existing products or practices. In this course, you’ll explore the different pathways you can take as an entrepreneurial leader to observe bright spots, experiment with new alternatives, and scale your findings to create successful outcomes.

In this self-directed course, you will learn how to turn your big idea into a tangible solution with the power of rapid, effective prototyping. Gain the skills you need to test simple versions of ideas and solutions, reduce risk, use resources wisely, and increase your chances of success. Throughout, you will implement Entrepreneurial Thought & Action® (ET&A™), Babson’s proven methodology for developing the skills and mindset needed to not just launch a new business, but also make change in an established company, lead a team, and create real impact.

In a world defined by rapid change and complex problems, you need a robust, entrepreneurial mindset. In this certificate program, you not only explore the problem-solving process, guided by the UN Sustainable Development Goals, but you also learn how to create meaningful impact across contexts and industries using key design-thinking principles.