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The Monoculture of Startup Methods

   Jerry Neumann

Colossus magazine published my new essay today: We Have Learned Nothing. It talks about why, after 25 years of punditry on how to better build a startup, entrepreneurs are no more likely to be successful than they were. You should read it!

Part of what I talk about is the monoculture of ideas in entrepreneurship and that, business being a Red Queen’s race, doing the same thing as everyone else is always a strategy for mediocrity, even if that thing is the best possible recipe. The whole essay devolves, as you might expect, into praising Feyerabend’s “epistemological anarchy”.

To examine if these ideas do, in fact, form a monoculture, I found every US university entrepreneurship syllabus I could and looked to see if they taught one of these new ideas (Lean, customer development, design thinking, effectuation.) This is mentioned briefly in a footnote in the essay, but the supporting data is below. It shows that 73% teach Lean and fully 97% of them use one of these methods (even if not named as such.) Monoculture indeed.

SchoolClassYearLean StartupDesign ThinkingCustomer Dev.EffectuationOne of These
Ameritas CollegeEntrepreneurship Basic: Design Thinking2004—YesYes—Yes
UT AustinMAN 338 / 337 Lean Startup Essentials2016Yes—Yes—Yes
UT AustinMAN 338: Lean Startup Essentials2016YesYesYes—Yes
Carnegie Mellon70-415: Intro to Entr.2020Yes—Yes—Yes
EmoryBUS 332: Entrepreneurship2020Yes—Yes—Yes
GeorgetownSTRT 260: Entrepreneurship2020Yes—Yes—Yes
RutgersEntrepreneurship: New Venture Creation2020Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of NevadaENT 401: Entrepreneurship2020Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of New MexicoMGMT 324: New Venture2020Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of OregonMGMT 455: Predictive Entr.2020———YesYes
U. of S. CarolinaMGMT 473: Developing Ideas2020—Yes——Yes
UC IrvineMGMT 180: Entrepreneurship2020Yes—Yes—Yes
VanderbiltENGM 3700: Technology Entr.2020Yes—Yes—Yes
Arizona StateENT 301: Principles2021YesYesYes—Yes
Brown UnivENGN 1930: Innovation2021—Yes——Yes
IndianaW232: Venture Ideas2021YesYes——Yes
Notre DameMGMT 30110: Intro to Entr.2021Yes—Yes—Yes
Texas A&MMGMT 440: Creativity2021—Yes——Yes
U. of ArkansasMGMT 4253: Leadership2021———YesYes
U. of KansasENTR 301: Intro to Entr.2021Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of LouisvilleENTR 301: Entrepreneurship2021Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of MemphisMGMT 4710: Strategic Entr.2021Yes———Yes
U. of MississippiENT 311: Social Entr.2021—Yes——Yes
U. of MissouriMANGMT 4120: Innovation2021YesYes——Yes
U. of NebraskaENTR 311: Entr. Foundations2021Yes———Yes
U. of OklahomaENT 3113: New Venture2021Yes—Yes—Yes
UCLA AndersonMGMT 298: Lean Startups2021Yes—Yes—Yes
Yale SOMMGT 645: Startup Founder2021Yes—Yes—Yes
CornellNBA 5070: Entrepreneurship2022Yes—Yes—Yes
Duke FuquaMGMT 730: Startup Strategy2022Yes—Yes—Yes
NorthwesternENTREP 225: Principles2022YesYesYes—Yes
Ohio StateBUSMHR 3510: Innovation2022—Yes——Yes
Oral Roberts UniversityENT 325 New Venture Creation2022Yes—Yes—Yes
Penn StateMGMT 425: New Ventures2022Yes—Yes—Yes
Rutgers22:373:450: Entrepreneurship2022Yes———Yes
U. of AlabamaFI 414: Entrepreneurial Finance2022—————
U. of ChicagoBUSN 34103: New Ventures2022Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of ConnecticutENTR 3300: Principles2022Yes———Yes
U. of KentuckyENT 300: Intro to Entr.2022Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of PittsburghENTR 1020: Creative Thinking2022—Yes——Yes
U. of TennesseeENT 350: Intro to Entr.2022Yes———Yes
U. of WashingtonENTRE 370: Intro to Entr.2022YesYesYes—Yes
University of PennsylvaniaDesign Thinking for Education Entrepreneurship (EDEN) course2022—YesYes—Yes
UNLVMGT 710 New Venture Creation2022—————
USC MarshallBAEP 450: Strategies2022Yes—Yes—Yes
WashU OlinMGT 421: Intro to Entr.2022Yes———Yes
ClemsonELE 3010: Executive Leadership2023———YesYes
Georgia TechMGT 3172: Mixed Reality Entr.2023YesYesYes—Yes
MIT Sloan15.911: Entr. Strategy2023Yes—YesYesYes
MIT Sloan15.390 Entrepreneurship 101: Systematic Approach to New Venture Creation2023——Yes—Yes
NC StateMIE 310: Intro to Entr.2023Yes———Yes
Rice UnivBUSI 461: New Enterprises2023Yes—Yes—Yes
SyracuseEEE 370: Intro to Entr.2023Yes———Yes
TulaneMGMT 4010: New Venture2023Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of ColoradoENTP 3000: Principles2023YesYesYes—Yes
U. of FloridaENT 4614: Venture Analysis2023Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of GeorgiaENTR 4000: Entr. Foundations2023Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of WisconsinMHR 322: Intro to Entr.2023Yes———Yes
UC BerkeleyUGBA 135: Design Thinking2023—Yes——Yes
UNLVMGT 304 Technology Entrepreneurship – Lean Startups2023Yes—Yes—Yes
UT AustinMAN 327: Innovation & Entr.2023Yes—Yes—Yes
American Univ.MGMT 382: Innovation2024YesYesYes—Yes
Babson CollegeEPS 7500: Entrepreneurship2024YesYesYes—Yes
Boston UnivQST SI 344: Solving Problems2024YesYes——Yes
CSU San Bern.ENTR 3000: Innovation2024Yes—Yes—Yes
Iowa StateMGMT 310: Entr. & Innovation2024YesYes——Yes
John Cabot UniversityIntro to Entrepreneurship (Spulino)2024Yes—Yes—Yes
Kennesaw State UniversityMGT 7520 Entrepreneurship, Creativity, and Innovation2024———YesYes
Liberty UnivBUSI 707: Startup to Exit2024—————
NorthwesternMEM 490 Entrepreneurship & Venture Capital2024Yes—Yes—Yes
NYUMGMT-UB 43: NYC Lab2024Yes—Yes—Yes
NYU SternMGMT-UB 85 Entrepreneurship (Spring 2024)2024—YesYes—Yes
PurdueENGR 305: Innovation Theory2024—Yes——Yes
Rutgers33:382:105 Intro to Ent.2024—YesYes—Yes
StanfordMS&E 273: Technology Venture2024Yes—Yes—Yes
StanfordENGR 145: Tech Entr.2024Yes—Yes—Yes
Towson Univ.ENTR 305: Design Thinking2024—Yes——Yes
Towson Univ.ENTR 355: Foundations2024Yes———Yes
U. of ArizonaENTR 420R: Innovation2024Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of HoustonENTR 3310: Entr. Strategy2024Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of IllinoisTE 230: Design Thinking2024—Yes——Yes
U. of IllinoisTE 461: Tech Entrepreneurship2024Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of IowaENTR 1350: Foundations2024YesYesYes—Yes
U. of MarylandENES 460: Fund. of Tech Entr.2024Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of MiamiBUS 301: The Launch Pad2024——Yes—Yes
U. of MichiganENTR 390: TechLab2024Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of MinnesotaMGMT 3015: Intro to Entr.2024Yes—Yes—Yes
U. of OsloENT4000: Business Creation2024YesYes—YesYes
UC BerkeleyLearn2Launch Program2024YesYesYes—Yes
UVA DardenGBUS 8640: Effectual Entr.2024Yes——YesYes
Washington U.MGT 401C: Venture Creation2024YesYesYes—Yes
UPenn WhartonMGMT 2300: Entrepreneurship2024Yes—Yes—Yes
BabsonENT 3003: Principles of Ent.2025—YesYesYesYes
CSU San Bern.ADMN 1001: Global Challenges2025—Yes——Yes
CU DenverENTP 3200: Fundamentals2025Yes—Yes—Yes
DrexelENTP 205: Ready, Set, Fail2025Yes———Yes
DrexelENTP 210: Lean Startup Lab2025Yes—Yes—Yes
DrexelENTP 325: Social Entr.2025—Yes——Yes
HarvardEntrepreneurship Essentials2025Yes—Yes—Yes
Michigan StateBUS 190: The Art of Starting2025Yes———Yes
U. of FloridaENT 3003: Principles of Entr.2025YesYes——Yes
U. of IowaENTR 2000: Entr. & Innovation2025YesYesYes—Yes
U. of IowaENTR 2800: Entr. Experience2025——Yes—Yes
U. of MichiganSW 760: Social Enterprise2025—Yes——Yes
U. of North DakotaENTR 333: New Product Dev2025Yes—YesYesYes
U. of UtahENTP 5000: Effective Startups2025Yes—Yes—Yes
Univ. of ArizonaSIE 496/596 Engineering Entrepreneurship2025Yes—Yes—Yes
ColumbiaENID 0101: Idea to Design2026YesYesYes—Yes
ColumbiaManaging Technological Innovation2025Yes—YesYesYes
NYU SternBSPA-UB 41: Social Entr.2026—Yes——Yes
PrincetonENT 200: Creativity & Design2026—Yes——Yes
PrincetonENT 311: Design-Driven Change2026—Yes——Yes
U. of VirginiaENTP 1010: Startup Intro2026Yes—Yes—Yes
UC San DiegoEssentials of Entrepreneurship, Innovation, & Design (BUSA 40962)2026YesYesYes—Yes
Miami Dade CollegeENT2201 Introduction to Lean Start-UpN/AYes—Yes—Yes
Michigan RossES 615 New Venture CreationN/AYes—Yes—Yes
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