My Favorite Class I’ve Taken At USC: BAEP 450 – The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship

By: Ani Antonyan ‘24

Have you ever turned to tutoring, dog walking, or babysitting to earn some extra money? Have you ever wondered how to take that to the next level to start your own profitable business venture? Look no further than BAEP 450: The Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship.

BAEP 450 is an engaging class that offers students – regardless of their major or prior experience – an opportunity to expand their understanding of business and entrepreneurship. There are many professors who teach this course and its sister course BAEP 451, but my professor, Susan Harmeling, made my experience in this class extra special. Whether or not you are an aspiring entrepreneur, this course will inspire you to incorporate entrepreneurial concepts into approaching your career path.

A General Overview

It is important to note that BAEP 450 is equivalent to BAEP 451. With a variety of skilled professors to choose from who all take a slightly different approach to the syllabus and deliver the content in varying ways, I suggest asking friends who have taken the course about their professors and researching using tools like Rate My Professor to figure out which professor best fits your learning style and interests.

This course is meant to give students a look at what it really means to be an entrepreneur. Throughout the course, students will be introduced to the most important entrepreneurial theories and practices while analyzing various startups and entrepreneurs, often with live guest speakers sharing their personal experiences.

Along with entrepreneurial theories, students are taught the basics of starting and managing a business, understanding customers, and navigating through uncertainty.

The Professor

I likely enjoyed this class as much as I did because of Professor Harmeling. Her intelligence, kindness, and humor stood out to me. Her valuable wisdom made her one of my favorite professors. She really cares about her students and will go above and beyond to prepare them for success – whether it be for their personal or professional endeavors. No matter what path her students plan to take in life, Professor Harmeling’s goal is to provide her students with the necessary tools and advice for life. I will always be grateful for the time I spent in her class.

Class Commitments

Participation

Professor Harmeling emphasizes the importance of participation in the real world, which is why participation is heavily graded in class as well. As someone who gets too shy to participate, I was afraid for my grade when I first read the syllabus. After the first few classes, I realized the importance of sharing my own perspective along with listening to others. The participation requirement ended up creating a very rich class where I got to hear from students who shared a wide variety of majors. 

It should be noted that Professor Harmeling also has a no electronics policy, which may seem impossible for a three-hour class. It definitely intimidated me. After a while, though, the inclusive and involved environment made me forget about my phone and made the time fly by. 

Assignments

This class is heavily based on assigned readings. Many of the class discussions were about real-life entrepreneurial concepts and the case studies assigned that week. Because many of these Harvard Business Review cases were written by Professor Harmeling herself, she’s able to bring in the entrepreneurs she wrote about to further enrich our discussions.

Beyond readings, there are various tasks meant to build character and integrity. These assignments have truly helped me better understand my outlook on life. 

Projects

The major project, which starts halfway through the semesters, involves building a business with an assigned group of your peers. This project involves creating an in-depth customer discovery report, creating a full business model, and presenting our business plan to the class. During our final presentations, Professor Harmeling brought an entrepreneur and investor into the class to critique and applaud our fabricated businesses. I really enjoyed getting to work with my group. 

Although this class can be demanding, the effort is well worth it. 

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