Essentials of Entrepreneurship

Academic Director: David Hsu

David Hsu is the Richard A. Sapp Professor of Management at the Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania. He graduated from Stanford University with undergraduate majors in economics and political science. After a few years working in industry, he received his master’s degree in public policy from Harvard University, followed by his Ph.D. in management from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. 

Hsu’s research interests are in entrepreneurial innovation and management. Within that domain, he has investigated topics such as intellectual property management, start-up innovation, technology commercialization strategy, and venture capital. His research has appeared in leading journals such as Management Science, Journal of Finance, Strategic Management Journal, and Research Policy. He is past department and associate editor of Management Science. In 2008, Hsu was awarded an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation Industry Studies Fellowship. At Wharton, he teaches two MBA electives, Entrepreneurship and Technology Strategy. At Penn, Hsu is Associate Faculty Director of the Weiss Tech House, which encourages and supports students in the creation, development, and commercialization of innovative technologies. 

Academic Directors advise the Wharton Global Youth team on instructor hiring and develops the program curriculum, including but not limited to: course topics, suggested activities, readings and capstone projects.

Program Leader: TBA

Instructor: Jared Scruggs

Jared Scruggs received his PhD in Management at The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania. His research broadly addresses justice and equity at work and reflects both societal and organizational influences. Specifically, he examines how these elements shape employee attitudes, well-being, and behaviors, using a variety of methodologies: field and online surveys and experiments; archival datasets; natural-language processing, topic modeling, LLM-based textual analysis; and various qualitative approaches. 

Prior to Wharton, Jared graduated with highest honors from UNC with a B.S. in Psychology and Neuroscience and a second major in Portuguese. Later, he worked as an International Payroll and Implementation Specialist at CloudPay Solutions. In his spare time, he enjoys photography and playing the piano. 

Instructor: Nicole Carter

Nicole recently graduated from the Wharton School (WG24) with a master’s in business administration. Prior to business school, she served in the U.S. Army for five years, working in HR operations, talent, and recruiting. In her free time she enjoys psychology reads, true crime podcasts, and travel. 

Instructors work closely with the Academic Director to deliver daily program lectures, facilitate group activities and coach students’ capstone projects.

Teaching Assistants 

Teaching Assistants consist of both undergraduate and graduate students from the University of Pennsylvania. TAs facilitate small-group discussions, ensure student understanding, assist with final project development, and hold office hours to answer student questions and share their Penn and Wharton experiences.