The Benefits of Learning Entrepreneurial Skills From Experts

There are many advantages to seeking advice from known leaders with proven track records. Entrepreneurs are naturally self-motivated individuals with driven, decisive personalities, motivated by the pursuit of success even in risky, unfamiliar areas. Learning entrepreneurial skills from these experts, who've successfully navigated the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, offers huge benefits for those looking to build their business careers. Helpful advice at the right moment can save the time and stress associated with trial and error.

Keep reading to explore the entrepreneurial skills required for business success and the benefits of learning them from successful entrepreneurs on the faculty of a leading Online MBA program.

Top Entrepreneurial Skills for Success

Entrepreneurship is the process of bringing an idea, product, service and/or business to market. It requires wholehearted dedication and a great deal of work.² Some personality traits, such as independence and a strong desire to succeed, are helpful in these pursuits, but the thriving entrepreneur needs more than that. Several specialized entrepreneurial skills are essential when you hope to transform your vision into a profitable business. They include:³

Communication

Business success often relies on how well entrepreneurs communicate the value of their ideas throughout the process of turning a vision into a profitable business. Entrepreneurs must be able to tailor communications for specific entities, such as investors, creditors, mentors, peers, employees and customers. They must master the full range of communication contexts, as well, including formal and informal group and one-on-one conversations, written communications, emails and other online messaging.

Sales

To demonstrate the value of a business idea, successful entrepreneurs need not only to communicate effectively, but to sell well. Repeatedly throughout their careers, they’ll have to convince investors, employees, customers and other internal and external stakeholders of the reasons to invest resources in ideas, products and businesses.

Mental Focus

Entrepreneurs need an unwavering ability to focus on tasks at hand, as well as on long-term goals, even in the face of setbacks, disruptions and unexpected changes in the business landscape.

Business Aptitude

Successful entrepreneurs like to learn and like learning dynamically. They adapt quickly to changing situations and accumulate lessons learned from every experience, including failure, in their repertoires of business expertise.

Strategic Business Planning

Successful business structuring and growth depend on robust strategies that outline the plans, goals and actions needed for thriving in a competitive market.

Learning Entrepreneurial Skills in an Online MBA Program

An MBA program is a much smarter educational choice than reliance solely on character traits and on-the-job training. A world-class online MBA can provide education and training in a broad range of business-related topics, develop and hone your entrepreneurial skills and carefully prepare you for long-term success.³

The Online MBA program from the Sy Syms School of Business at Yeshiva University is built on innovation and leading-edge skills and infused with Jewish community values. It empowers you to face the varied challenges of entrepreneurship, accelerating your career trajectory by making you an effective entrepreneur.

The Sy Syms Approach to Teaching Entrepreneurial Skills

The Sy Syms approach to business education values the idea that ‘good business means doing good.’ Students at YU Sy Syms share a commitment to ethics and community service.

The Sy Syms Online MBA curriculum is purpose-built to develop and hone the entrepreneurial skills you'll need to thrive and prosper in an ever-changing business landscape. It builds professional business expertise through hands-on experience and a focus on strategic, data-driven techniques and skills. Rigorous coursework fosters a big-picture growth mindset while developing the resilience needed in day-to-day business operations.

All online MBA students complete a unique capstone project through the YU Innovation Lab: a student-driven international business accelerator housed within the university. The Innovation Lab brings together startup companies from the United States, Israel, Canada and Argentina and allows online MBA students the rare opportunity to experience the work on the frontlines of a new company striving to break into markets around the world.

In addition, students, alumni, businesses and entrepreneurial communities benefit from YU’s connections in New York City and Israel. Through optional five-day residencies, students work with Israeli or New York-based tech companies, addressing real-world challenges such as innovation, product development and scaling for global marketplaces.

Entrepreneurial Expertise at the Sy Syms School of Business

Connected across New York City industries including real estate, finance, technology and beyond, the faculty members at Sys Syms bring real-world knowledge and expertise to their work with online MBA students.

For the past 25 years, Online MBA Program Director Mark Finkel has served as an executive or active board member of many high-growth tech companies in Israel, Silicon Valley, and the east coast of the United States. Deeply involved in early-stage entrepreneurial enterprises, he founded and chaired RightAnswers, an enterprise software company sold to Upland Software in 2017. He also served at the board level for JUMP Bikes, bought by Über in 2018, and was chairman of the Special Kids Fund, pioneering the concept of charity gift cards.

As Clinical Associate Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship, Mark helps students understand and apply successful entrepreneurial skills, including management skills for scaling entrepreneurial ventures through their growth phases and managing the dynamics of disruptive entrants into existing markets.

Dr. Noam Wasserman, Dean of the Sy Syms School of Business, leads the YU Presidential Task Force on Entrepreneurship and Innovation. An award-winning professor, he’s the bestselling author of two books—The Founder's Dilemmas and Life Is a Startup—and has published works in top academic journals as well as The Wall Street Journal, Harvard Business Review, Forbes and Inc. magazine.

"One of the key things about being able to learn entrepreneurship," he notes, "is developing your entrepreneurial mindset. That mindset is what will help you excel in whatever domain you are in; whether it’s in large companies, your personal life, or any of the ways in which you need to learn how to make better decisions, deal with uncertainty, perceive opportunities, and pursue them. That’s why we have made entrepreneurship a core building block of our graduate programs at Sy Syms."

Hone Your Entrepreneurial Skills

Learn from experts who wrote the book on entrepreneurship. The Online MBA program from Yeshiva University's Sy Syms School of Business provides you with the rare opportunity to learn from the best in the business and equips you with world-class entrepreneurial skills.

Explore our fully online curriculum and reach out to an Admissions Advisor for more information.