Assistant Professor
UCLA Anderson
jane.wu (a) anderson.ucla.edu
110 Westwood Plaza
Los Angeles, CA 90095
I currently teach entrepreneurship, both the general skills to start a company in any sector, as well as a specialized 2nd year capstone course focused on deep tech (aka "tough tech"). It's one of the best parts of my job, and I'm thrilled to support my students as they go on to launch businesses in a wide range of sectors from beverages to beauty to AI-driven software solutions to even a castle rental service! You can read more about why I view my role as giving students the confidence to bet on themselves here.
MGMT 295A - Entrepreneurship and Venture Initiation 1 out of 3 of you will be your own boss at some point in your life -- and that doesn't include those of you that will join, invest in, or advise a startup, small business or spin-off! Whether you already have a startup pitch deck, a side hustle or just an inkling that you'd like to try one day, this class will equip you with a research-backed toolkit to help you take an idea and build it into an impactful company. The course consists of case discussions, lectures, guest speakers and a course-long startup project.
"Thank you for teaching an impactful course. You made it fun with course content that kept us engaged and laugh at times ... It's the best course I've taken. Lastly, the final pitches were impressive and the result was a big confidence boost for me." "I loved this class! A great introduction to entrepreneurship, especially for those of us who have never participated in start–ups or early stage companies." "I would recommend this class to everyone in the MBA program! Prof. Jane brought amazing guest speakers and facilitated great conversations among students and that was really helpful for learning. It was one of the best classes I have taken at Anderson!!!!! Highly recommend it to everyone." "This was one of my favorite classes at Anderson. The professor was very effective and made each class enjoyable."
"I loved this course. It elucidated many confusions I've had about entreneurship and VC, and taught me skills that I will be able to use in the future whether I start my own company or run a pod within an established company." "I really enjoyed taking this class, especially because I loved seeing Professor Jane's passion for entrepreneurship." "Loved this class! Professor Wu has great energy and organized a well–structured course. The assignments were applicable to being a real entrepreneur." "Presenting my business idea formally in the classroom has been one of the best experiences of my MBA journey so far." "This is the best class I have ever had at Anderson. The classes were very interactive, we read cases and discussed them on the class, and exchange feedbacks from our classmates which boosts our interest in the subject." "The professor is energetic and engaging, the course content is well–organized and concise, and her delivery is clear. I think this course is a perfect intro to entrepreneurship. I like the designs that allow us to step by step explore the formation of a business!" "Amazing enthusiasm during each session, this made me more excited to take part in classroom discussions." "Love this course! Pretty useful and bottom–up. Not only theories but also examples to understand how to really start a business."
UCLA Anderson MBA
Price Center for Entrepreneurship & Innovation
Upcoming: Winter 2027
Past sessions: Winter Quarter 2023, Spring Quarter 2024, Winter Quarter 2025, Fall Quarter 2025
A star example of an EVI-founded startup!
Course Description
Class Testimonials
MGMT 274A - Tough Tech Commercialization Capstone (ATMC) Many of the most pressing problems we face today need ambitious, deep technology or science to make progress. Anchored in the principles of innovation and technology strategy, this capstone aims to bring together the bright business-minds of Anderson MBAs with the high-potential inventions coming out of labs at UCLA and in Southern California to help unlock the lab-to-market bottleneck. The capstone is focused on action learning, where you will engage with frameworks from technology strategy, innovation management, and entrepreneurial finance, while actively helping make sense of the opportunities facing a tough tech that you choose. Capstone teams help move the needle forward for tough tech on a dimension of either technology risk, market risk, regulatory risk, scale risk, and financing risk. This class sets up students who are interested in pursuing careers in "tough tech" (e.g. biotech, defensetech, hardware, infrastructure, and more) whether as an operator, investor or customer.
UCLA Anderson MBA (2nd year only, max 20 spots per cohort)
Upcoming: Fall 2026-Winter 2027
Past: Fall 2025-Winter 2026
Course Description
Global Strategy, MIT Sloan Executive MBA
(TA for Hiram Samel)
Competitive Strategy, MIT Sloan Executive MBA
(TA for Pierre Azoulay and Scott Stern)
Innovation-Driven Entrepreneurial Advantage Lab, MIT Sloan EMBA
(TA for Fiona Murray and Phil Budden)
Innovation Driven Advantage, MIT Sloan Fellows
(TA for Scott Stern and Erin Scott)
Introduction to Technological Entrepreneurship, MIT Sloan MBA
(TA for Scott Stern)
Product and Service Development in the Internet Age, MIT Sloan MBA and Undergraduate
(TA for Eric von Hippel)