Given the financial challenges students face in higher education, my hope with this textbook is to draw on my 20+ years of entrepreneurship experience and academic research to compile resources that reflect the general aspects of starting a business. Business Startup and Entrepreneurship: Canada is an Open Educational Resource (OER) textbook that focuses on the practical, current, and relevant topics associated with starting a business in Canada. This broad practical approach allows instructors to introduce these simple chapters to build a basic understating of the essentials to startups.
Along with this textbook is an accompanying Business Plan Workbook, helping students to work through a business idea chapter-by-chapter that hopefully culminates in a well thought-through startup plan. In my experience teaching introductory entrepreneurship courses, developing a business plan supports deep-level learning that is displayed through critical analysis, creativity, and networking. The design of the business plan has been simplified and tested over the past three years with over 750 students from diverse cultures and academic disciplines. It is my recommendation that students work on the business plan throughout the duration of the course as they complete chapters to reaffirm important lessons. Students may find tasks such as finance and accounting difficult, which is why an Excel Worksheet accompanies the business plan to help prepare financial reports for their proposed businesses.
