Curriculum in Focus: Generative AI & Entrepreneurship

This spring, SOM is offering an exceptional opportunity for students to learn from industry experts with the return of MGT 899: Generative AI & Entrepreneurship. Launched in spring 2025, the course is taught by Anand Ranganathan, Engineering Manager at Bridgewater Associates.

Professor Ranganathan leads various aspects of AI, data, and analytics research platform development at Bridgewater Associates, one of the world’s most influential investment management firms. His position at Bridgewater—a firm managing approximately $120 billion in global investments—provides students with unparalleled insight into how AI is transforming finance and business at the highest levels.

Before joining Bridgewater, Ranganathan co-founded OneByZero, a consulting startup specializing in AI solutions, demonstrating his deep understanding of both the entrepreneurial journey and the technical foundations of artificial intelligence.

The seven-week course combines technical depth with entrepreneurial strategy, offering students a rare blend of hands-on development experience and market analysis. Each week, students will explore critical AI components, including prompt engineering and working with large language models, developing agentic AI systems and multi-agent workflows, multimodal search and generation, chatbot development, and more. On the business strategy side, the class covers such topics as identifying AI-driven entrepreneurial opportunities, understanding the competitive landscape of Gen AI startups, market analysis, customer acquisition strategies, and regulatory and ethical considerations.

The course features an impressive lineup of guest speakers from leading companies and organizations, including representatives from Connecticut Innovations, Galileo, IBM, Syneos Health, Menyala, Johnson & Johnson, and Kroger. These sessions provide students with diverse perspectives on how generative AI is being deployed across healthcare, retail, manufacturing, and technology sectors. The centerpiece of the course is a team project where students develop a complete pitch deck and working demo for a new Gen AI venture.

With generative AI fundamentally reshaping industries, the window of opportunity for entrepreneurs has never been wider—or more competitive. This course addresses the critical challenge facing aspiring AI entrepreneurs: understanding both the technical capabilities that make solutions possible and the business strategies that make them viable.

“Generative AI and Entrepreneurship was a great resource for me at SOM,” says alum Rudy Cordero (MMS-TM ‘25), now an American Technology Fellow at Palantir Technologies. “It bridged technical innovation with real-world application, helping me see how emerging AI tools can drive creativity, efficiency, and entirely new business models.”

Generative AI and Entrepreneurship is offered during spring-1 on Mondays from 6-9 PM.