Over the past five years, there has been a significant increase of individuals, professionals and entrepreneurs taking online courses to increase their knowledge about new trends in business, how to start a business, how to run a successful business, and business in general.  These online courses have been critical to the success of many business owners because, as we all know, running a business can be a 24 hour a day, 7 days a week commitment and time is limited.  Now, instead of driving across town to take a traditional classroom course, whereby the subject matter may not necessarily be on point regarding the knowledge you are seeking to acquire, many institutions, particularly educational institutions such as MIT and Stanford, are currently offering free online courses for entrepreneurship learning in a number of disciplines.

Here are five online courses that start-up and small business owners should consider taking.  For more information on this topic, see Inc.com article:

How To Build a StartUp with Steve Blank
Developing Innovative Ideas For New Companies with James Green, University of Maryland
Introduction to Finance with Gautam Kaul, University of Michigan
Competitive Strategy with Tobia Kretscmer, Universitat Munchen
Design Thinking for Business Innovation with Jeanne Liedtka, University of Virginia