A renowned international expert in entrepreneurship, Milanov works with entrepreneurial leaders to discover and develop opportunities, mobilize resources, and build the teams and organizations that drive growth locally and globally. Across her work, she explores and challenges received wisdom about who succeeds in entrepreneurship and why, surfacing the unexamined assumptions in how founders, investors, and institutions evaluate entrepreneurial potential, and pointing toward what entrepreneurial practice could become.
“Entrepreneurship isn’t reserved for founders. It’s a way of thinking and acting that challenges what everyone takes for granted,” said Milanov. “The strongest leaders question who creates value and how, what’s still serving a business and what isn’t, and so unlock opportunities worth pursuing. That discipline has never mattered more. What drew me to IMD is the chance to build that capability, with leaders across industries, in a world-class community brave enough to put that kind of rigor at its center.”
In the classroom, Milanov is known for experiential and immersive learning: participants develop their own venture projects, advise founders on real challenges, and learn through international immersions in which an entire ecosystem becomes the learning environment.
“We are happy to welcome Hana Milanov to IMD’s faculty. Her deep knowledge and experience will help our participants and clients to create and implement strategies that leverage existing resources with new market and technological opportunities,” said Stefan Michel, Professor of Management and Dean of Faculty and Research.
She serves on the boards of leading entrepreneurship organizations and was recognized as one of Germany’s 20 Top Professors Fostering Entrepreneurship (Unipreneurs) for her outstanding support of founders.
Her research has been published in premier academic outlets such as the Strategic Management Journal, Journal of Business Venturing, and Entrepreneurship Theory and Practice, and her work has been featured in Forbes. She is also an Associate Editor at the Journal of Business Venturing Insights.
She has delivered executive workshops for corporate clients such as Siemens and for high-growth ventures affiliated with the Deutsche Börse Venture Network, and has taught executives, entrepreneurs, and students across Australia, Croatia, Germany, Spain, and the United States, winning multiple awards for teaching.
Milanov joins IMD from the Technical University of Munich (TUM), where she is currently on leave of absence. She previously taught at IE Business School in Madrid and holds a PhD in Entrepreneurship and Strategy from the Kelley School of Business, Indiana University.
Access Milanov’s full bio here.
