Programme overview
Introduction:
Most new ventures fail not for lack of effort but because founders build products before confirming demand, underestimate cash needs and approach investors without evidence. This Core Concept course in entrepreneurship and new venture creation takes founders through a disciplined sequence: identifying and validating an opportunity, running customer discovery and lean startup experiments, designing the business model, reaching product-market fit, planning go-to-market, modelling unit economics and runway, and choosing a funding route. Participants build a Founder Venture Plan with a startup financial model and investor pitch deck for their own venture.
Course Objectives:
- Validate a startup opportunity using problem statements, customer discovery interviews and evidence thresholds before building a product
- Design and test a new venture's business model with the Business Model Canvas and Lean Canvas, ranking the riskiest assumptions
- Scope a minimum viable product and run Build-Measure-Learn experiments that show progress towards product-market fit
- Plan go-to-market for a new venture, from beachhead segment and first customers to early traction channels
- Build a startup financial model covering unit economics, burn rate, runway and break-even, and match it to a suitable funding route
- Deliver an investor pitch and a Founder Venture Plan that set out milestones, company set-up choices and scaling steps
Target Audience:
- Founders and co-founders responsible for launching an independent new venture
- Small business owners turning a new product or service into a standalone company
- Professionals preparing to leave employment to start and run their own company
- Early startup team members accountable for customer validation, product or growth
- Incubator and accelerator staff who coach founders through validation and fundraising
Course Outline:
Day 1: Opportunity Identification and Startup Foundations
- Startup Versus Small Business: Growth Intent and Risk Profile
- Opportunity Sources: Problems, Trends and Underserved Customer Segments
- Problem Statement and Early Adopter Profile Template
- Opportunity Screening Scorecard: Pain, Market Size and Founder Fit
- Founder Readiness and Co-Founder Skills Gap Assessment
Day 2: Lean Startup and Business Model Design
- Lean Startup Build-Measure-Learn Loop and Validated Learning
- Business Model Canvas: Nine Building Blocks for a New Venture
- Lean Canvas: Problem, Solution, Unfair Advantage and Key Metrics
- Riskiest Assumption Map and Hypothesis Statement Format
- Lean LaunchPad Customer Development Stages from Discovery to Company Building
Day 3: Customer Discovery, MVP and Go-to-Market
- Customer Discovery Interview Script and Evidence Log
- Minimum Viable Product Types: Landing Page, Concierge and Prototype
- Experiment Card Design with Pass and Fail Criteria
- Product-Market Fit Signals: Retention Curves and Customer Pull
- Beachhead Market Selection and First Customer Acquisition Plan
Day 4: Startup Financials, Funding and Scaling Risks
- Unit Economics: Customer Acquisition Cost, Lifetime Value and Payback Period
- Burn Rate, Runway and Break-Even Calculation
- Funding Route Comparison: Bootstrapping, Angels, Venture Capital, Grants and Crowdfunding
- Company Set-Up Choices, Founder Agreements and Equity Split Principles
- Pivot or Persevere Decisions and Scaling Readiness Checklist
Day 5: Modelling Build and the Founder Venture Plan
- Startup Financial Model Build: Revenue Drivers, Costs and Cash Runway
- Investor Pitch Deck Structure: Problem, Traction, Team and Funding Request
- Cap Table and Dilution Worked Example Across Two Funding Rounds
- Founder Venture Plan Assembly with Milestones and Evidence
- Investor Pitch Rehearsal and Mock Panel Challenge
Skills You Will Gain:
- Opportunity Validation
- Customer Discovery Interviewing
- Lean Experiment Design
- Startup Financial Modelling
- Unit Economics Analysis
- Fundraising Readiness
- Investor Pitching
- Early Traction Planning
Why Attend This Course:
- Return with a Founder Venture Plan, startup financial model and pitch deck for an own venture, challenged by a mock investor panel
- Stop spending on features before customers have shown they will pay, using a repeatable interview and experiment routine
- Know how long current cash will last and which funding route suits the venture's stage and growth ambition
- Test ideas with founders from different sectors and countries facing similar launch decisions
Conclusion:
New ventures succeed when founders replace assumptions with evidence and manage cash as carefully as the product. This course moves from opportunity identification and founder readiness, through lean startup methods and business model design, to customer discovery, minimum viable products and go-to-market, and then to unit economics, funding routes, company set-up and scaling decisions. The final day brings these together in a modelling build, producing a Founder Venture Plan, startup financial model and investor pitch that participants can use in their next conversation with customers, partners or investors.