3 hours
Entrepreneurship and Startups
Gain practical knowledge for launching and scaling startups, from ideation to funding and growth.
Learning Objectives
- Understand the startup ecosystem
- Develop and validate business models
- Learn fundraising and pitching skills
- Build and scale startup teams
Topics Covered
- Startup Fundamentals
- Business Model Canvas
- Lean Startup Methodology
- Fundraising Strategies
- Pitch Deck Development
- Team Building & Culture
Hands-On Activities
Business Model Canvas Workshop
30 mins
Map your startup idea on the Business Model Canvas to validate your business model.
Instructions
- Start with Customer Segments — who are your first 100 customers?
- Define your Value Proposition for each segment
- Map your Channels, Customer Relationships, and Revenue Streams
- Identify Key Resources, Activities, and Partners
- Calculate your Cost Structure and identify your break-even point
90-Day Validation Plan
25 min
Create a structured plan to validate your riskiest business assumptions in 90 days.
Instructions
- List your top 10 business assumptions
- Rank by risk (if wrong, would it kill the business?)
- Design an experiment for the top 3 assumptions
- Define success criteria for each experiment
- Schedule your first experiment for this week
Exercises
individual · 25 min
2-Minute Pitch Practice
Craft and deliver a compelling 2-minute pitch for your startup idea.
- Structure: Problem → Solution → Market → Traction → Ask
- Write your pitch script (max 300 words)
- Practice delivery — focus on storytelling
- Deliver to a partner and get scored on clarity, energy, and credibility
- Iterate and deliver again
- Final delivery to full group — peer voting
group · 20 min
Lean Canvas Speed Round
Rapidly iterate on a business idea using the Lean Canvas framework.
- Each person fills in a Lean Canvas in 10 minutes
- Present to your group in 2 minutes
- Group asks 3 tough questions
- Update your canvas based on feedback
- Identify the #1 assumption to test first
Practical Examples
Cloud Storage
Dropbox MVP Video
Drew Houston created a 3-minute demo video explaining Dropbox before building the product. The video went viral overnight.
OUTCOME: Waiting list grew from 5,000 to 75,000 overnight, validating demand without writing a single line of code.
E-commerce
Zappos Concierge MVP
Nick Swinmurn tested the hypothesis that people would buy shoes online by photographing shoes in stores and listing them online, buying from the store only when orders came in.
OUTCOME: Validated the market with zero inventory investment. Zappos later sold to Amazon for $1.2B.
Industry Success Stories
Fintech
Stripe
Challenge
Online payment processing was complex, requiring weeks of integration work for developers.
Approach
Patrick and John Collison validated by literally offering to integrate their payment solution into startups' code right in front of them ('Collison installation').
Result
Grew to a $95B valuation by obsessing over developer experience. Now processes hundreds of billions in payments annually.
Useful Resources
The Lean Startup — Eric Ries
BOOK
Strategyzer Business Model Canvas
FRAMEWORK
Pitch Deck Template — Slidebean
TOOL
How to Start a Startup (Sam Altman)
VIDEO
Y Combinator Startup School
ARTICLE
Key Takeaways
Startup launch toolkit
Business model validation
Investor-ready pitching
Fostering real-time entrepreneurship
to help accelerate career growth for venture builders, product designers and innovators.
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