THE PROGRAM
What are you going to learn?
Value Proposition
The most promising business ideas consist of concepts that solve an urgent problem (or offer opportunities) for a large group of people. We teach you not to think too much about the solution you have in mind right now, but first do some research on other solutions that might better meet the needs of your potential customers. In this way you increase your chances of success considerably!
Market
Once you have an insight into the problem you solve for your target group, we will find out how big the market is. We do this to be able to estimate the potential of your idea. The bigger the market, the more interesting your concept becomes. We also teach you to always think about the scalability of your concept. This means: with as little effort as possible, achieve the largest possible impact.
Team
Research has shown that the best startup teams consist of multiple members (founders) with different backgrounds. Think of differences in educational backgrounds, work experience but also character traits. In this chapter we will teach you all about complementarity, diversity and inclusion. These are the main pillars for a successful team.
Competitive edge
Even though you may have an innovative idea, there are almost always competitors doing something similar. Often this scares off startup entrepreneurs, we try to paint a different picture. A competitor proves that they have found a product-market fit. This simply means that there are people walking around who have money to spend on something similar that you also want to offer, that’s good news! This is why in this chapter we teach you to study competitors carefully and distinguish yourself from them.
Growth
Growth does not just mean more sales, you can also grow in reach, impact or for example staff. If you want to grow your business, it is important to set goals. We teach you what data to collect and how to analyze it in order to gain valuable insights and achieve your goals.
Financials
Drawing up a good financial plan turns out to be a difficult part for many starters. We try to explain the basics in an accessible way, so you get more insight into how you can organize your finances. Are you going to bootstrap your startup or are you going to get funding? Together we investigate what suits you best.
Strategy
In this chapter we summarize all the previous chapters. This allows you to determine for yourself what your strategy is for the coming period. Here you develop a planning where you indicate to yourself which goals you want to achieve per phase in order to really start doing business.
Assessment
Finally, we assess your startup plan for the feasibility and potential of the idea. This assessment consists of critical feedback on your concept using the criteria we designed. These criteria are used by investors when evaluating startups. We do this to keep you sharp and to give you insight in what you should focus on.
