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Sequoia Blodgett

Uptima Teaches You How to Launch a Business

So many people are currently dipping their toes in entrepreneurship but aren’t sure how to actually start a business. Uptima Business Bootcamp is a small business and enterprise accelerator that teaches you the interworkings to launching your business from the ground up. According to the site, in Uptima’s Launching a Business

 module, they guide you through a hands-on process of
clarifying the business idea and market, testing the solution, creating a business out of the solution and laying the foundation for the business to thrive. This module is 12-weeks long and is well suited for very early stage entrepreneurs looking to create scalable businesses with positive community impact.
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In case you were wondering, the current syllabus looks like this:

UNIT TOPICS COVERED
INTRODUCTION
  • Gain an entrepreneurial mind-set
  • Gain an understanding of how business is part of a complex set of interconnected systems
  • Learn how to think holistically about business development activities
BIG IDEA
  • Gain an understanding of how assumptions and blind spots can influence product/service development
  • Learn how to use design thinking methods to identify the user, their pain points, current alternatives, and purchasing behavior
  • Develop a set of hypotheses regarding your product/service idea through a series of simple questions
CUSTOMER DISCOVERY
  • Gain an understanding of how to use customer discovery processes for evaluating product/service market fit
  • Learn how to prepare for and conduct customer discovery interviews
  • Conduct customer discovery interviews
PERSONAS
  • Gain an understanding of how personas are used in documenting a potential customer base and their product/service needs
  • Learn how to use information collected from customer discovery interviews and empathy mapping to create personas
  • Use the data you collected in customer discovery interviews to create persona empathy map(s) for the product/service idea
MARKET OPPORTUNITY
  • Gain an understanding of how to define market opportunity for a product/service
  • Learn how to quantify market size and assess market landscape by using primary and secondary data sources
  • Use data to quantify the market size and assess the market landscape for the product/service idea
BUSINESS MODEL
  • Gain an understanding of how an organization creates, delivers, and captures value through its business model
  • Learn how to use a business model canvas to develop a business model
  • Use the business model canvas to develop a business model
MINIMUM VIABLE PRODUCT/SERVICE
  • Gain an understanding of lean startup methodology
  • Learn how to apply lean methods in developing a minimum viable product/service
  • Use lean methodology to create a minimum viable product/service
USER TESTING
  • Gain an understanding of methods for testing a minimum viable product/service
  • Learn how to reach out to target users and engage them in testing
  • Develop a plan to test the minimum viable product/service
USER FEEDBACK
  • Present a demo of the minimum viable product/service
  • Receive feedback on the minimum viable product/service
  • Learn how to interpret feedback on the minimum viable product/service
COMPANY FORMATION
  • Gain an understanding of the importance of setting up the right business entity to sell the product/service
  • Learn about business entity alternatives and their financial, tax, and legacy implications
  • Evaluate business entity alternatives for the product/service idea
CREATING PRESENCE
  • Gain an understanding of the importance of creating an online presence for the business
  • Learn the basics of creating a website, social media profiles, and email newsletters
  • Create a website, social media profiles, and email newsletter to promote the minimum viable product/service
FINAL PRESENTATIONS
  • Present the business’ market opportunity, minimum viable product/service, and next steps
  • Receive constructive feedback from your peers and mentors to refine the business opportunity

If you are interested in applying or need more information, click here. Applications are due Jan. 19.

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