You can find the syllabus of each module on the course page on BB or through this link

IDEATION WITH IMPACT & PURPOSE:

• Problem detection as the core of a successful startup ideation process. The problem statement canvas. 

• Startup impact. The competitive advantage of having a solid purpose. Examples.

• The abundance framework: integrating sustainability and social impact in the ideation process.

• By the end of the course, students will be able to conduct an ideation process to come up with startup ideas, with a structured, purpose-driven approach that natively integrates sustainability and impact.

• Practical objective: define the initial startup idea before the following Prelab workshops. 

TEAMBUILDING & TEAM FORMATION: 

• Validation as the process to qualify startup ideas, confirm hypotheses and mitigate risks.

• Validation as an iterative process: using data and information collected from the market in a structured manner.

• Overview of validation tools: analytic frameworks, interviewing, and experimenting.

• By the end of the course, students will be capable of turning their startup idea into a set of hypotheses and design validation experiments to test them.

• Practical objective: conduct early validation experiments to validate the idea before the Startup Lab begins. 

CREATORS NIGHT: 

• Session for student teams to get to know their own and other Startup Lab mentors. 

LEAN STARTUP & CUSTOMER VALIDATION:

• The Lean Startup Methodology: the iterative process to solve a market problem.

• Lean Canvas: from the problem statement to the definition of the business model.

• Customer validation and the Validation Board: hypotheses, experiments and pivots. Proof-of-concepts, prototypes and MVP. 

• Ecosystem Map: analysis of competitors and other key stakeholders. Market sizing.

• By the end of the course, students will be able to understand the Lean Startup Methodology and use the most important tools to plan the development of their own startup as an iterative process.

• Practical objective: complete the Lean Canvas, the Ecosystem map and a market sizing exercise for the startup and establish a validation plan through the Validation Board. 

PROTOTYPING & TESTING: 

• Brief recent history of AI, examples of current state of development and generative AI.

• AI as a tool to support content creation for marketing assets, pitch decks, etc.: branding, imagery, copy, etc. 

• AI as a tool for prototyping. Open source vs ready-made apps.

• By the end of the course, students will be capable of using both free-to-use and pay-per-use generative AI tools to enhance and streamline their content creation and also to generate quick prototypes of landing pages and interactive UI mock-ups.

• Practical objective: integrate the use of AI to build the Startup Lab materials and prototypes. 

TECH BITES: DESIGN FOR USABILITY: 

• The user experience (UX) and the user experience design: introduction to the concepts.

• Essential process and tools to design a successful user experience.

• The user interface (UI) as a critical element of the user experience.

• Practical review of the Startup Lab prototypes using the concepts of this course.

• By the end of the course, students will be able to analyze and improve their own prototypes using professional UX design methodologies and tools and will be able to seek and understand further advice as needed.

• Practical objective: review and improvement plan of the prototype considering its usability. 

PITCHING BOOTCAMP: 

• Different types and objectives of the entrepreneurial pitch.

• Basic formats, structure and creation process of an investor pitch deck.

• Preparing the pitch deck and live pitch delivery to different investor types and to other key audiences.

• Preparing successfully for a challenging Q&A session.

• By the end of the course, students will have a draft version of their own pitch deck, and a plan for the completion, review and preparation of the live delivery of it. Students will also be able to provide structured peer review to their classmates.

• Practical objective: develop a pitch that is improved throughout the Startup Lab. 

GENERATING MARKET TRACTION: 

• The go-to-market framework (purpose, value proposition, client/market, product, channel/business model, etc.)

• Necessary fit between market, product, channels and business model. How to pivot.

• Overview and examples of traction channels. 

• By the end of the course, students will be able to define a high-level go-to-market strategy for their startup, which is coherent with the other components of their pitch.

• Practical objective: develop a go-to-market strategy and the corresponding slide(s) in their pitch deck. 

STARTUP METRICS: 

• Importance and nature of the core startup metrics, and their connection with the business model, prototype, pitch, go-to-market and other core elements of an entrepreneurial project.

• Sustainability and impact metrics to develop long-term competitive advantages. Evolution of metrics along the startup journey.

• Startup metrics as an alignment tool across startup teams. How to cascade them down.

• By the end of the course, students will have a draft of their own core startup metrics (KPIs) and objectives and will understand how to align their entrepreneurial strategy, team and tools to achieve such objectives.

• Practical objective: define the KPIs for the startup. 

TECH BITES: DIGITAL PLATFORM & MOBILE APP: 

• Definition, core elements and pros and cons of digital platforms and mobile apps as products.

• Key technologies and development tools to prototype and implement them.

• Product management essentials for digital platforms and mobile apps.

• By the end of the course, students will have a plan to design, develop and maintain their own digital platform or mobile app.

• Practical objective: develop a high-level product development roadmap. 

FUNDING YOUR START-UP: 

• Startup funding essentials: why startups need capital and what are the different funding sources available depending on the market opportunity (venture capital, angel investment, accelerators/incubators, grants, crowdsourcing, friends and family, bootstrapping, etc.)

• Introduction of key funding concepts and tools: startup valuation, cap tables and term sheets. Essentials of how to analyze an investment offer.

• Deck analysis from an investment perspective. Financials and building a forecast in connection with core startup metrics and objectives.

• The funding cycle: practical examples.

• By the end of the course, students will have a draft of their own funding plan, compatible with their core startup metrics and objectives, and will be capable of reviewing, improving and turning that plan into their own financials and forecast, that can be integrated in their own funding materials. Students will also be ready to do a basic analysis of an early-stage investment offer and seek further support.

• Practical objective: develop the basic financials and funding strategy for the startup and the corresponding pitch components.

• MARKETING FOR STARTUPS

• Core marketing concepts applied to early-sta

MARKETING FOR STARTUPS: 

• Core marketing concepts applied to early-stage startup development: positioning, channels, campaigns, etc.

• Framing the marketing strategy as an element of the go-to-market strategy. Connection with core startup metrics and objectives. Likely evolution (e.g., from sales-led to marketing-led strategies).

• Implementing an entrepreneurial marketing plan: team, budget and tools. Practical examples.

• By the end of the course, students will be capable of understanding and creating a startup marketing strategy and implementation plan. Students will also have a realistic draft marketing plan for their startups.

• Practical objective: strengthen the go-to-market strategy and pitch components from the Marketing perspective. 

GROWTH: DATA DRIVEN DECISIONS AND TACTICS:

• Understanding growth in the startup context and the importance of company-wide alignment around it.

• The AARRR framework. Practical examples.

• Traction channels especially suitable for early-stage: founder sales, virality, etc.

• Growth hacking: analyzing growth data in relation to core startup metrics and objectives, and rapid iteration to achieve results.

• By the end of the course, students will be able to understand and implement growth hacking tactics for their own startup. 

• Practical objective: implement and evaluate a first growth hacking tactic and define the next iteration. 

TECH BITES: GOOGLE ANALYTICS: 

• Google Analytics as an massively-adopted tool to track the activation and retention of a digital product.

• Essentials on how to integrate Google Analytics within digital platforms and mobile apps.

• Example dashboards, reports and analysis of results. Evaluation of the same in the context of the core startup metrics and objectives.

• By the end of the course, students will be able to understand the importance of analytics tools applied to their products to achieve entrepreneurial success. Students will also be capable of understanding the basics of an implementation based on Google Analytics and plan the same for their own prototypes.

• Practical objective: extract basic insights from an example report. 

ELEVATING YOUR PITCH:

• Adapting the pitch to different audiences.

• How to successfully deliver different pitch formats. Building on the pitch deck. Practice and peer-review.

• By the end of the course, students will be able to review their and other pitches and provide advice on how to improve the storytelling.

• Practical objective: refine the live delivery of their pitches in at least two formats: elevator and 5-minute pitch. 

STARTUP EXITS:

• Types of endings of the entrepreneurial journey (liquidation, acquisition, public offering, continuation as a privately-owned business, etc.).

• Exits from the financial point of view. Valuations from the business exiting perspective and connection with funding. Importance of timelines.

• Exits from the point of view of the entrepreneur and the investor. What success looks like. What can go wrong.

• By the end of the course, students be able to understand and assess at a high-level the exit strategy of peer startups and past market references.

• Practical objective: draft a realistic exit strategy for their startups. 

HOW TO LAUNCH YOUR OWN STARTUP:

• Legal essentials for startups: company formation, liability and structure. Relevant principles of law.

• IP protection essentials.

• Summary of most frequent legal instruments: NDAs, LOIs, MOUs, Ts&Cs, service and shareholder agreements.

• Institutional support and context for the entrepreneurial journey. Overview of example geographies.

• By the end of the course, students will be able to describe in their own terms the nature and key characteristics of the most frequent company structures and legal instruments. Also, students will understand where and how to obtain support and resources to launch their own startup.

• Practical objective: basic checklist with key steps to launch their startups.