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.

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.