Starting a new business begins with an idea that needs to evolve through experimentation, iteration and interactions with people. This course is for existing and potential entrepreneurs who are looking for guidance and support to make their ‘great idea’ a reality. In addition to reviewing the basic principles of entrepreneurship, this course guides you through the process of actively validating your idea in the market. We encourage you to identify and communicate good opportunities and to create and capture value from these opportunities. By working through the course and completing the activities you’ll learn how to get feedback that systematically tests different parts of your business idea. You will learn how to do this through interacting with potential customers, suppliers, partners and investors outside the course. Along the way, you will also become more confident in pitching your idea. By the end of the course you should have a validated business idea that you can start right away.
How to Validate your Startup Idea
Offered By
UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales)
About this Course
4.4
50 ratings
Skills you will gain
Lean StartupValue PropositionInvestmentEntrepreneurship
Syllabus - What you will learn from this course
Week
18 hours to complete
How can you learn entrepreneurship?
In the first week, you'll be learning about some basic concepts in entrepreneurship. Specifically we're going to introduce the business canvas and the lean method, two key frameworks that will be used to structure your activities throughout this course.
2 videos (Total 6 min), 4 readings, 6 quizzes
2 videos
Video: How will your business idea evolve? The Lean Startup Method4m
4 readings
About this course10m
Reading: Introduction to Entrepreneurship10m
Activity: The Lean Startup Method and Business Model Canvas10m
Reading: Mentors, who needs them?10m
Week
23 hours to complete
How is your idea valuable?
This week you'll learn to articulate and test your value proposition by drawing on three concepts: the strategy canvas, persona and minimum viable product (MVP). The strategy canvas emphasizes the uniqueness of your value proposition. The 'persona' represents who you think your typical customer is, which is useful for identifying real customers. The MVP is a simple prototype, which is a key tool to to get feedback from potential customers about the value you are providing them.
1 video (Total 5 min), 4 readings, 2 quizzes
1 video
4 readings
Strategy Canvas: Mapping how you are different10m
Creating your first Persona and Customer Journey Map10m
Building a Minimum Viable Product (MVP)10m
Measuring and Learning from your MVP10m
Week
33 hours to complete
How will you reach more customers?
This week we'll help you think beyond your first customers, to scaling up your business across multiple segments of customers. The core concepts for this module are the diffusion of innovation and developing partnerships.
1 video (Total 3 min), 2 readings, 3 quizzes
2 readings
Growing your business: Segmenting and targeting your niches10m
Partners and resources10m
Week
43 hours to complete
How profitable is your idea?
This week is an introduction to financial literacy. We'll show you how to build an income statement, how to develop financial models and financial forecasts. We'll also introduce you to some metrics to track the viability of your business that complement the traditional accounting metrics.
1 video (Total 3 min), 3 readings, 2 quizzes
1 video
3 readings
Income Statements10m
Forecasts and models10m
Metrics10m
4.4
20 ReviewsTop Reviews
I am loving it so far.\n\nMy only concerns are about the platform, would love to have a help chat or somebody who I can talk to.
Its a great course for entrepreneurs before they get into the market with their idea's..
Instructors
Allya Koesoema
LecturerUNSW Business School
Martin Bliemel
Senior LecturerUNSW Business School
About UNSW Sydney (The University of New South Wales)
UNSW Sydney, based in Sydney Australia, was established in 1949 and is one of Australia’s leading research and teaching universities with more than 50,000 students from over 120 countries. UNSW Sydney aspires to provide students with an outstanding educational experience, which both reflects our strong traditions of excellence, innovation and social justice, and builds on our strengths in scientific, technological and professional disciplines.
Frequently Asked Questions
When will I have access to the lectures and assignments?
Once you enroll for a Certificate, you’ll have access to all videos, quizzes, and programming assignments (if applicable). Peer review assignments can only be submitted and reviewed once your session has begun. If you choose to explore the course without purchasing, you may not be able to access certain assignments.
What will I get if I purchase the Certificate?
When you purchase a Certificate you get access to all course materials, including graded assignments. Upon completing the course, your electronic Certificate will be added to your Accomplishments page - from there, you can print your Certificate or add it to your LinkedIn profile. If you only want to read and view the course content, you can audit the course for free.
What is the refund policy?
Is financial aid available?
More questions? Visit the Learner Help Center.
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