Part I
Where the Venture Stands
- 1Beyond Incubation: Why Ventures Stall and What It Takes to Last
- 2The Progression Pathway: Diagnosing Barriers and Planning Milestones
An eleven-module course in three formats
Venture Growth and Sustainability
Taking Early-Stage Ventures Beyond Incubation
Venture Growth and Sustainability: Taking Early-Stage Ventures Beyond Incubation is an eleven-module course for the founders of early-stage ventures that have been through an incubator, an accelerator or a university enterprise programme, and for the people who support them. It starts where those programmes usually stop: at the point where a venture must run on its own revenue and its own judgement. Participants learn to diagnose where their venture stands and which barrier matters most, turn customer interest into evidence of demand, command the few numbers that decide survival, put the legal and regulatory foundations in place, sell to organisations and join value chains, decide whether and how to go international, choose money that fits, prepare for investors, build an organisation that survives its founders' mistakes, and show credibly what the venture achieves. Every module is taught through real, dated cases, many of them closures and near-misses, and every module ends with an action on the participant's own venture and one step of the Venture Sustainability Plan, the 12- to 18-month plan each participant presents to a panel at the end of the course.
Course materials are for enrolled students and lecturers. You will need the enrolment code your lecturer gives you.
- Level
- Intermediate; no business degree assumed
- Length
- 11 modules: about 27.5 hours of sessions plus 40–60 hours of study and work on the venture
- Assessment
- Online tests, an exercise portfolio, a venture panel review and the Venture Sustainability Plan
- Materials
- Textbook in full and Essentials editions, slides, cheat sheets, online tests, case library and the Venture toolkit
- Certificate
- Attendance, or completion with at least 70% overall
Who it is for
Who the course is for
The course is for the founders and team members of early-stage ventures that have finished incubation, acceleration or a university enterprise programme and now need to become lasting businesses, especially ventures led by students and recent graduates: commercial ventures, social enterprises and research-based spin-outs in any sector, from agriculture and food, health, education, energy and financial services to digital services, manufacturing, retail and the creative industries. It is equally for the people who support them: programme managers, venture advisers, mentors and specialist consultants at entrepreneurship support organisations, university innovation hubs, incubators, accelerators and enterprise agencies, and the university staff who run enterprise programmes. A founder in a capital city, a founder in a farming district and a support-programme manager should each find their own work in it, and nothing in the course assumes one country.
Curriculum
Eleven modules in five parts
Every module adds one step to a capstone Venture Sustainability Plan.
Part II
Getting to Market
- 3Customers and Traction: From Discovery to Evidence of Demand
- 4The Numbers That Keep a Venture Alive: Unit Economics, Cash and Runway
- 5Rules of the Road: Registration, Compliance, Regulation and Intellectual Property
- 6Selling to Organisations and Joining Value Chains
Part III
Beyond the Home Market
- 7International Connections and Markets: Partners, Entry Routes and When to Go
Part IV
Funding the Next Stage
- 8The Funding Landscape: Grants, Debt, Angels, Venture Capital and What Fits
- 9Becoming Investable: Readiness, the Pitch, Due Diligence and Terms
Part V
A Venture That Lasts
- 10Team, Governance and the Founder: Building an Organisation That Survives
- 11Impact, Evidence and the Venture Sustainability Plan
Formats
Three ways to take the course
11-day intensive
One module a day over about two and a half weeks, with a venture lab each afternoon in which founders work on their own venture with advisers and peers, a venture panel review on Day 9 and the plan pitches on the last day.
- Pattern
- One module a day over about two and a half weeks
- Contact time
- About 27.5 hours of module sessions plus about 20 hours of venture labs and panel afternoons, with daily clinics and reviews
- Work on the venture
- A two-hour venture lab every afternoon in peer sets, with specialist office hours
- Self-study
- Evening reading; each capstone step written up by 09:00 the next day
- Capstone
- A 30-minute capstone clinic every day before lunch
- Panel review and pitches
- Venture panel review on the afternoon of Day 9; plan pitches on the afternoon of Day 11
- Suits
- Founders and support staff who can step away from work for two and a half weeks, or a cohort brought together in one place
11-week course
One session a week alongside running the venture, with self-study, online tests and one action on the venture between sessions, for founders and support staff who cannot step away from their work.
- Pattern
- One 150-minute module session a week for eleven weeks
- Contact time
- About 27.5 hours of module sessions plus a panel-review session and a pitch session
- Work on the venture
- One "act on your venture" task each week, with a 150-word reflection
- Self-study
- Essentials chapter before each session; test, capstone step and task after it; about 4–5 hours a week
- Capstone
- One capstone step completed between sessions
- Panel review and pitches
- Panel-review session after week 9; pitch session within two weeks of week 11
- Suits
- Founders and support staff who must keep running a venture or a programme while they study
3-day short course
The Essentials edition over three days: the core of every module, one in-class exercise each, and a short sustainability brief pitched on the last afternoon.
- Day 1
- Modules 1–4: where the venture stands, the progression pathway, customers and traction, and the numbers
- Day 2
- Modules 5–8: rules of the road, selling to organisations, international connections and the funding landscape
- Day 3
- Modules 9–11: becoming investable, team and governance, impact and the sustainability plan, with short pitches
Inside the course site
Everything in one place
The textbook, online
The full edition and the shorter Essentials edition, with search, chapter navigation and every exercise.
Online tests
Module tests and a final exam, with answers, explanations and the section to revisit after you submit.
Revision tools
Flashcards for every chapter, a searchable case library, the glossary, reading lists and cheat sheets.
A toolkit to take away
Editable templates that put the course into practice.
For lecturers
Lecturer notes, slides with speaker notes, the test bank and a results dashboard for the cohort.
Private by design
No tracking and no third-party services. The site stores only what it needs to run the course.
Ready to start?
Create your account with the enrolment code from your lecturer, or sign in if you already have one.