Best Startup Courses
A selection of online courses to build your entrepreneurial mindset.
FREE
Startup School is a free 8-week online course organized by Y Combinator, Silicon Valley’s most famous, and most successful, startup accelerator. If you are new to the tech startup terminology and how to apply the techniques then this is a good start. It’s composed of group mentorship sessions, a forum for mutual support and accountability, goal tracking and video lectures.
FREE
This is another free course and it is like getting it straight from the horse’s mouth. Steve Blank basically coined the term Lean Startup method, whose methodology of Customer Development is the building block on Eric Ries’ Lean Startup movement. In this month-long course, Blank teaches how to rapidly develop and test ideas by gathering massive amounts of customer and marketplace feedback.
$399
We have delivered the 12 week Startup Onramp program in Coffs to serveral cohorts and now Colin Kinner has developed this into a format suitable for anyone, no matter when you have free time to work on that side hustle. The Founders Course shows you what makes startups succeed, and provides you with a proven, practical framework to put your learnings into action in your own startup. The course comprises 30 video modules plus a discussion forum and offline tasks. You can take as long as you like to complete it with the average time being 6 weeks or less.
FREE
This is a cohort based intake provided by Coursera and offered by University of Maryland offers 4 sub-courses taking you into the world of business modeling, customer relationship, revenue streams and cost structures. They start with critical steps to bring innovations to the marketplace, and innovation strategies to establish and maintain a competitive advantage going through venture financing and finishing up with creating a business plan and an investor pitch. Estimated time to finish the course is 5 months, with hands-on projects and some real hard homework.
$25 – $99 (depending on specials)
An Apple-alumni and Canva evangelist Guy Kawasaki is sharing his experience as an investor and entrepreneur in this class. It tackles the A to Z process of starting a business, covering launching, pitching, fundraising, building a team, using social media, and evangelizing in over 56 lectures and 4 hours of content. Described as highly informative and entertaining, Guy uses real-world examples to show you the do’s and don’ts of being an entrepreneur. You will definitely be inspired to get your startup off the ground.
$18 – $180 (depending on specials)
Ever wonder how organizations like Apple, NASA, and Ticketmaster design their products? Now you can find out. The course is designed to give entrepreneurs a deeper understanding of what it takes to bring a product from idea to launch, how to develop strategies and concepts for products, coordinate their development, analyze and validate ideas and help them grow. Featuring case studies from NASA, Google, Zappos, and more, this course also teaches you the fundamentals of Agile Development and industry-standard tools like Pivotal Tracker, Axure, and Popplet.
FREE
Pitching a business idea is often the most important moment in an entrepreneur’s professional life and for that reason, mastering the art of pitch is essential. Although the more you do it, the more you will master it, there are few tips you need to know on how to prepare it and rehearse it before delivering the idea pitch. This short 40-min course can help you set the basics and from there on, the show is yours. You never know, a quick chat at the coffee shop could turn out to be a big deal investor.