4 – 10 Weeks Tailored Programs

Guiding Business Ideas to Success

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Startup Academy is an initiative to educate, encourage and empower the Egyptian youth to start a small business or to begin an entrepreneurial journey. 

Startup Academy delivers tailored programs that help the entrepreneurs, startup founders, and small business owners in every stage of their companies’ lifecycle.

The programs are delivered by mix of “professional trainers” who deliver the fundamental knowledge necessary for any business owner/founder, and “volunteer mentors” who are either industry experts. seasoned professionals or serial entrepreneurs.

The Mentors

Business Yard volunteer mentors are industry experts and seasoned professional who have either prior start up experience or a strong intrapreneurial stint during their corporate career.

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Pro bono consulting opportunity for seasoned professionals and industry experts: If you have 15+ years of business experience and you are willing to donate some time to advise or mentor young Egyptian entrepreneurs starting or running their business, please contact us now. We know plenty of aspiring talents who need you

About the Programs

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Ideation Process

The goal of the ideation process, then, should not be lots of ideas. Instead, the goal should be to construct the single, best solution to satisfy the unmet customer needs of the target customers and segments, enabling them to get the job done faster, more conveniently, and more effectively than ever before.

  • Generating small business ideas
  • What is the value in your idea?
  • Failure is your way to success
  • Entrepreneurship as a way of thinking
  • Who is the entrepreneur?
  • How to overcome the failure?
  • International start-ups
  • Egyptian start-ups
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Strategy and Business Modeling

Defining your business idea and building a business to support that idea is one of the most important first steps a small business owner needs to take. Even bootstrapped entrepreneurs with little to no money can build a big and profitable business with the right plan. Startup Academy’s training programs help entrepreneurs define their product, business model, and plan in a way that helps them capitalize on the resources and opportunities at their disposal.

  • Establishing the right business structure
  • Lessons and tips from other small business owners
  • When to use the Small Business Administration
  • Positioning your product or service against competitors
  • Pricing your product or service
  • Building a lean startup
  • Establishing measures for your small business
  • Managing innovation
  • Preparing for the evolution of your business
  • Managing the risk of small business failure
  • Defining your exit strategy
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Marketing & Sales

Even the best products and services don’t matter if your potential customers don’t know about them. In many cases, your prospects may not even yet realize that they need your product or service, which is why it is so critical to have a solid marketing and sales plan to build demand for your small business over time.

  • Creating your small business marketing strategy and plan
  • Creating the right brand and perception for your business
  • Targeting your audience
  • Test marketing your new products or services
  • Search engine optimization (SEO) and internet marketing
  • Email marketing
  • Publicity and public relations
  • Leveraging traditional marketing channels, such as advertising, direct mail, and other forms of marketing
  • Managing the cost-benefit of your marketing plan
  • Proven sales processes
  • Best practices to sell more to new and existing customers
  • Building a sales and marketing machine that dominates your competition
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Managing Employees

It is often said that employees are the biggest assets of any small business. However, managing employees and contractors can be equally challenging and frustrating without the proper tools and techniques. This module covers the best practices and methods that have been proven to help small businesses leverage the best of what their employees have to offer.

  • Defining your organizational structure, roles, and responsibilities
  • Creating the right culture and values
  • Defining standardized expectations for your employees
  • Measuring performance and results
  • Hiring and firing
  • Finding the right management style that best fits you and your small business
  • Ensuring employees are aligned with your economic best interests
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Small Business Operations

While most entrepreneurs are the creative, visionary, and big picture types, the nuts and bolts of how your business will run is equally important. In fact, while lack of cash is widely known to be the reason for most small business failures, it is actually poor operations that is the root cause of these common cashflow problems.

  •  Building the operational blueprint for your business
  • Creating a business that can run without you having to do all the work
  • Balancing quality versus cost
  • What to outsource versus insource
  • Managing through small business growing pains
  • Building a company that is ready for fast growth
  • Ways to profitably leverage technologies, such as accounting software, marketing software, and small business software
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Finance, Accounting, and Cash Management

You’ve probably heard the phrase “cash is king,” which is especially true for startups and small businesses. In fact, it is widely known that most small businesses fail because of a lack of cash and financing. Unfortunately, this is true for startups that are just forming, companies that are growing, and even well-established companies.

  • Small business loans and grants
  • Other sources of financing
  • Determining your financing needs
  • Defining your profit margin targets
  • Establishing a financially sound and healthy business
  • Diversifying your revenue
  • Identifying opportunities for more cashflow from your existing products and customers
  • Managing fixed vs. variable costs
  • Establishing financial controls to manage financial risk
  • Managing the cash strains of growth
  • Ensuring that you can comfortably pay yourself from the business 
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Presentation and Pitching

Ultimately you are always pitching to investors, customers, business partners, recruits, friends, your spouse, etc…

A presentation is really a conversation between you and your audience where only one side is audible. The audience is asking questions in their head; it’s your job to anticipate those questions and answer them in your presentation

  • Introduction
  • The Hook
  • The Solution
  • The Market
  • The Competition
  • Differentiation
  • Business Model
  • The Team
  • The Request