The Curriculum
LaunchPad is not a class about entrepreneurship; it is an accelerator.
(It is a place to launch a business)
It’s an intense, action-based program designed for those who are primed to build their business through action (not planning). Over the course of 10-weeks, teams will incorporate, develop robust prototypes and test them, and find key customers and investors, and ultimately prove their offer viable or not.
Launchpad does not offer roadmap, no secret formula (in fact you can look at some great materials in the resources section nothing secret). Launchpad offers the chance for founder to take action, in effect launch smaller parts of the business, fail (yes fail a lot), learn and iterate.
The History
Launchpad was founded in 2009, by Michael Dearing and Perry Klebahn. The one singular idea was that student founders needed to take action and build their start ups (not plan) and in doing this be part of a program that allowed them to learn through (sometimes) relentless, build, test, fail, and iterate cycles. Although so much has changed with the times in terms of the materials we use in Launchpad, That simple idea sits in the middle of everything the program does now as it did in 2009.
Key principles of the program
1 | Sell First
Find your customer, sell them the offer, plan later (or never)
2 | Experiment
Eliminate risk and uncertainty through experimentation
3 | Support Fellow Teams
Collaborate with and help the whole cohorts success
4 | Leverage you Vision
Articulate your vision for you business quickly and routinely be able to inspire interest in others
5 | Compost
Fail fast, learn and iterate faster than the competition
6 | Accelerate
Get to market in 10 weeks, don’t have a boss this summer
Key differentiators of the program
Access to a vibrant startup network:investors, market experts, Stanford alumni, mentors, renowned incubators and accelerators (i.e. Alchemist, Y Combinator, etc) and work space in Silicon Valley
Get to market NOW - prove product market fit in 10 weeks
Launchpad is entirely applied nothing is done that is not about getting your company started.
This is not a class - it is an accelerator. Your startup is a business not a project in Launchpad