Creating a Business Roadmap Course – Uptima Entrepreneur Cooperative

Overview

In our Creating a Business Roadmap course, we guide you through a hands-on process for identifying the resources needed to grow your business, writing a business plan, and creating a financial forecast. This course is 12-weeks long and is well suited for entrepreneurs looking to create plans to grow their business and its social impact.

What You Will Learn

Unit	Topics Covered
Introduction	Gain an understanding of how a business plan serves as a roadmap on your business journey Lay the groundwork for your business plan by reviewing your current business model Learn what makes a good business plan and review sample business plans
Purpose & Values	Gain an understanding of why clarifying purpose and values are important in implementing business strategy Learn about key elements of a business’ mission, vision, and values statements Develop mission, vision, and values statements for your business
Product / Service Design	Gain an understanding of how our customer base and product / service design is connected with our mission, vision, and values Identify the depth of change in our customer base and product / service offering as a result of the current situation Learn how to use customer discovery processes to evaluate changes in our product / service offerings
Value Proposition	Learn how to identify and articulate your business’ value proposition Gain an understanding of the importance of having a clear and concise narrative to demonstrate your business’ value proposition Develop an overall company description and product and service descriptions that demonstrate your business’ value proposition
Numbers Demystified	Learn about the numbers behind an operating business Gain an understanding of how business and financial metrics tell a story about a business’ progress Identify and articulate the key business and financial metrics that tell your business’ story
Gaining Traction	Gain an understanding of strategies for building customer demand Learn about the resources needed to build marketing and sales channels for the product or service Identify and articulate marketing and sales channels for your business, plans for growing those channels, and costs associated with those plans
Operational Plan	Gain an understanding of how an operational plan is an action plan for executing a business’ vision Learn about resources needed to operate a business, including development, delivery, and support of products and services Develop an operational plan for business growth and costs associated with those plans
Infrastructure	Gain an understanding of how infrastructure is needed to support ongoing development of a business Learn about administrative resources to support the development of a business, including finance, legal, human resources, and information technology functions Identify and articulate the infrastructure needed to support development of your business and costs associated with that infrastructure
Organizational Design	Gain an understanding of how to design an organization to optimize business development Learn how businesses create and nurture a work culture Identify and articulate an organizational design, work culture, and hiring plan for your business
Forecasting, Part 1	Gain an understanding of the role financial statements play in a business and learn how to read a profit & loss statement Learn how to translate cost structure into an expense forecast Develop an expense forecast for your business
Forecasting,  Part 2	Learn how to translate revenue streams into a revenue forecast Develop a revenue forecast for your business Learn how to put together the revenue and expense forecasts into a summary for your business plan
Final Presentations	Present your business plan to your peers and mentors Receive constructive feedback from your peers and mentors to refine your business plan

Prerequisites

Must be making sales to customers or have letters of intent for sales to potential customers, and have a basic website and social media for your business.

Commit to Building Your Business

Average time commitment for our Creating a Business Roadmap Course is 10 hours / week dedicated to building your business, and includes the following weekly activities:

Title	Weekly  Activity	Weekly Commitment
Background Materials	Series of required background readings and videos on each unit to be completed online prior to the weekly workshop sessions Describes concepts and their applications in developing a business	1-2 hours / week
Workshops	Weekly workshop sessions led by an expert instructor Lecture and discussion on background materials, group activities, and reflection	3 hours / week
Business Development Activities	Weekly activities focused on your business development Apply concepts learned in background materials and workshops	2-10 hours / week
Peer Mentoring	Weekly video conference with small peer group of other entrepreneurs in your course Present weekly business development activities and receive constructive feedback from peers	1 hour / week
One-on-one Mentoring	Weekly one-on-one meetings with your mentor Discuss business progress, review weekly business development activity, and connect with resources to meet business needs	30 minutes / week

Meet Your Mentors

Apply for Our Entrepreneur Academy

To take our Creating a Business Roadmap Course, you must be enrolled in our Entrepreneur Academy.

Our Entrepreneur Academy is a 16-month entrepreneurship certificate program that supports creative and social entrepreneurs in developing plans, improving operations, accessing capital, and strengthening leadership capabilities to build thriving, resilient businesses.

Learn More About Our Entrepreneur Academy

Apply for Our Entrepreneur Academy