Marketing & BusinessBeginner
Entrepreneurship: From Idea to First Customer
Find a problem worth solving, test it cheaply, win your first customers and pitch with confidence.
20 lessons3h 8m of video2 quizzes1 practical task Certificate
What you'll learn
- Find business ideas from real problems and test them quickly
- Map a business on one page with the Lean Canvas
- Build a minimum viable product (MVP) without wasting money
- Talk to customers in a way that gives honest answers
- Understand revenue, costs and profit per customer
- Give a clear, short pitch
Course content
Part 1. Thinking like an entrepreneur5 lessons
- Aliko Dangote: “I built my fortune from scratch”by Bloomberg Television4 min
- Jihan's venture: a businesswoman in Kenyaby Al Jazeera English13 min
- How to get and test startup ideasby Y Combinator6 min
- Tony Elumelu entrepreneurs transforming Africa (documentary)by The Tony Elumelu Foundation31 min
- Problems are opportunities
Part 2. From idea to business model4 lessons
Part 3. Customers first3 lessons
Part 4. Money and pitching5 lessons
Capstone project: Capstone project: Your idea, tested. You finish by building something real; a mentor reviews it before your certificate is issued.
About this course
Great businesses start with a problem, not a product. In this course you learn the methods used by Y Combinator, the world's best-known startup programme, and hear from African entrepreneurs who built businesses from scratch. You'll learn to find and test ideas, map a business on one page, build a minimum viable product, talk to customers, understand the money, and pitch. Your capstone is a real lean canvas, real customer conversations and a one-minute pitch.