Course curriculum

  • 1

    START HERE: Welcome to the Global Community Hub by Spring

    • Welcome to the Global Community Hub!

    • How to Use the Global Community Hub and Discussion Threads

    • Suggestion Box

    • What's NEW!
  • 2

    Booking time with our Partners and Advisors

    • Book 1-on-1 time to get the support you need for your business
  • 3

    Quick Wins

    • What is the Right Rhythm for my Business

    • The biggest factors for success in a start-up

    • Facing Contraints and Limitations: Embrace the Shake

    • Strategic Planning Nuts & Bolts
  • 4

    Global Member Perks

    • Conscious PR - 10% discount for online courses

    • FreshBooks Accounting - 1 month FREE

    • NEW - Google Cloud: UP to $20,000 in credit

    • Hubspot: 90% off Inbound Marketing (have your proof of Spring participation ready)

    • NEW: Metronome Growth Systems - 50% off

    • Proto: App prototyping software - 50% off

    • NEW: UpViral VIP Offer: 33% Discount

    • Sendpulse: Email and SMS Marketing Optimization; Up to $5,000 Grant for Sendpulse

    • ZenHub: project management for developers. Free annual licence
  • 5

    Membership Perks - Canada, BC, and Vancouver specific

    • Collage HR - CANADA $30 off benefits package

    • CodeCore: VANCOUVER Web development - $500 off full-time programs

    • Futurpreneur Community Program: BC AND YUKON - $15,000 in funding (British Columbia & Yukon)

    • CampTech: VANCOUVER 15% off CampTech classes using code: Spring15

    • Mobi bike share: VANCOUVER - Discounted membership

    • The HiVE co-working space: VANCOUVER - Free set up + first month discount

    • App-Scoop: CANADA - Discounts up to 25% on web & mobile solutions

    • Bean Around the World: VANCOUVER - 10% off

    • Float House: VANCOUVER - floatation therapy

    • Stretch Yoga: VANCOUVER - 15% Discount
  • 6

    Your Why and Your Values

    • Finding your Why

    • Defining your Values

    • An Example of Why and Values

    • Discussion Thread: Defining your Why and Values
  • 7

    Your Impact on the world: The What, Why and Hows

    • Impact Framework 101

    • How we think about Impact @ Spring

    • What is Impact and Are you an Impact Company?

    • Spring Impact Company Checklist

    • What is Shared Value?

    • A peek at impact measurement

    • Let's talk about impact and more
  • 8

    The Lean Startup: Running your business the right way from the start

    • What is Lean?

    • An overview of Lean
  • 9

    Defining and Clarifying the Problem you're Solving

    • Clarifying the Problem
  • 10

    Defining your Target, or Ideal, Customer

    • Who is your ideal customer?
  • 11

    What Does Your Business Look Like? The Business Model Builder, and Impact Business Model Canvas

    • The Basics of the Business Model Builder

    • Business Model Builder: The Essentials

    • Fledge presents: Defining your Market Size

    • Business Model Builder: Defining the Competition

    • Fledge Presents: Defining your Competitive Landscape

    • Fledge Presents: Your Uniqueness

    • Fledge presents: Creating Competitive Advantage

    • Business Model Builder and the Customer

    • Business Model Builder: The Customers

    • The Spring Business Model Builder Template
  • 12

    Customer Discovery: Proving You are Solving a Problem that Someone will Pay For

    • A complete overview of customer discovery

    • How to Run a User Interview

    • How To Do (And What To Expect From) Early-Stage Customer Development & Sales

    • Email Prospecting

    • Avoiding mistakes in Customer Discovery

    • The Ultimate List of Customer Development Questions
  • 13

    Minimum Viable Product: The first version of your product or service

    • Minimum Viable Product by App-Scoop

    • Fledge presents: Minimum Viable Product
  • 14

    NEW! Launch Plan: For Companies, or a Product, Service, or Project

    • Spring: Launch Plan Template

    • Building your Launch Plan
  • 15

    Sales

    • Sales Process

    • Generating Leads

    • Sales Funnel

    • Sales Script

    • Cold Calling

    • AMPLIFY Your Sales Talk: Dr. Andreas Boettcher, the "Ironman of Sales"

    • Template: Draft Call Script

    • Sales Proposals

    • Getting to a Close

    • NEW: Build a Six Figure Sales Funnel using LinkedIn Automation

    • NEW: Managing complex Business-to-Business (B-to-B) with the Miller Heiman BlueSheet

    • Fledge presents: Marketing vs. Sales

    • Fledge presents: Sales Topics

    • Fledge presents: The Sales Funnel

    • Fledge presents: Handling Sales Rejection

    • Fledge presents: Sales Channels

    • Fledge presents: Organizing the Sales Team

    • Fledge presents: A not so good sales example - Glengarry Glen Ross

    • Fledge presents: Motivating Salespeople

    • Do we pay Sales Commission?

    • Fledge presents: Projecting Sales

    • Fledge presents: Pricing

    • Fledge presents: Rule of Thumbs for Pricing

    • Fledge presents: Deal Flow

    • Fledge presents: Tracking Prospects

    • Fledge presents: Big Complex Sales, or Business Development

    • Fledge presents: Sales Tactics - Listen!

    • Fledge presents: Closing

    • Fledge presents: Your First Sale

    • Fledge presents: After the Sale

    • Fledge presents: Your Sales Process

    • Fledge presents: Everyone helps to Sell!
  • 16

    Marketing

    • Naming your company

    • Inbound Marketing & Sales

    • Hubspot's Free Inbound Marketing Course

    • A Guide to Content Marketing, by LinkedIn

    • Discussion Thread: Marketing

    • NEW: PR with $0 Budget

    • Is it worth doing paid advertising with your current budget

    • NEW: Top Tactics to Promote your Mobile App through Social Media

    • Fledge presents: What is marketing?

    • Fledge presents: Your marketing plan

    • Fledge presents: Creativity and Iteration

    • Fledge presents: Core essence

    • Fledge presents: Words

    • Fledge presents: Your Website

    • Fledge presents: Social media

    • Fledge presents: Mobile

    • Fledge presents: Blogs

    • Fledge presents: Lists

    • Fledge presents: Purple Cows

    • Fledge presents: Real life purple cows - Freezer Display Cabinet

    • Fledge presents: Real life purple cows - The first iPhone

    • Fledge presents: Rules

    • Fledge presents: The Next 5 Steps

    • Fledge presents: Your Mission Statement

    • Fledge presents: Storytelling
  • 17

    Building A Financial Plan

    • Financial Plan Overview

    • Building a budget and financial plan

    • Cash Flow Template by Spring Partner Futurpreneur

    • NEW: BDC presents Mastering your CashFlow e-book

    • Software Company Profit & Loss Template

    • NEW: THE NEXT STEP by Fledge: A Guide to Building a Startup Financial Plan

    • Fledge presents: Financial Plan and Story

    • Fledge presents: Financial Plan and Assumptions

    • Fledge Presents: Financial plan and Unit Sale

    • Fledge presents: Starting on the plan

    • Fledge presents: Months 1-3 of your Financial Plan

    • Fledge presents: Months 4-12 of your Financial Plan

    • Fledge presents: Visualizing your Financial Plan

    • Fledge presents: Years 1-3 and your Financial Plan

    • Fledge presents: Attention to detail in your Financial Plan

    • Fledge presents: Not Done Yet
  • 18

    Funding Your Business

    • Funding Foundations

    • Crowdfunding101

    • NEW: Early stage Company Valuation: The What and How

    • NEW: 2016 NACO Report Angel deals in Canada

    • NEW: THE NEXT STEP by Fledge: The Realities of Funding a Startup through the lens of an American Startup

    • Fledge presents: The Realities of Funding
  • 19

    Grants & Loans

    • An overview of Grants (Canada Focused) with Spring partner Granted

    • Debt Financing for Startups, by Eamonn Gamble of Royal Bank of Canada (RBC)

    • List of Canadian Funding Programs

    • NEW: Impact Monday Finder by Vancity: Funding sources and resource

    • Innovation Canada Funding Tool
  • 20

    Raising Equity

    • Fledge presents: Forms of Funding

    • Finding your Ideal Investor: Rank and File article by Spring's Co-Founder Keith Ippel

    • Defining your ideal investor

    • TEMPLATE: Ideal Investor Profile

    • Fledge presents: Funding is a Sales Process

    • Investor Tracking Template (CRM)

    • Sample investor update email by Spring

    • Fledge presents: Sources of Funding & stages of a company

    • Fledge presents: Preparing for the Ask

    • Fledge presents: Angel Investors

    • Fledge presents: Angel Groups

    • Fledge presents: Venture Capital

    • Fledge presents: Investor Returns

    • The Due Diligence Process

    • Fledge presents: Investor perspective - Traction

    • Fledge presents: Investor perspective - Preferences

    • Negotiation and Getting to a Close

    • Fledge presents: After the close - Investor Relations
  • 21

    Pitching

    • Your Funding Pitch Deck

    • Y-Combinator Pitch Deck Templates

    • An overview of storytelling and pitching

    • Fledge presents: No Perfect Pitch

    • Fledge presents: Why you prepare for 3 Pitches in your business

    • Fledge presents: Pitching Problem and Customer

    • Fledge presents: Pitching Opportunity

    • Fledge presents: Pitching Competition

    • Fledge presents: Pitching Team

    • Fledge presents: Pitching Financials

    • Fledge presents: The ask

    • Fledge presents: Pitching - Handling Questions and Closing the Pitch

    • Fledge presents: Excitement!

    • Fledge presents: No thinking

    • Fledge presents: Face the audience

    • Fledge presents: Pixar Purple

    • Fledge presents: Own the room

    • Fledge presents: In their shoes
  • 22

    Getting strategic: Your One Page Plan

    • One Page Plan: Your basis for leadership and measuring against results
  • 23

    Leadership

    • Leadership: Co-founders

    • Spring: Leadership Fundamentals

    • NEW: Optimizing your time with tasks like email by StoryTap Chief Product Officer Sean Braacx

    • The Comprehensive Co-founders Handbook

    • NEW: Introductions - Top 13 Dos and Don'ts when people make an introduction for you

    • NEW: How do I overcome Imposter Syndrome?
  • 24

    Pivots: Making changes to your business

    • What's a Pivot and why do I care?

    • Types of Pivots
  • 25

    Mentors & Advisors

    • A overview of mentors & advisors

    • Template: Sample Advisor Agreement

    • Sample investor update email by Spring

    • NEW: Networking 101 - A Spring Guide

    • NEW: Top 5 Steps to Meet Influential People
  • 26

    NEW: Operations

    • NEW: How to Answer a question that you don’t know HOW to get the answer: The workback

    • Food Business: Co-packer/Commercial Kitchen Directory
  • 27

    NEW: Working with Partners & Sponsors

    • A Guide to Developing Partnerships

    • Partnership Proposal - TEMPLATE

    • Partner NPS Questions
  • 28

    Corporate Culture

    • Fledge presents: Corporate Culture - Moon Shoes

    • Fledge presents: Dilbert and The Office

    • Fledge presents: Freedom and Responsibility

    • Fledge presents: No Managers at Valve

    • Fledge presents: The Method Method

    • Fledge presents: Radical corporate democracy

    • Fledge presents: Holacracy

    • Fledge presents: Your Culture?
  • 29

    NEW: Team & Talent

    • NEW: What if I need to let someone go?

    • NEW: Setting up an Employee Stock Option Plan (ESOP) - The Basics

    • ESOP - How much do I give each role?

    • ESOP - Tips & Tricks

    • ESOP - an alternative approach

    • Blankslate Partners - New Employee Set Up