Entrepreneurship Training Course: Spotting Opportunities, Testing Ventures and Funding Growth

Programme Summary

Entrepreneurship is the subject of this one-week training course for founders, owner-managers and senior leaders who back new ventures, ending in a venture plan pack for one real opportunity. Many ventures start from a persuasive idea, a loosely sized market and a funding story that was never tested, so money runs out before the evidence arrives. The programme moves from screening opportunities through customer discovery and business model validation to unit economics and funding options, applying each tool to a venture the participant owns or sponsors. Mars Training Centre UK delivers this programme on entrepreneurship to mixed-organisation cohorts.

The Business Case

New ventures rarely fail for lack of energy. They fail because assumptions about customers, prices and costs are believed rather than tested. When entrepreneurship is left to instinct, founders build before they listen, price by guesswork and raise money without a clear use for it. Leaders who screen opportunities, talk to customers, test the model, check the numbers per customer and match funding to milestones can stop weak ideas early and commit resources to strong ones.

• Venture Failure Rate: Falls as weak opportunities are screened out before spending begins.
• Customer Evidence Quality: Improves as decisions rest on interviews and experiments rather than opinion.
• Cash Runway: Extends as unit economics and funding needs are planned against milestones.

Principles and Evidence Base

• Opportunity screening: Comparing ideas against stated criteria before committing structures Session 1.
• Customer discovery: Structured interviews that test assumptions about needs and spending guide Session 2.
• Lean experiments: Small, time-boxed tests of one assumption at a time shape the model work in Session 3.
• Business model canvas: A one-page map of customers, value, channels and costs frames Sessions 3 and 4.

Intended Participants

• Founders and co-founders preparing to start or scale an independent venture.
• Owner-managers and family business leaders opening a new line of business.
• Programme heads and investment officers who back new ventures.
• Directors who advise start-ups, incubators or enterprise support schemes.
• Senior leaders planning to leave an organisation and start their own business.

Typical functions include general management, business development, finance and public enterprise support.

Learning Outcomes

1. Participants will be able to evaluate venture opportunities against clear screening criteria.
2. Participants will be able to construct an interview plan that tests customer assumptions.
3. Participants will be able to design lean experiments for the riskiest model assumptions.
4. Participants will be able to calculate unit economics and a cash runway for a venture.
5. Participants will be able to compare funding options against milestones and control.
6. Participants will be able to justify a venture plan to investors, lenders or a sponsoring board.

Programme Structure

Day 1: Entrepreneurship and Opportunity Screening

Which opportunities deserve time, money and a founder's attention?

• Opportunity Screening Grid
• Founder Fit Self-Review
• Problem and Customer Hypothesis Sheet
• Market Size Estimate Template
• Venture Idea Shortlist

Day 2: Customer Discovery

What do target customers actually do, pay for and put up with today?

• Customer Segment Map
• Interview Guide Builder
• Assumption Ranking Board
• Evidence Log
• Segment Decision Note

Day 3: Business Model Validation

Does the business model hold together when each assumption is tested?

• Business Model Canvas
• Value Proposition Statement
• Lean Experiment Card
• Pricing Test Plan
• Model Revision Record

Day 4: Unit Economics and Funding Options

What does each customer earn, cost and require in cash, and who can fund the gap?

• Unit Economics Worksheet
• Cash Runway Table
• Funding Options Comparison
• Investor and Lender Question List
• Milestone and Use of Funds Sheet

Day 5: Building and Defending the Venture Plan

Do the opportunity, customer, model and funding evidence support one venture plan?

• Applying the Session 1 Opportunity Screening Grid
• Using the Session 2 Evidence Log
• Testing the Session 3 Business Model Canvas
• Checking the Session 4 Unit Economics Worksheet
• Completing the Venture Plan Pack

Methodology

The programme uses a structured exercise method built on anonymised venture briefs, interview transcripts, price lists and cash plans from retail, services and technology settings. Participants work in peer groups on a shared venture, challenge each other's assumptions and receive written facilitator feedback on each exercise set, before turning to a venture of their own.

• Suggested activity: Scoring five venture ideas on the same screening criteria and defending the ranking.
• Suggested activity: Role-playing a customer interview and rewriting leading questions.
• Suggested activity: Comparing two funding routes for the same cash gap.

Capstone Output

Each participant completes a venture plan pack for one real opportunity. It holds a screening result, a customer evidence summary, a tested business model canvas, a unit economics worksheet, a funding comparison and a one-page investor brief. The pack is used at work to decide whether to proceed, to approach funders and to set the first ninety-day milestones.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is entrepreneurship training suitable for leaders who have never started a business?

Yes. This entrepreneurship programme assumes senior responsibility, not prior start-up experience, and builds screening, customer evidence, model testing and financial reasoning step by step.

Which methods does entrepreneurship in this programme rest on?

Entrepreneurship here rests on opportunity screening, customer discovery, lean experiments and the business model canvas, applied to a real venture.

How is the plan from entrepreneurship training used at work?

You use the venture plan pack to decide whether to proceed, to approach funders and to set the first milestones for the venture.

How does entrepreneurship differ from intrapreneurship?

Entrepreneurship centres on an independent venture that must find customers and funding on its own, while intrapreneurship centres on new initiatives inside an existing organisation.