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Skills course

From Business Idea to Start-Up: Testing, Planning and Launching a Small Business

Develops skills in testing a business idea with real customers, building a business model, calculating costs and a first-year budget, and writing a business plan ready for funding.

  • Area Working Life Skills
  • Format Online, self-paced
  • Scope 6 modules and a capstone
  • Duration About 8 h
  • Cost Quote on request
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About this course

This course takes a business idea from its first test to a plan ready for review. It starts with what running a business involves and the routes in, from freelancing to a new company or buying a business, then covers testing the idea with real customers, competitors, the business model, pricing, and finding first customers on a small budget. The numbers module covers start-up costs, pricing for profit, break-even, a first-year budget and cash flow. Setting up covers the business form, registration, VAT and prepayment tax, the entrepreneur’s pension and insurance, with Finland as the worked example, and a final module covers the business plan and funding, including the start-up grant. The capstone is a business plan with a first-year budget, ready for review by an adviser or a funder.

A tested idea and a realistic budget make the decision to start, or not to start, a better one. The course gives learners a structured way to build and test a plan before they apply for support or register a business, and gives advisers a complete plan to discuss with them. It does not replace the advice of an enterprise agency, the tax administration or the learner’s employment area, and points to them where their answer is needed.

  • Practice on real tasks and an applied assignment

A certificate that lists the skills is issued when every section is completed and the applied assignment is submitted.

Content

  1. Module 1

    Is Entrepreneurship for You?

  2. Module 2

    Developing and Testing the Idea

  3. Module 3

    The Business Model

  4. Module 4

    The Numbers

  5. Module 5

    Setting Up

  6. Module 6

    The Business Plan and Funding

  7. Module 7

    Capstone: A Business Plan Ready for Review

Who it is for

  • Job seekers considering self-employment, and start-up grant applicants
  • Open-university students and employees planning a business of their own

Fee and registration

Quote on request

How to get started

  1. Request a quote

    Tell us which courses you would like to offer and to how many learners. We come back with a quote and can walk you through the courses in a demo.

  2. Add your learners

    Each learner gets their own account on TechClass.

  3. Assign the course

    Your admin assigns the course to each learner, who takes it at their own pace. Progress and completions are recorded for your reporting.

Employment services, open universities and other education organizations: contact us to discuss your program.

Request a quote
Questions, answered

From Business Idea to Start-Up: Testing, Planning and Launching a Small Business FAQ

The price is quoted on request. Tell us which courses and how many learners you have in mind, and we send you a quote.

Employment services, open universities, other education organizations and employers. The course is the same for all of them.

Yes. Every course stands on its own, so a learner can take any combination, in any order.

About 8 hours of guided learning, in modules, at the learner's own pace, plus the applied assignment.

A piece of real work that puts the skills to use, done on the learner's own situation: their own job search, business idea, skill to sell or everyday tools. A learner who would rather not use their own details works on a provided fictional job seeker or business instead. The learner checks the work against a rubric.

Yes. A certificate that lists the skills is issued when every section is completed and the applied assignment is submitted.

English, at this stage.

More career readiness

Career Readiness

Interested in From Business Idea to Start-Up: Testing, Planning and Launching a Small Business?

Ready-to-assign career training for the people your services and programs support, with progress tracking, certificates and completion reports in one platform.

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Full table of contents

From Business Idea to Start-Up: Testing, Planning and Launching a Small Business

7 modules · 24 sections

Module 1 Is Entrepreneurship for You?

  1. 1.1 What running a business really involves
  2. 1.2 Your skills, resources and appetite for risk
  3. 1.3 Routes in: freelancing, a new company or buying a business
  4. 1.4 Support for new entrepreneurs

Module 2 Developing and Testing the Idea

  1. 2.1 From a problem to a business idea
  2. 2.2 Your customer: who pays, and why
  3. 2.3 Testing the idea with real customers
  4. 2.4 Competitors, and what makes you different

Module 3 The Business Model

  1. 3.1 The business model canvas
  2. 3.2 Product, service and pricing
  3. 3.3 Sales channels and first customers
  4. 3.4 Marketing on a small budget

Module 4 The Numbers

  1. 4.1 Start-up costs and financing
  2. 4.2 Pricing for profit: costs, margin and your own pay
  3. 4.3 Break-even and a first-year budget
  4. 4.4 Cash flow

Module 5 Setting Up

  1. 5.1 Choosing a business form
  2. 5.2 Registration, VAT and prepayment tax (Finland as the worked example)
  3. 5.3 The entrepreneur's pension and insurance
  4. 5.4 Contracts, terms and invoicing

Module 6 The Business Plan and Funding

  1. 6.1 Writing the business plan
  2. 6.2 The start-up grant: who can apply and what the plan must show
  3. 6.3 Other funding: loans, grants and your own savings
  4. 6.4 Your first 90 days as an entrepreneur

Module 7 Capstone: A Business Plan Ready for Review