Does your idea have commercial potential?
In this two-week highly interactive program, our expert-in-residence will take you on a journey using tools from LEAN startup and Design Thinking techniques to:
- define the problem you are solving
- test your hypotheses with end users, beneficiaries and stakeholders
- articulate the value proposition of your idea
- prototype your idea
- build out your pitch deck and pitch your idea to sell to market.
Not only will you emerge from the program with more confidence about where to take your idea next – you’ll also meet like-minded people from across the university who are on a similar journey and benefit from their networks, advice, peer support… and hopefully friendship!
The program is free to all current Macquarie students.
Upon successful completion of the program, your participation will be recognised via digital credentials.
Applications for our START programs for 2024 have now closed. Stay tuned for our 2025 dates!
By the end of the program, you'll be able to:
- advance your skills in customer discovery, validation and iteration while utilising design thinking and entrepreneurial tools to evaluate real-world problems and projects
- cultivate endurance by practising and developing skills that increase your awareness of self and team, confidence and agency, improve communication and problem-solving abilities, and identify self-purpose
- sell your ideas
- create value through presentations and business models that articulate and operationalise knowledge to identify entrepreneurial pathways
- mobilise people through leadership and enabling skills that help identify future team members, networks and research opportunities
You can bring your own idea to develop, regardless of what stage it is at but you will have to share with a team.
If you don’t have an idea of your own, we will give you one to work on.
This program will be delivered over five days. It is expected that you attend all workshops.
Program schedule:
- Tuesday 8 October – 9am – 12pm – Workshop 1 – Value Proposition Canvas & Customer Discovery – 3 hours
- Thursday 10 October – 9.30am – 11.30am – Workshop 2 – Business Model Canvas – 2 hours
- Friday 11 October – 9.30am – 11.30am – Workshop 3 – Prototyping – 2 Hours
- Friday 11 – Monday 14 October – 9.30am – 11.30am – Workshop 4 - Pitching Skills & Techniques Online (existing program). Online 1 hour
- Tuesday 15 – Monday 21 October – Pitch Feedback sessions (Zoom 1:1s)
- Tuesday 22 October – 3pm – 5pm Pitch Final – Pitch presentations and celebration event – 2 hours