workshops
Do you have a business idea but aren’t sure how to get started? Do you want to learn about entrepreneurship? Are you interested in applying to Startup BASE Camp, Entrepreneurship@DU’s summer accelerator? If you answered yes to any of these questions, then you should participate in the Entrepreneurship@DU workshop series.
The goal for these workshops is to have fun, meet people, and learn about entrepreneurship and innovation in a laid-back environment that encourages collaboration and creativity. It’s also an opportunity to develop your business idea.
Workshops are free, are available to every University of Denver student, and don’t require any prior business experience. The workshops are focused on providing the tools entrepreneurs and innovators need to develop their business ideas.
About the workshops
- Workshops are 2 hours long.
- They’re capped at 18 students.
- Each workshop is taught by an industry and/or faculty expert.
- Pizza and drinks are provided.
- Registration is required because space is limited.
- We encourage you to attend all workshops, but it isn’t required.
What you should bring
- A laptop
- Curiosity
- Energy
2024 topics
- Design Thinking and Ideation (John Sebesta)—January 16
- Spin Up A Business in 2-Hours with AI (Joshua Ross)—January 25
- Who Is Your Customer (Aaron Duncan)—February 5
- Business Model Canvas (Neil Pollard)—February 15
- Product Fit & Customer Validation (Joshua Ross)—February 28
- Pitch and Build a Deck (Joshua Ross)—April 9
- Cost and Revenue (Dan Cohen)—April 24
- Startup Marketing 101 (Chennelle Diong)—May 14
Workshop Details
Design Thinking Workshop
Faculty: John Sebesta
Date: Tuesday, January 16
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Garage
> Register Here
Description:
Want to start a business, or have a great idea and don’t know what to do first? Want to significantly increase your likelihood of success by following very simple, yet often forgotten steps?
This workshop will use a very hands-on approach to help you understand how to define the problem that you are solving, create potential solutions, and iterate on your idea as it evolves. It also lays the foundation for topics discussed in the remaining workshops this quarter. Also, the skills that you will learn in the Design Thinking workshop will help you no matter where your post-graduation path takes you.
Spin up a business in 2-hours with ai workshop
Faculty: Joshua Ross
Date: Thursday, January 25
Time: 5:00 – 7:00 p.m.
Location: The Garage
> Register Here
Description:
Have a great business idea but don’t know where to start? This hands-on workshop will walk you through how to leverage artificial intelligence to quickly turn your concept into a business in just 2 hours!
You will learn how to use AI to brainstorm business ideas, how to create effective prompts, how to develop a logo, business name and a website with AI, how to create a marketing strategy with AI and how to use AI tools to automate tasks and save time.
Plan on attending if you’re someone who wants to start a business but doesn’t know where to start, want to learn how to use AI to grow their business or just interested in learning more about AI and its applications in the business world!
who is your customer workshop
Faculty: Aaron Duncan
Date: Monday, February 5
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Garage
> Register Here
Description:
In today’s competitive business environment, companies are shifting their focus from product and service development to customer acquisition and satisfaction. This paradigm shift has put increased pressure on organizations to quickly understand who their customers are and what they want. The challenge for most businesses is learning how to do this and knowing where to start.
This workshop will help you overcome these challenges by providing you with skills and tools to better understand who your customer is. In this session, you will gain insights into who you want your customers to be, who they “actually” are, and how you should engage with them based on what you’ve learned. Whether you are in the business development phase or you are managing a successful enterprise, you need to continually leverage these skills to remain competitive.
Business Model Canvas Workshop
Faculty: Neil Pollard
Date: Thursday, February 15
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Garage
> Register Here
Description:
If you’re anything like thousands of other early-stage entrepreneurs, you have dozens or even hundreds of thoughts swirling around your head about your new business idea. But where do you start?
The Business Model Canvas is a contemporary and widely recognized strategy for organizing all those thoughts into a structured, intentional, and visual representation of your business model. Who is your customer? How will you establish relationships with them? What are the most important activities you need to engage in to increase your chances of success? How will you make money in this business? We will begin to answer all of these questions in this workshop while creating a roadmap for launching your business idea. Don’t have a business idea yet? No problem, we can come up with one of those too!
Product Fit & Customer Validation Workshop
Faculty: Joshua Ross
Date: Wednesday, February 28
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Garage
> Register Here
Description:
Designing a sustainable customer-centric business and product is a multi-step process. Once you have created a product that addresses an unmet need of your customers (the Discovery process), it’s time to make sure that it resonates as intended. The validation process is relatively “scientific” in nature, using a series of experiments and tests to ensure that your customers are satisfied with the business and product.
This workshop will cover some of the key elements of product validation, ranging from user testing to broader marketing tests. Our objective is to help you narrow down your hypotheses and design solid tests around them so that you can quickly and effectively learn from your customers and move closer to product-market fit.
Pitch and Build A Deck Workshop
Faculty: Joshua Ross
Date: Tuesday, April 9
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Garage
> Register Here
Description:
Translating your idea into an effective pitch is critical if you want convince people to invest in your idea. This process may be daunting and intimidating, but it is also incredibly rewarding once you find the right mix that effectively combines message, style, cadence and delivery.
This workshop will use a very hands-on approach to help you craft a clear and concise pitch that will engage your audience. You’ll focus on crafting an effective pitch that clearly articulates the opportunity, why it matters, the value of your solution and who it benefits.
Customer Validation Workshop
Date: Wednesday, April 24
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Garage
Description:
Lots of people have great business ideas but get stuck when it’s time to make a budget. This workshop will get you unstuck.
In this workshop you will learn the basics, including the few most important parts of a budget and the story a budget tells. Students have noted they gain confidence from this short session and leave feeling empowered to think constructively about their revenues and expenses and to feel good about the estimates in their spreadsheets.
Startup Marketing 101 Workshop
Industry Expert: Chennelle Diong
Date: Tuesday, May 14
Time: 5:30 – 7:30 p.m.
Location: The Garage
> Register Here
Description:
The marketing strategy for your startup is an essential piece to the success of your startup. Without it, you don’t have a business. You have a hobby. The question you need to answer is: How am I going promote my business with little to no budget and zero brand awareness?