Is your idea good enough to turn into a business? Sadly, your mom’s approval isn’t enough. Instead, get an objective reality check from an UpStart coach. First, we’ll help you determine if there’s an attractive market, a real customer need, and a solid business model. Then, you’ll learn whether the idea is a fit with your personal goals, passion, skills and resources. After that, you can go make mom proud.

If you are jonesing to start your own business, but need to find the right idea, this coaching package is for you. First, we’ll help you create a personalized screen, based on factors like your tolerance for risk, lifelong passions, skills, and access to capital. Then we’ll show you how to create ideas, so you can run them past your screen, weed out the losers, and pick the winners.

Find out if entrepreneurship is up your alley, from a coach who has been a founder and had “real” jobs. Learn about the skills, motivations and personality traits of successful entrepreneurs, and see if they match yours. Hear what it’s like to be a founder on a day-to-day basis. Know what to expect in terms of highs and lows. Then decide whether to take the plunge.

Before you show your business plan to investors and advisors, run it past an UpStart expert. We’ll evaluate your plan to make sure it covers all the most important issues, that it’s clear, compelling and concise, and that it’s formatted properly. After the review, you’ll know if your plan is ready to share, and where it may need some work. To qualify for this business plan review, you must have a presentation with less than 25 slides, an executive summary on two pages or less, or both.

Yes, you need a business plan (this means you). A plan will help you think through your ideas thoroughly, and communicate them effectively to partners, investors and advisors. Our coaches literally wrote the book on how to create a business plan. We’ll show you how to create a plan quickly – one that’s compelling, comprehensive and easy to update.

At a startup, numbers are your friend. They can help you predict how the business will develop, identify key milestones, and forecast how much time and money you’ll need. With this coaching package, you’ll learn about basic, back-of-envelope calculations, and more complex financial projections. We’ll show you which numbers matter most, help you build an Income Statement, and make sure you understand it all. Basic knowledge of Excel required.

The first thing you’ll send to potential investors, partners and advisors is NOT your business plan. It’s a one page synopsis, or executive summary. A great one pager is simple, clear, and compelling. It lets you land a meeting, so you can run through your business plan pitch in person. We’ll work with you to craft a winning executive summary, quickly. But first, you’ll need to have your business plan and financial projections done.

The right partner can make all the difference. An UpStart coach can teach you what to look for in a partner, or help you determine if the one you’ve got is right for you. First, we’ll ask probing questions about your talents, challenges, goals, values, work style, etc. Then we’ll help you determine exactly what you need in a partner. And if you’ve already lined someone up, we’ll share insights on whether they are the right fit for you and your business.

One key to a successful partnership is to set it up the right way. An UpStart coach can show you how to establish the right roles, and ensure fairness and flexibility. We’ll also explain how to create a partner prenup, to protect everyone if things change or don’t work out. After your session, you’ll have terms to give your lawyer to form a partnership arrangement.

Whether you raise capital or bootstrap, you’ve got to understand the rules of the funding game. We’ll match you with an UpStart coach who has bootstrapped, and raised capital from friends and family, angel investors, and venture capitalists. We’ll explain the issues that drive how much capital to raise, where to find it, and how to establish terms. You’ll also learn how bootstrapping works, in case that’s a viable option.

Done right, bootstrapping can help you keep more equity, have more freedom and make your company more attractive to potential investors when the time is right,. In this coaching session, you’ll learn from an experience bootstrapper. We’ll explain the pros and cons of bootstrapping, and help you determine the right approach given your situation. Then we’ll show you the techniques used by some of the best bootstrappers around. Bootstrap well, and you can raise money more easily, later, and on your terms – or not at all.

Bootstrapping is a numbers game, and our coaches have your number. We’ll help you determine whether your business is a good candidate for bootstrapping. Then we’ll create a financial roadmap for you, with phases and milestones. That way, you can run lean and mean, manage your risk, and shoot for specific targets.

Branding isn’t just for Coke and Pepsi. It’s critical for startups, too. Branding is far more than just a logo – it’s the personality that permeates every customer experience with your products and company. It’s also your unique promise to your customers. Done well, branding can set you apart from – and above – the competition. Your UpStart coach will teach you the fundamentals of branding and you can put them to use right away.

At the core of every successful business, there are satisfied customers. How do you find out exactly who your customers are, and what they need? An UpStart coach will show you how. You’ll learn when to use your gut, and how and when to conduct research. How to distinguish between what customers say they want, and what they’ll actually do. And you’ll learn to do it all within a startup budget and time frame.

Ask any founder who has hit a home run, and they’ll admit that being in the right place at the right time was key to their success. This coaching package will teach you how to look at the big picture, and use it to your advantage. We’ll explain the fundamentals of market size, growth rates, trends, and competitive dynamics, and what they all mean for your startup. Someday soon, you’ll be the one sharing success stories.

If you’re new to designing and developing products, it can be quite daunting. Never fear, we’ll teach you all the basic elements and best practices, broken down into steps that are easy to understand. We’ll also give you tips and tricks that will save you time and effort. Before you know it, you’ll know the latest tools and approaches, and even the lingo.

A good product strategy is more than just a list of features you want to build. It starts with your customers’ needs, aligns your products with your business goals, is priced appropriately, and considers all ways you’ll interact with your customers. An UpStart Coach will show you how to create a plan to launch a minimum viable product (aka just the most critical features for your customers), prove your business model, and then layer in the appropriate bells and whistles.

Today more than ever, you can build, test and launch good products quickly without spending an arm a leg. Work with a product development expert to figure out what your customers need and how to get it into their hands lickity-split. Learn how to manage the development process successfully, whether you’re building it yourself or working with development partners.

Set up your company the right way now, and you’ll save lots of headaches later. An UpStart coach will show you the basics, along with some tips and shortcuts. You’ll learn about picking the right form of legal entity, laying the legal and accounting groundwork, securing domain names, setting up payroll, and more.

Every company needs good service providers, including lawyers and accountants. But knowing what to look for can be tricky. We’ll help you figure out what kind of service professionals you need, how to find them, and how to structure working relationships. You’ll also get a cheat sheet of questions to use when evaluating candidates. By the end, you’ll have everything you need to get the right extended team in place.

The earlier you think about marketing, the better. Baking marketing considerations into decisions about product, teams, and financing will improve your odds of success when it’s time to attract customers. An UpStart coach will teach you the fundamentals, and explain modern best practices that get results. Whether you’re new to startup marketing, or just a little out of practice, this package will get you up to speed fast.

A good marketing plan lets you and your team know how you’re going to find and attract customers, and how much you’re willing to spend doing it. It considers elements like social media, search engines, sales, publicity, distribution, advertising and promotion. We’ll help you craft a marketing plan quickly and painlessly, so you can focus on putting it to use.

Just a few years ago, marketing and PR were big challenges for startups. Social media has turned the tables, making it easier, cheaper and faster for the little guy to get big results. In this coaching session, you’ll learn which social media tools are best for you, and how to use them to attract, listen to, and communicate with your customers.

At a startup, execution is everything. And to execute well, you need a great startup team. We’ll help you figure out who you need and when, how to find the right people, how to recruit them and how to create the right compensation offers. We’ll also help you when you find a great person and want to create the right job for them.

Do you know what it takes to be a great startup leader? Learn to create a vision and inspire others to achieve it, while keeping yourself motivated and positive. Your leadership skills are one of the main reasons people will want to work with you or invest in you, so we’ll make sure you’re tuned up and ready to go!

Many founders are first time startup managers. So it’s no surprise that many startups fail due to a lack of good management. This is no time to learn the lessons the hard way. Learn to build just the right management processes and structures. Your team will have clear goals and you will have the information you need to know if those goals are being met.

Investors and advisors can be incredibly helpful – or not so much. Learn how to achieve the former and avoid that later with this coaching package on the soft and hard skills of managing investors and advisors. We’ll cover how to select, manage, and reward them, with best practice tips learned from successful CEOs, investors and advisors.