The Activate Flexible Foundation Programme
Activate your business potential in a multi-module self-directed online course to help you:
Build a product that customers will want, pay for and enjoy.
Launch and grow your business supported by a dedicated team of mentors.
Put together a compelling, inspiring pitch deck.
Line up investors with confidence and raise money.
Grow your business and raise money in 2023
The result of decades of work in the early stage ecosystem, Activate has helped dozens of startups launch and grow their businesses. Only in the last 2 years we helped over 70 startups get investor ready. In fact, 44% of the founders who took the Activate acceleration programme successfully raised funds, totalling £56 million. These founders are now making an impact in the world. Put your business in the best possible place to join them.
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Our unique approach guides you in shaping your business from start to finish. Our strong experience and the exclusive, tailored tools that we provide to startup founders exponentially increase the rate of success of the venture. That experience and those tools are organised and structured to serve startups founders in the best way possible with the course adapted each year to the changing face of the modern world.
Invest your way to success
Inside our Activate Flexible Foundation Programme you will learn to:
Tell your story and build the foundations of your business with a strong purpose, vision and values.
Assess the market opportunity, define your initial target ‘beachhead’ market and find out how to talk to customers.
Create an intimate profile of your brand hero and and their needs - build a strong value proposition based on real solutions to customers problems and pain points.
Outline your business model and define your ‘secret sauce’ - what makes you and your business unique.
Test your product hypothesis - gain traction and new customers for your new venture.
Put together a compelling pitch deck, learn how to engage with investors by speaking their language and how to raise money.
"Since the pilot programme with Activate, we have managed to sign some big names as pilot clients and raise our first institutional round. Activate definitely prepared us for these achievements, as we learned a great deal from them about investor readiness and how to position ourselves in our respective market."
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Patrick Reich, Founder, Bonnet
Activate Flexible Foundation Programme
£ 449
Why a Foundation Programme can make a difference
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A multi-module course including 6 modules to give your new venture strong foundations
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Several Pitch event opportunities in a year you can apply for!
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Access a team of mentors through office hours every week
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Access to a community of engaged founders who have been there before and are ready to help you
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An exclusive bonus module to bring your financial skills up to scratch as you scale
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Pre-work, video presentations and exercises designed to improve your business foundations
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Have any question answered about the programme and your business through our exclusive community Linkedin Group
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Group sessions and community events with other like-minded founders that are part of the Activate Ventures Network
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12 months’ access to the Learning Management System and all bonus content
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Free access to the community groups and business modelling tools (Strategyzer)​
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Lifetime access to our community of graduates and students
Don’t delay, Activate your business today and start enjoying the rewards of your success.
Why a foundation Programme can make a difference
90% of startups fail. This is sad but true and we see this everyday. Some of the reasons startups fail are:
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Lack of focus
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Lack of good mentorship
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Lack of general and domain-specific business knowledge: finance, operations and marketing
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But also, most startups don’t grab investor attention because they can’t articulate why they’re in business, what their story is, and what they stand for in the world.
Why should someone invest in your business when they might make more money in a low cost index fund? The Activate Flexible Foundation Programme exists to create the compelling opportunity that investors can’t deny.
Inside the Programme, we will help you with practical tools to attract your ideal customers and investors in 2023 and beyond.
This programme is intended for:
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Founders who want to make an impact in the world through their business venture;
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Founders who feel swamped and not sure of the right approach;
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Founders who can commit to at least 10-12 hours of work per week to shape their company and be ready to pitch their business to top investors in 6 weeks;
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Founders who are determined to succeed and raise money in 2023.
And it’s not at all for:
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Founders who don’t care about their business making an impact and only care about making money;
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Founders who are not willing to put in the work both during and after the programme.
What’s included?
The Activate programme entails 6 modules with at least 12 hours of work per module in various activities, including pre-work, video presentations and exercises designed to improve your business foundations.
It is self-directed so you can pace your work as you wish. To maintain momentum we suggest setting yourself a timeframe of 8 weeks to complete the programme. We will be able to provide opportunities for you to engage with peers and alumni of the programme and interact with the Activate community.
Here’s a quick rundown:
Module 1: Why we exist
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What is storytelling and why it’s important for your new venture
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Define your purpose, vision and values
Module 3: Creating customer value
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Profiling personas and priorities
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The customer journey outline
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Define and quantify the value proposition
Module 5: Rapid market testing and roll out
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Test your product hypothesis
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Get traction and new customers rapidly for your business
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Create a digital marketing plan
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Use paid and organic traffic to grow your business digitally
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Module 2: The Market Opportunity
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Market definition and segmentation
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From beachhead market to Total Addressable Market (TAM)
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Primary and secondary market research
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Market mapping
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Competitive analysis
Module 4: Outlining our business model and ‘secret sauce’
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Outline an initial business model
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What is your secret sauce
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Cores, moats and capabilities
Module 6: Improving our pitch and next steps
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Improve and finalise your pitch deck
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Communicate with potential investors
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Identify next steps on the path to success
We also offer an exclusive Bonus Module to help you understand your company finances as you scale.
Bonus Module: Financial Modelling Workshop
In this module, you will learn:
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Basic financial forecasts
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How to use financial statements
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How to develop a valuation of your business
Also included at no extra cost to you:
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Access to the Learning Management System and all bonus content for 12 months.
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Free access to the communication (Slack) and business modeling tools (Strategyzer).
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Lifetime access to our community of graduates and students.
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An exclusive e-book -‘How to answer the 10 most common challenging questions from investors.
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Your startup checklist: Everything you need to do to get your startup business in shape.
The Team
Activate pride themselves on the expertise that their mentors deliver. Between them, they have worked for the likes of Goldman Sachs, Yahoo and the BBC, have been involved in successful IPOs and acquisitions. Here is the full lineup:
Tracey Keys
Strategy
Previously Head of Corporate Planning at the BBC, Tracey has over 30 years of experience as a consultant, educator and manager, and has seen her work published by the likes of The McKinsey Quarterly, The Economist, and Harvard Business School Publishing.
Pierpaolo Zollo
Marketing & Traction
Pierpaolo helps businesses achieve exponential growth. A former Marketing and Commercial Director for global companies like Yahoo and Kelkoo, he helped clients like Amazon & ASOS significantly increase their revenue. Pierpaolo spent the last few years advising businesses in retail, FMCG, hospitality and cleantech on strategy, growth, marketing and sales.
Nancy Yee
Finance & Operations
An expert in private equity and venture capital, Nancy has worked as a COO, CTO and CFO throughout her career. With experience working for the likes of Goldman Sachs, Nancy is based in New York City and committed to creating solutions to exploit business opportunities.
Greg Rice
Investment
An expert in startups, Greg has spent much of his career in Silicon Valley and leading companies to successful IPOs. He is an established and highly regarded Director, Advisor and Non-Executive Board Member.
Adrian Austin
Product & Design
An expert in UX and product design, Adrian is a founding member of the Activate team and covers the role of Head of Design. Bringing fresh eyes and perspective to complex problems, Adrian helped to create the Activate Foundation Programme and works with the Activate Ventures team to deliver the content.
Activate Flexible Foundation Programme
£ 449
That’s less than £75 per week!
A reminder of what you get:
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A multi-module course including 6 modules to give your new venture strong foundations
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4 Pitch events per year you can apply for!
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One hour of mentoring included with a dedicated mentoring team expert in all key areas
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Access to a community of engaged founders who have been there before and are ready to help you
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An exclusive bonus module to bring your financial skills up to scratch as you scale
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Pre-work, video presentations and exercises designed to improve your business foundations
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Have any question answered about the programme via the discussion board (LinkedIn group)
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Group sessions and community events with other like-minded founders that are part of the Activate Ventures Network
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1-on-1 meeting with the Activate Ventures team to celebrate your success at the end of the programme
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12 months’ access to the Learning Management System and all bonus content
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Free access to the community groups, communication (Slack) and business modelling tools (Strategyzer)​
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Lifetime access to our community of graduates and students
Don’t delay, Activate your business today and start enjoying the rewards of your success.
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“I thought I was ready to launch but going through the accelerator programme and having high quality mentors made me reevaluate the direction of my business and focus in more detail. It has been the most valuable course I have done in the two years since setting up!”
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Sarah Cudmore - Founder - Homegrown Learning