Startup Academy
A collection of experience and expertise gathered from some of Sweden's leading entrepreneurs in a digital crash course intended to equip aspiring entrepreneurs.
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Take the first step towards becoming an entrepreneur
Startup Academy is the very first step on your entrepreneurial journey. Academy will give you a solid foundation, providing tools, techniques, and the expertise you're going to need to bring your concept to reality. It is the perfect set up if you're interested in ever applying to any of our startup programs.
What you'll learn
- Gain a solid foundation in entrepreneurship through 7 core modules
- Access the expertise used by successful entrepreneurs
- Test and validate your business idea
- Learn how to build a winning team
- Understand the timeline for starting and growing a startup
- Learn best practices for sales and financing
Academy course modules include:
This course has the following 7 core modules. Each has five masterclasses, followed by Sting's playbook, assignments, and quizzes.
1. How to begin your startup journey
- What to expect from this course
- Who your teachers are
- What to keep in mind when getting started
2. How to test your business idea
- How to find a problem worth solving
- The importance of a ‘mindset of experimentation’
- What needs to be validated
- Tools to test your idea
- How to create an MVP
3. How to get your first customer
- How to get your first customer
- How to create a customer profile
- Market segmentation
- How to set your pricing
4. How to form a winning team
- The importance of finding the right co-founder
- How to form a successful team
- Building a company culture to attract global talent
- Recruitment tools and strategies
- Ownership structure, Shareholders agreement and cap-table
5. How long will it take?
- The different phases of building a startup
- How to sign big partnership agreements
- How to expand internationally
- How to keep going when you don’t know how long the process will take
6. How to succeed with the sales
- Running your sales cycles efficiently
- Succeed with cold calls
- How to generate sales in a meeting and the importance of listening
- How to handle objections
7. How to finance your start-up
- Why finance your startup
- Financing options for early-stage startups
- Understanding risk and traction
- Finding investors and prepare for the meeting
- What investors are looking for in early-stage startups
An online program tailored to:
- Individuals aspiring to understand the startup world
- Equip innovators for the entrepreneurial journey
- Give insight to individuals interested in working for a startup
Here are some of our speakers:
Dr Saeid Esmaeilzadeh is an award-winning researcher, serial entrepreneur and investor. Dr Saeid wants to help motivated individuals find the right tools and environment to build entrepreneurial companies that make the world a little better. With over 15 years of experience as an entrepreneur, Saeid has built different structures and institutions in the Swedish tech ecosystem to enable innovation and company building.
Researcher, serial entrepreneur and investor
Saeid Esmaeilzadeh
Sara founded a HealthTech company on a mission to make brain health for everyone. Mindmore (Sting alumni) is making testing brain functioning as simple as getting a blood test to detect changes in cognitive functions early and improve treatment outcomes.
Mindmore
Founder and CEO at
Sara Wallén
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Sorosh previously founded, ran and eventually sold a software company, Videoplaza, (Sting alumni) with close to 100 employees across 8 offices. Before starting Stockeld Dreamery, Sorosh spent two years exploring new business ideas where reducing climate impact could be built into the business model. He deep dived into the world of alternative proteins, micro algae and duckweed, before deciding to go all in on creating the world’s most ambitious cheese together with Anja.
at Stockeld Dreamery
CEO & Co-Founder
Sorosh Tavakoli
Magnus Nilsson is a serial entrepreneur, corporate leader, and investor. He was the founding COO of the Swedish fintech unicorn iZettle. He has also been a successful corporate leader, leading companies like EF Education, USA and Wayfinder, before iZettle. Kry and Airmee are some of his recent investments.
Serial entrepreneur
Magnus Nilsson
Maja Magnusson is the Co-Founder of Care to Translate (Sting alumni). Maja has also previously worked as the COO of ThinkTankX and WRLDS Creations AB. Maja has a wealth of experience in commercial due diligence, market and customer analysis, enterprise architecture design, strategic business requirements and visual communication. Under her leadership, the company has rapidly grown to become one of the leading digital translation services providers in the healthcare sector globally.
Care to Translate
Co-Founder & COO at
Maja Magnusson
Lars has been an angel investor since 1984. He has invested in over 80 startups and has taken companies public in Sweden, France, and the US. Founder of SVCA, the Swedish Private Equity and Venture Capital Association, Lars is pioneer within the Swedish venture capital industry. Yepstr, Health Integrator, Exeger, Learnster, Airnium, Karma, Treyd are some of the recent startups under his portfolio. With his passion and energy, Lars continues to support, inspire and invest in the next generation of founders.
DHS Venture Partners
Investor & Chairman at
Lars Lindgren
Lisa has worked at KTH since 2002, and she is also the CEO of the investment arm KTH Holding AB. She sits on numerous boards in the innovation ecosystem and serves on the advisory council of PRV, Sweden's intellectual property agency. Lisa is an engaging and enthusiastic leader who is driven to make a difference via innovation. She has over 25 years of experience dealing with innovation and entrepreneurship in the academic arena.
KTH Innovation
Founder & Leader at
Lisa Ericsson
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Jessica is a Partner at Northzone, where her main focus is consumer internet. Her portfolio includes Red Points, Na-Kd, Einride, Matsmart, Klarna, Outfittery, Flink and Fyndiq. Prior to joining Northzone, Jessica co-founded and was CMO of market-leading meal-kit service HelloFresh.
Northzone
Partner at
Jessica Schultz
Jessica Schultz
Sorosh Shares his journey, trials and success, expansion internationally and what made a difference in his entrepreneurial journey.
More than 90% of all startups fail. Why? Not because their idea wasn’t good enough. But rather because tools for success were not easily accessed.
Sting has been trusted to accelerate startups for over 20 years. With our knowledge, our network, and our expertise you can dodge some classic mistakes and leap closer to success.
Take your first step on your entrepreneurial journey
Fill out the sign up form and start your journey on becoming a successful entrepreneur.
FAQs:
Have you got any more questions? Don't hesitate to ping us at academy@sting.co
Can I offer Sting Startup Academy as a perk to my community?
If you are a coworking space, educational institution, or other community of future entrepreneurs, we are happy to provide you with resources to share in your network. Contact us at: academy@sting.co
How long is the course?
It will take you approx 4-5 hours to complete the course.
How much time do I have to complete the course?
You will have four weeks to complete the course before your account closes. But don't worry, if you need more time it will be possible to prolong your course period.
Is it really free and open for anyone?
Yes, Sting Startup Academy is 100% free and open to anyone. Right now we have limited seats though, so you may be put on a waiting list until new seats open up. In order to get accepted to any of Sting's regular programs, you have to be based in Stockholm, Sweden.
Can I apply to Sting Accelerate or Incubate after completing Startup Academy?
We run two batches of our Accelerator and Incubator per year. We will notify you when admissions open so that you can be among the first to apply to the next batch of our programs.
Why are we doing this?
Sting is Scandinavia’s leading tech startup incubator and accelerator. We have over two decades of perfected gathered experiences in guiding high-potential tech founders on their journey to becoming global successes. With Sting Startup Academy we want to reach more aspiring founders across the world. Because we believe in the power of entrepreneurship and that we need to collaborate across borders to move the world forward.
