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Building a Lean Startup

Based on Eric Ries's influential book The Lean Startup , this course will bring your business idea to life with the help of time-tested tools and strategies employed by some of the world’s most successful startups.

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There is one session available:

After a course session ends, it will be archivedOpens in a new tab.
Starts Jun 7
Ends Aug 16
Enroll

Building a Lean Startup

Based on Eric Ries's influential book The Lean Startup , this course will bring your business idea to life with the help of time-tested tools and strategies employed by some of the world’s most successful startups.

4 weeks
4–10 hours per week
Self-paced
Progress at your own speed
Free
Optional upgrade available

There is one session available:

After a course session ends, it will be archivedOpens in a new tab.
Starts Jun 7
Ends Aug 16
Enroll
Building a Lean Startup

About this course

Skip About this course

Turning your business idea into a company can feel intimidating and getting started may be overwhelming. This practical, hands-on entrepreneurship course is taught by a founder of multiple successful business startups and provides step-by-step guidance to go from concept to product-market fit and beyond. In one comprehensive, fast-paced startup course, you will gain tools and strategies employed to build some of the world’s most successful business owners. ****

We’ll start off by helping you learn entrepreneurship by building an entrepreneurial mindset to establish a foundation to thrive as a business owner and discover proven methodologies to identify problems as business opportunities. From there you will learn how to validate your new product or service by interviewing potential customers and testing an early version of your solution known as a Minimum Viable Product, or ‘MVP’. Once your product or service is in the hands of customers, you will learn how to measure its strengths and weaknesses to guide changes based on data and ultimately scale to a wider audience. ****

By leveraging the Lean Startup methodology, you will dramatically improve your odds of success by saving time, money, and resources while helping your idea go to market through customer feedback. What’s more, you’ll flip your assumptions on their head: Rather than writing a lengthy business plan, building a product, and then trying to find customers, the Lean Startup approach will help you position your concept as a hypothesis which you’ll learn how to validate and test on real customers. By the end of the course, you will have completed a comprehensive roadmap for your business’ launch. From there, the sky's the limit!

This course credits the work of Eric Ries who wrote, "The Lean Startup: How Today's Entrepreneurs Use Continuous Innovation to Create Radically Successful Businesses", a book describing his proposed lean startup strategy for startup companies. Ries developed the idea for the lean startup from his experiences as a startup advisor, employee, and founder.

At a glance

  • Language: English
  • Video Transcript: English
  • Associated programs:
  • Associated skills: New Product Development, Business Planning, Go-to-Market Strategy, Lean Startup Methodology, Innovation, Customer Service

What you'll learn

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  • Learn the characteristics of the entrepreneurial mindset
  • Create the first iteration of your product or service
  • Test your product or service with potential customers during the course
  • Uncover startup myths and how to avoid the most common pitfalls
  • Examine the fundamentals of the Lean Startup methodology
  • Apply the Build-Measure-Learn process to your own startup idea
  • Pursue customer-centered discovery and validation
  • Bring your product to market!

Learner testimonials

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“I had a blast in this course - - I was able to learn while also working on my own entrepreneurial idea.” -Olivia P.

“This course opened my eyes about how to, and how not to, build a successful business. I liked the real world examples, the variety of guest speakers, and interesting assignments. The books I’d read about entrepreneurship weren’t nearly as helpful as all of the elements in this course.” -Arjun D.

"Rebecca Weeks Watson’s EdX course Jumpstart into Entrepreneurship is an incredibly valuable resource for any entrepreneur. Whether new to entrepreneurship or a seasoned professional, participants will learn how a great idea can become a remarkable business, with this 4-week online course. The presentations are so engaging that I finished the full course in less than a week. It’s that good and Rebecca Weeks Watson is just that inspiring! With seasoned knowledge and success in the startup world, Rebecca and her guests provide sessions which are nuts and bolts practical and encouraging. From dispelling common startup myths to a guided tour of the Lean Start Up Model of Entrepreneurship, this series provides relatable real-world examples of each subject. Topics include formulating and evaluating the hypotheses upon which a startup idea is premised, setting up an MVP (minimal viable product), identifying and engaging early adopters, evaluative metrics, revenue streams, targeted marketing, simple ways to rein in costs, distribution channels, launch, marketing and more. I highly recommend Jumpstart into Entrepreneurship to anyone who wants to enrich their understanding of entrepreneurship." -Kim M

About the instructors

Frequently Asked Questions

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I have never started a company. Is this course for existing founders only?

Nope - this course is for beginners and existing founders interested in learning how to save time and resources as they take their idea from concept to product-market fit and beyond. Experience is not necessary, and for those who have started a business, you will learn a new way to launch your next product or service using a more efficient, customer centric approach. ****

What is the value of the verified track?

Beyond the certificate which you can post on LinkedIn and social media to show off your accomplishment, you will also gain valuable supplementary materials to dive deeper and take the next step beyond the course to bring your product or service into the hands of customers. ****

Who are the instructors?

This course is taught by Rebecca Weeks Watson, a proven and successful entrepreneur. Rebecca will teach you the skills she’s learned bringing multiple products and services to market. You’ll gain first hand insights that will save you time and resources while leveraging proven methodologies which you will employ during the course.

This course is part of Storytelling for Aspiring Entrepreneurs Professional Certificate Program

Learn more 
Expert instruction
2 skill-building courses
Self-paced
Progress at your own speed
2 months
3 - 7 hours per week

Ways to take this course

Choose your path when you enroll.
Verified Track
Audit Track

Price

$219 USD

Free

Access to course materials

Unlimited

Limited

Expires on Jul 5

World class institutions and universities

edX support

Shareable certificate upon completion

Graded assignments and exams

Read our FAQsin a new tab about frequently asked questions on these tracks.

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