Danielle Tate (Photo: Michael Ventura)
Do you have a business idea? Are you entrepreneur-curious? Are you ready to find out if you have what it takes to start a business?
Successful Washington, D.C.-based entrepreneur Danielle Tate provides an informative look at the basic tenets of entrepreneurship, drawing on the stories of real entrepreneurs for illustration. Tate offers tips on evaluating a business idea, finding the best practices for market validation, selecting the best business-planning tools, and identifying the key attributes of a suitable business partner and start-up staff. She also spells out the pros and cons of current funding options, work-life balance considerations, and basic technologies required to build and launch a product or service.
9:30–10:45 a.m. Ideation and Market Validation
An introduction to the challenges and rewards of entrepreneurship, evaluating an idea for business-worthiness; an in-depth discussion of the value of early market validation—will there be a market for your future product or service?
11 a.m.–12:15 p.m. Choosing the Business Plan and Pitch
Compare and contrast pitch decks (brief business-plan presentations), business model canvases (strategic startup templates), and traditional business plans. Real-life examples for how to plan and deliver a winning business message.
12:15–1:30 p.m. Lunch (participants provide their own)
1:30–2:45 p.m. Minimal Viable Product: Selecting Partners and Employees
Simple technologies and resources available for building your product or service. Discovering your strengths and weaknesses; fine-tuning your requirements in a business partner and startup employees.
3–4:15 p.m. Funding Options: From Bootstrapping to Venture Capital
The basics of bootstrapping, customer funding, crowd funding, loans, angel investors, and venture capital. How to select what is best for you and your business.
Tate is founder and CEO of MissNowMrs.com, a multimillion-dollar online name-change company, and author of Elegant Entrepreneur.
