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VentureLab
NCIIA's venture accelerator!
The VentureLab is an intensive, five-day, highly experiential and immersive workshop designed to enhance the success of your venture. Participants develop strong, sustainable business models that create products or services with a social benefit.
At VentureLab you'll have the space to think and explore within a dynamic environment that will help you evolve your business strategy, sales channels, marketing, and financial mechanics of your venture, with support from people who have been there and done it themselves.
You'll come out of the workshop not only with a more competitive action plan, but also with a set of tools that will help you grow your venture for years to come.
Who should attend VentureLab?
Is your venture beyond the idea stage? Have you done market research, pondered your commercialization options, gotten some funding? Then VentureLab is for you!
Topics discussed may include:
- Blocks and barriers to performance
- The Human operating system
- Strategy mapping
- Understanding your customer
- How do you create and articulate value
- Innovating at every level
- Business model case studies
- Understanding the supply chain
- Designing for affordability
- Features vs. benefits
- Telling a story
- Presentation techniques & tips
Read what some participants have said about VentureLab:
"Excellent instructor! I really appreciated the structure of the workshop- how exercises were broken down into small, entertaining, manageable bits-- leaving very little chance for boredom or monotony to arise. The content/ psychological elements involved when looking in depth at all possible angles of your business plan-- goes deeper than what I might have expected from this type of workshop. I am coming away with a much more confident grasp on all elements that need consideration- and now I feel like I have the tools and overview to really do much more research and efficient planning. A +++!!" - 2011 VentureLab participant
"The VentureLab provided the time, tools and resources necessary to analyze, critique and share our venture. It was an intense and rewarding experience from which our venture and implementation plan has been strengthened significantly. While our plan has not drastically changed, we were able to think about the venture from new perspectives which provided valuable insight as to how we could address possible problems, develop a stronger business plan, and develop alternative methods of implementation." - 2011 VentureLab participant
"How would I describe the NCIIA VentureLab? No amount of adjectives could ever do it justice but here are a few I would use: exciting, exhausting, inspiring, humbling, challenging. hilarious, risqué, refreshing, and so much more. The VentureLab is something you have to experience before you can really understand its worth. Not only do you come away with a better understanding of your venture and its place in the market, but also new skills, contacts and even friendships. The instructors are fantastic and it's a chance to mingle with the best and brightest of your peers. I would recommend it to any budding entrepreneur, it's a must." —2010 VentureLab participant
Still not sure? Here's a participant's perspective!
Upcoming Workshops (click on the link for details and to sign up!)
June 25-29 BME VentureLab, USC
August 23-27, SV VentureLab at MIT
About the Instructor
James Barlow has worked in the university entrepreneurship space for seven years and has been commercial advisor or commercial director for sixteen start-ups as well as consulting internationally on start-up strategy, enterprise education and training. Prior to working in higher education, James was a performance coach, motivational speaker and strategy consultant for FTSE-listed companies and also worked in the pharmaceutical industry in sales and sales management. He earned his BSc Honours Degree in Biochemistry from the University of Kent. James is currently the Program Manager for Outreach at NCIIA.
