Starting Up

Starting Up is a free, open access online course covering the fundamentals of startup entrepreneurship. This introductory level course provides basic tools for anyone who wants to build a startup around a problem they’d like to solve, introduce a new product or service in their company, or understand and be able to better discuss new ventures.

Starting Up was initiated by university students who felt that it was difficult to find a comprehensive, well-curated and up-to-date starter pack on startup entrepreneurship — despite the fact that entrepreneurial skills can benefit a broad range of people in modern working life. They were worried that the best practices would soon become synonymous with best-kept secrets, so they decided to create a course of their own. Students joined forces with professors, investors and European entrepreneurs to share concrete tools for starting up with the world. Their aim was to make sure that no great idea would go unpursued due to a lack of access to basic knowledge.

The end result is a nine-chapter course that covers central features from basic terminology to themes like validating a problem and go-to-market strategy. The course has been created in collaboration with startup accelerator Kiuas, early-stage fund Maki.vc, Aalto Ventures Program, and tech company Reaktor. The course is offered by Aalto University, which awards a certificate and 2 ECTS credit units to eligible students for completing the course.

Starting Up is accessible for free online at http://www.starting-up.org