Learn how to get out of that messy beginner stage and grow your startup.
Startup School is a 16 week online program focusing on foundational business skills, practical strategies, implementation and mentoring.
Building a business doesn’t have to be so overwhelming.
Over 16 weeks, Startup School will help you level up in a supportive but accountability driven environment where you will develop the skills, knowledge and confidence to grow a successful business.
As a startup founder, you face new challenges every day.
The startup stage is a balancing act! It’s where you start to put all the pieces together and your strategy is simply to remain alive by getting customers and delivering. During this time you need to figure out a business model that allows for sustainable cash flow and consistent growth.
But we’re here to help. During the Startup School program you’ll learn practical skills and strategies to lay the foundations for success.
You will leave this program with:
Making sure you have a business model that allows for sustainable cashflow and consistent growth
Having set up the foundations of your business including technology and an effective marketing plan
An understanding how to read your financial data and reports and how to create a budget
With new skills developed and knowledge learned that will continue to help you through your business journey
No more getting distracted with busy work and not knowing what to do when you have a game plan in place
We are dedicated to seeing you succeed
Learn + grow in a flexible, supportive environment, anywhere.
Designed by female founders for female founders. We have structured the program to be flexible and time efficient.
You'll receive support, help with staying on track and be held accountable throughout the entire program.
We take a blended learning approach with a mix of interactive live online group sessions, on demand lessons and mentoring.
Learn from a variety of industry experts and entrepreneurs through expert led training, as they share their knowledge, resources and experience.
You'll get full access to our learning hub with program a dashboard, masterclasses, replays of webinars, fireside chats, resources and more.
Benefit from a community of industry agnostic peers and find support from those who understand the real issues you’re experiencing as a founder.
Startup School is only run twice per year, with the next intake starting 20th June 2022.
Program Tuition
Startup School Curriculum
There’s no fluff here. Each module addresses what’s needed to support you and your business as it moves through the startup stage.
Here’s what we’ll cover over the 16 weeks.
Introduce yourself to the cohort, review the program structure and understand the requirements and deliverables.
As soon as you join you can start the orientation process. You will be sent an introductory guide that covers everything you need to know about Startup School as well as be asked to complete a short exercise ahead of your first session.
Identifying your strengths as a founder
In this session we will look at how you can identify your strengths as a founder, ways to foster them and why they hold the key to your success.
Goal setting
If you don’t set goals, how will you measure success? You’ll be taken through the entire process of setting goals for the next 12 months and the next quarter using the OKR method.
Dreaming big with Melanie Molloy: a certified results coach and master NLP practitioner.
Connect to your vision, mission, and values for growing your business.
Go through the critical steps to validate your business model by understanding how your business delivers, creates and captures value.
Create your value proposition, validate proof of problem and refine your target market.
Working on deliverables of week 1-4 and mentoring/mastermind
Learn how to build a strong brand by defining what it looks like through brand identity and positioning.
Review your existing and determine the most effective pricing strategy for your business.
Map out a 12 month profit plan.
Grace Mugabe, the CEO of Financially Empowered will help you to understand your numbers: cash flow forecast, financial reporting.
Create a basic financial plan.
Developing a solid marketing strategy & plan.
Let’s get building an audience!
How the program works
It’s 100% online, you can join from wherever you are
For 16 weeks we will meet weekly on Tuesdays from 11am to 12pm AWST. The next cohort commences on Tuesday 21st June, 2022.
Demo day
The formal program ends with a live, virtual, demo-day, where you will have the opportunity to pitch your business. We strongly encourage you to participate in this as every founder will receive feedback from the judges.
The 1st place winner of the pitch competition will receive:
$2000 to use towards continued business growth
A 1 hour consulting with Grace Mugabe from Financially Empowered
An hour one on one session with one of our program mentors
What Founders Say
Behind the Brands has provided so much high quality training, support, mindset shifts, I feel like I am actually working towards a business not a hobby.
Belinda Joyce
Without this program I would have not built a solid foundation for my business and would still be floundering. It’s given me such a boost of courage and I have started to consistently hit my revenue goals.
Susie Jayne
Is the program right for you?
Ready to create a successful and profitable business.
You’re committed to investing in yourself and are willing to do what you need.
You're open to honest and direct feedback about your business.
Committed to showing up to EACH session and to set aside time to implement what you've learnt. (we do understand things happen though!)
Generating annual revenue under $100,000 or are pre-revenue.
The Founder, Co-Founder or minimum 50% owner of the business.
Founder of Behind the Brands, Megan's mission is to encourage and advance women through entrepreneurship. She co-founded a marketing agency after having experienced gender bias in her professional career. Named as one of Inside Small Businesses Top 50 Small Business Leaders in 2019. She has over 20 years marketing experience, is an Entrepreneurial Mindset Practitioner and is an Alumni of WA Leaders.
Grace Mugabe CPA is the Behind the Brands Ambassador, a financial literacy expert, experienced Management Accountant and CEO of Financially Empowered, a for-purpose enterprise that empowers women by equipping them with financial literacy skills. Grace is a mentor and facilitator for Behind the Brands programs specifically with CALD women.
In 2018 Jacqui wrote Clarity Simplicity Success for Women a self-coaching journal that helps women to define their own meaning of success and attain it. After being director of her own HR consultancy for 18 years she has recently changed direction to focus on what she loves, helping other women be successful in whatever they choose to do.
Melanie Molloy is a certified results coach and master NLP practitioner who coaches female founders, leaders, and aspiring leaders. With over twenty years’ experience in skills development, education and working with communities.
If you’ve only just got an idea, then we will say no, it’s not the right time to join Startup School.
We understand that everyone has additional commitments and that life can be pretty hectic!
Startup School has been designed so you can work your way through it even if you have only 2 hours per week to spare.
Most modules are pre-recorded coupled with live sessions that we also record, so even if you miss a week, you can go back and watch the videos on demand.
To ensure you get the most out of Startup School and to be able to implement your learnings, we recommend you set aside 4- 5 hours per week.
You will have access to the program for 6 months.
At the end of the program, you should be in a position to share what you’ve achieved at our public demo day pitch event.
It’s not compulsory to attend but we highly recommend you do as the practice is invaluable. Plus who wouldn’t want to be in the running to win $2000!
Behind the Brands 100% backs our programs and the curriculum. We know they get results, but only if the participant is dedicated and sticks to the process.
We do not offer refunds. Please reach out to info@behindthebrands.com.au to get the most out of the programs.
You can email your additional questions to info@behindthebrands.com.au
*Behind the Brands uses an inclusive definition “female” and “women” and we welcome trans people, women, genderqueer women, and non-binary people who identify, have identified, or have been identified as female, women, or non-binary.