This week, you'll learn to articulate and test your value proposition by drawing on three concepts: the strategy canvas, persona, and minimum viable product (MVP). The strategy canvas emphasizes the uniqueness of your value proposition. The 'persona' represents who you think your typical customer is, which is useful for identifying real customers. The MVP is a simple prototype, which is a key tool to get feedback from potential customers about the value you are providing them.

In this module, you will learn how startups grow beyond their first customers by identifying early adopters, targeting new niches, and exploring the role of partners in scaling a business. You will examine how customer segments differ, why many ventures struggle to cross into the mainstream market, and how partnerships can help accelerate growth. You will also consider what makes a partnership valuable and sustainable.

This module introduces the financial side of your business model. You will learn how to build an income statement, develop simple financial forecasts, and use key metrics to assess whether your idea could become a viable business. The focus is not on perfect prediction, but on using numbers to question assumptions, evaluate profitability, and support better business decisions.

This module introduces the basics of financing startup growth. You will learn how entrepreneurs use bootstrapping, debt, and equity financing to support growth, how capitalization tables show ownership and dilution over time, and how investors think about value, risk, and return when deciding whether to invest.

This module brings together the evidence you have collected throughout the course to help you develop a clear and convincing business pitch. You will learn how to tailor your pitch to different audiences and contexts, structure a coherent story around traction, viability, realism, and the ask, and strengthen your delivery through practice and feedback.