We teach Founders how to get traction with Customers

startup success rate*

83%

accelerator vetted
exit rate*

50%

all cohort exit rate*

33%

*Results are based on two test groups of committed founders who were taught our proven methodology, Insight-Driven Iteration. Success was defined as generating an exit or creating a profitable business that is still running ten years after the class. Please refer to this case study summary if you’d like to learn more. While we can’t guarantee startup success, we believe our data show founders that learn our method and have heart will improve their odds of success.

Learn a proven, step-by-step process for finding product-market fit and cracking the code on your business model.

Entrepreneurship is a skill. It’s a skill that you learn by doing. One of the founder’s most important skill is learning how to get insight from Customers and integrating the insight into the business model. This skill empowers founders with the power to increase growth and build profitable businesses. Learning this skill is transformative. If you embrace our process, you can transform yourself into a successful entrepreneur.

BASIC TRAINING BENEFITS

Improve Your Odds Of Startup Success

The FounderDojo Basic Training course teaches you a proven method for getting traction with Customers. Based on our internal studies, our process improves the odds of startup success by ten times (10x) compared to what most first-time entrepreneurs do when building their first startup.

Get Traction With Customers

The Basic Training course teaches you how to determine exactly what problem you are solving and who the early adopters are. You will learn how to build an MVP and how to get your first Customers. Once you’ve found product-market fit, you will learn how to develop a repeatable process for acquiring Customers and achieving profitability.

Transform Yourself Into A Successful Entrepreneur

Building a startup from scratch is a high-risk, high-reward activity. 90%+ of startups fail. While there are many reasons for startup failure, the most salient reason is that the founders didn’t have the necessary skills and experience to make their business work.

The Basic Training course is a transformational, experiential learning program. It’s not an academic exercise. You will learn the principles and apply them to your specific startup situation. What you learn will change how you think, what you do and who you are.

Basic Training Curriculum

Everything you need to know to build a successful startup from scratch.

We teach a proven method for finding product-market fit and scalable business models. This process has been shown to increase the odds of startup success by 1660x compared with the approach most new entrepreneurs take.

Module 1: Problem Validation

Introduction

  1. Why I created FounderDojo

  2. Intro to Basic Training

  3. Bootstrap or raise money?

  4. Dave Linhardt’s background

  5. How to use this course

  6. Course Worksheets

Fundamental Principles

  1. The keys to startup success

  2. I’d rather be successful than right

  3. How to Make it through the Valley of Death

  4. Chop wood, carry water

  5. Creating alignment with the business you want to create

  6. A product visionary’s superweapon

  7. What is Insight-Driven Iteration? Customer Lines (Part 1 of 3)

  8. What is Insight-Driven Iteration? Validation Wheel (Part 2 of 3)

  9. What is Insight-Driven Iteration? Iteration Loops (Part 3 of 3)

  10. Multi-sided market validation

Problem Validation

  1. Why validate problems?

  2. How to validate problems with Customers, part 1 of 3

  3. How to validate problems with Customers, part 2 of 3

  4. How to validate problems with Customers, part 3 of 3

  5. How to map out Customers & problems after problem interviews

  6. How to identify unique Customer-problem combinations

  7. Using an iteration loop to complete a validation step

  8. How to run a FOCUS problem validation experiment

  9. Creating a Customer empathy map

  10. Making a pivot, proceed or kill decision

  11. Trust the process & do the work

  12. Solving a meaningful problem is the reason to keep going (Thinking -> Knowing)

Module 2: Solution Validation

Solution Validation

  1. The secret to getting traction with your solution

  2. How I created an e-commerce business with no money

  3. How I created an enterprise SaaS business with no money

  4. The importance of developing problem-solving skills

  5. How to build your first MVP

  6. How to make a clickable prototype

  7. Build-Measure-Learn iterations and experiment loops

  8. How to build a working prototype as MVP 1.0

  9. How to measure product scalability

  10. How to build MVP 2.0

  11. How to measure and improve Customer engagement

Module 3: Path-To-Customers Validation

Path-To-Customers Validation

  1. Where do your Customers hang out?

  2. How to turn hangouts into Customer acquisition channels

  3. What are unit economics and how do you measure them? (Part 1 of 3)

  4. What are unit economics and how do you measure them? (Part 2 of 3)

  5. What are unit economics and how do you measure them? (Part 2 of 3)

  6. What is a profitable, scalable Customer acquisition model?

  7. Real-world examples of how to improve unit economics

  8. How to think about profitability

  9. How to think about attracting external capital in the startup building process

  10. Making a pivot, proceed or kill decision in the path-to-Customers stage

Your Instructor

Hi. I’m David. I’m so glad you are here!

I started my career working for big companies. I was successful but I never really felt at home in the corporate hierarchy. I kept moving to smaller and smaller companies and I eventually figured out I should be doing my own thing.

I struggled transitioning from a corporate environment with a lot of resources to a business I started in my house with just $5K. I quickly figured out that a startup is NOT a smaller version of a big company. It’s fundamentally different.

Now I’m a successful entrepreneur and I can’t imaging doing anything else. I’ve created eight startups so far. I’m running a startup studio that is building 150 startups using a proven method for finding product-market fit, the same process we teach in this course. I’ve been through the transition from employee to entrepreneur and I’m living a more fulfilling life. Now I teach others how to build successful startups from scratch so they can follow their passion and create the life they want.

- David Linhardt, Founder, About Me


FounderDojo was rated the #1 startup training program in the world by UP Global

“FounderDojo helps you block out the noise. It helps you focus on what really matters to make your startup successful.”

Valentin Saportas, Founder & CEO, Mortgage Hippo

“I owe 100% of my success to FounderDojo. Whatever else you are thinking about doing, stop and signup for the Basic Training course. It will save years of your life.”

Jamie Johnson, Founder & CEO, Verde

“FouderDojo taught me how to listen to Customers. Now I know how to get insight from Customers and use it to improve my business.”

Sheila Guo, Founder & CEO, Peckish

 FAQs

  • The course is ideally for founders that are actively working on startups.

    Examples include founders that haven’t found product-market fit, haven’t figured out how to scale or what their business model should be or haven’t achieved repeatable growth or profitability. The course is great for founders that are stuck or are in the struggle. Also, founders that haven’t raised the money they need are a great fit. This course is also great for “rejects” or founders that have been turned down by investors, accelerators and venture funds. We love “rejects” and consider them to be the underdogs and the true heroes of any startup ecosystem.

    The Basic Training course helps founders get insights from Customers, make their business models more clear and generate more traction with Customers.

  • The course is self-paced. Lessons include a validation principle, and example of how I’ve applied the principle in one of my startups, and an exercise for you to complete with your startup. The pace is up to you. Students who are working on the course full-time can typically complete the validation process in six to 12 months. However, the startup process is highly unpredictable so your timing may vary.

  • Once you signup for the course and pay the tuition, we will provide you with access to a website that contains all of the course content and the community features where you can interact with the instructor and other community members. In addition, we will provide you with access to the live zoom calls where you can ask the instructor questions about your specific situation. The live zoom calls are included at no charge during the ramp up period and can be continued for an additional fee if you wish to continue to access this feature.

  • No. The Basic Training course has a tuition fee but participation does not require equity. Keep your equity. It might be worth millions or billions someday.

  • Yes, we offer a 14-day money back guarantee. If you are unsatisfied for any reason, you can request a refund and we will return the tuition fee to you.

  • Yes. Once you’ve validated your business model with data from Customers, we can help you meet investors and our fundraising partners.

  • No problem. Feel free to send us a message and we will get back to you shortly. Go to https://founderdojo.com/about and tap on the Contact Us button.

Enroll now.
Every journey starts with a single step.

Basic Training
Hybrid Plan B

$499
+
0.30% equity*

Includes the entire course content for the Basic Training Course. Learn our proven process for getting traction with Customers, finding product-market fit and scalable paths to acquiring Customers. Includes three months of live support via group zoom calls.

Basic Training
Hybrid Plan A

$1,799
+
0.17% equity*

Includes the entire course content for the Basic Training Course. Learn our proven process for getting traction with Customers, finding product-market fit and scalable paths to acquiring Customers. Includes three months of live support via group zoom calls.

Basic Training
All Cash Plan

$3,499
+
0% equity

Includes the entire course content for the Basic Training Course. Learn our proven process for getting traction with Customers, finding product-market fit and scalable paths to acquiring Customers. Includes three months of live support via group zoom calls.

*Equity terms are negotiable based on current progress, traction and market rates. Plan B and Plan A are priced based on pre-money valuations of $997,000 and $998,300 respectively. If you are interested in a cash + equity deal, signup for the pricing tier rate that best matches your cash requirements. After we receive your order, we will contact you to discuss and finalize the equity terms. If we cannot come to an agreement on the equity component, you can choose the All Cash Plan or we will refund your money at no cost to you if you prefer.