Business Development Program for Entrepreneurs & Startups: A 6-Month Guide to Opening New Revenue Channels

1. Program Introduction & Benefits

This program is a rigorous, evidence-based venture studio for entrepreneurs and startup teams focused on discovering, validating, and launching a new revenue stream or market segment. It combines the structured venture roadmap of Disciplined Entrepreneurship with the rapid experimentation of Lean Startup, delivered through an action-learning studio model supported by expert coaching. The core essence is experiential startup-building, where learning is derived from direct application to the participant's real business challenge.

Strategic Benefits for Entrepreneurs & Startups:

1. De-risked Expansion: Systematically test assumptions before over-investing, transforming a high-risk strategic guess into a data-informed business case.
2. Accelerated Time-to-Validation: A disciplined, sprint-based structure forces action and decision-making, compressing 12-18 months of typical exploratory work into 6 focused months.
3. Enhanced Founder Capabilities: Builds critical, durable skills in customer discovery, experiment design, go-to-market strategy, and financial modeling for new ventures.
4. Actionable Roadmap: Concludes with a validated business case and a concrete 12-month scale-up plan, ready to present to teams, boards, or investors.
5. Peer Network & Accountability: Work alongside a cohort tackling similar challenges, providing a support system, honest feedback, and potential collaboration opportunities.

2. Program Expansion Strategy

Evaluation: This is primarily an experiential venture-building program, not a pure Mentorship or Coaching program. However, the research data explicitly calls for "structured coaching" as a core component. A supplemental, structured Coaching layer is not just an addition but is integral to the program's pedagogical model (70-20-10, GROW model) and is critical for addressing audience-specific challenges like execution overwhelm and biased validation.

Implementation of Supplemental Coaching Layer:

• Why it Adds Value: Coaching provides the personalized guidance necessary to translate universal frameworks (e.g., Business Model Canvas) into specific, context-aware actions for each unique venture. It helps founders overcome psychological barriers (e.g., fear of selling), maintain strategic focus, and make tough go/no-go decisions based on evidence rather than emotion.
• Implementation Note: Integrate coaching as a core operational rhythm, not an add-on.
  • Format: Bi-weekly, one-hour sessions using the GROW model (Goal, Reality, Options, Way forward).
  • Coaching Providers: A mix of dedicated program coaches (experienced entrepreneurs-in-residence) and scheduled "expert office hours" with specialists in sales, channel partnerships, and finance.
  • Integration: Coaching conversations are explicitly tied to the current program milestone and the participant's experiment backlog, ensuring theory is directly applied.

3. Implementation Roadmap

Launch Phase Checklist

1. Participant Onboarding: Select ventures through an application assessing commitment, team readiness, and a clearly defined new-revenue challenge.
2. Kick-off & Baseline: Conduct a program kick-off workshop. Have each participant complete an initial Business Model Canvas and Opportunity Thesis for their proposed new channel/segment to establish a baseline.
3. Tooling Setup: Configure all approved software platforms (see Section 4) and provide cohort access.
4. Coach & Mentor Alignment: Brief all coaches and expert mentors on the program framework, milestones, and communication protocols.
5. Sprint 1 Planning: Launch the first 2-week sprint, focusing on market segmentation and customer profile definition.

Tracking & Operations

• Weekly Rhythm: Operate on a studio/sprint model. Each week includes:
  • Content Input (10%): One masterclass or workshop on a core topic (e.g., JTBD, experiment design).
  • Studio Work (70%): Dedicated time for teams to execute experiments, conduct interviews, and build.
  • Coaching & Critique (20%): Bi-weekly 1:1 GROW coaching and weekly peer "crit sessions" to review progress and evidence.
• Milestone Reviews: Formal, presentation-style reviews at the end of each milestone period (months 1, 2, 4, 6) with coaches and external reviewers to pressure-test evidence and grant a "go" to proceed.
• Progress Dashboard: Use the LMS to track completion of key deliverables (e.g., interview logs, experiment results, updated canvases).

Success Measurement

• Primary Venture KPI: Percentage of participants achieving Milestone 5 (Validated Business Case & Scale-Up Roadmap).
• Leading Indicator KPIs:
  • Average number of customer discovery interviews completed per venture by Month 2.
  • Percentage of ventures launching an MVP by Month 4.
  • Number of pilots/LOIs or amount of early revenue generated from the new channel by program end.
• Participant Feedback: Post-program NPS survey and structured interviews 6 months after completion to measure sustained pursuit of the new revenue line and perceived skill growth.

4. Approved Tools List

• LMS (Learning Management System): Primary Justification. This is the central hub for delivering structured content (the "10%" in 70-20-10), housing the curriculum modules, video masterclasses, case studies, and assignment submissions. It provides a structured learning path and a repository for all program materials.
• Coaching Software: Critical Justification. Essential for managing the supplemental coaching layer. It will schedule bi-weekly GROW sessions, track coaching notes and goals, and facilitate feedback between coaches and participants, ensuring the "20%" coaching component is systematic and measurable.
• Internal Social Network: Secondary Justification. Fosters the peer community and studio culture. Participants can quickly share challenges, wins, and resources, ask for feedback, and form accountability groups, mirroring the collaborative environment of a physical startup studio.

(Mentorship Software, ERG Program Software, Personality Test, Onboarding Platform are not the primary fits for this program's action-learning and venture-building focus.)

5. Resource & Content Library

General Program Content

• Video Masterclasses: "From Idea to Opportunity Thesis," "Conducting Unbiased Customer Interviews," "Designing Falsifiable Experiments," "MVP Strategies for New Channels," "Pricing and Willingness-to-Pay Tests," "Building a Simple Financial Model for a New Revenue Stream."
• Guides & Templates: Opportunity Thesis Canvas, Customer Interview Script Template, Experiment Canvas, MVP Comparison Checklist, Go-to-Market Playbook Template, 12-Month Financial Model Template.
• Curated Case Studies: Breakdowns of companies that successfully (and unsuccessfully) opened new revenue channels, highlighting their discovery process, key pivots, and GTM strategies.

Supplemental Mentoring Content Table

To support the coaching layer and peer feedback sessions, the following soft-skill content should be provided to all participants to elevate the quality of interactions.

Topic	Purpose	Format
Active Listening for Discovery	To improve the quality of customer interviews and team discussions by reducing bias and extracting deeper insights.	Short Video & Cheat Sheet
Giving & Receiving Constructive Feedback	To make peer "crit sessions" more valuable and less personal, focusing feedback on the venture, not the founder.	Interactive Guide & Role-play Scenario
Strategic Questioning (GROW Model)	To equip participants to use coaching frameworks in their own team meetings and peer accountability pairs.	Infographic & Worksheet
Managing Uncertainty & Founder Resilience	To address the psychological challenges of validation and pivoting, normalizing the emotional journey.	Podcast-style Interview with a Seasoned Entrepreneur