A West of England Combined Authority funded programme
START YOUR JOURNEY
YOUR JOURNEY HERE
A West of England Combined Authority funded programme
START is a free program designed to develop you from tech-based business idea to running your own start-up company through intensive training, access to successful founders & mentors and the opportunity to pitch award-winning business incubators and accelerators.
Representation really matters to us and we are committed to this. We are really keen to support community and ethnic minority led Entrepreneurship through this initiative. If you think “START probably isn’t for me”, then we definitely want to hear your idea!
The idea you submit belongs to you and will not be shared with anyone beyond the project team or used by anyone, whether you take part in the programme or not.
28 hours training, workshops, and mentoring.
Shared networks and investment opportunities.
Earn a free place in our incubation programmes.
Supported by 4 West of England Universities.
This is a West of England Combined Authority funded programme led by UWE Bristol in collaboration with University of Bristol, University of Bath, Bath Spa University and techSPARK
The START Programme
PRE-START
The Start-up
We will cover what it means to run a business – the basics of getting started, and an introduction to founder mindsets. We will have some group coaching sessions and facilitated networking. This will give applicants a chance to see if the programme is a fit for them.
1.
The Founder
We will cover the nature of entrepreneurship, founder mindset, and entrepreneurial personality types. This will lead into an understanding of team roles, leadership and management and group working. A Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats analysis will enable participants to better understand the opportunities and threats that could shape their founder journey.
2.
Developing Founder Skills
Building on the first session, session two will explore the skills gaps of participants. We will look at the importance of time management, networking, and communication. These sessions will later explore organisational growth, how to build a team, and being a good employer.
3.
The Idea
Session three looks at the difference between good ideas and strong business ideas. We take a first look at design thinking and customer centric approaches. The participants will begin working on a value proposition canvas.
4.
The Solution
Building on session three, we will continue to build the value proposition canvas, looking at connecting the solution with customers. As well as looking at market opportunity and customer segments, we will look at how to put this into practice.
5.
The Plan
In the final session, we will consolidate all the previous sessions with the completion of the Value Proposition Canvas. We explore the next steps with an introduction to frameworks such as the business model canvas and Simon Sinek’s “start with the why”. Finally, we will look at developing skills to explain and present business to external audiences in preparation for bursary pitching/applications.
Helping people in the West of England be successful with their technology based ideas.
Tess O'Shea - Seatox
"There's a lot of support here, sessions, one-to-ones. It just feels like you're well looked after."
The Universities that are supporting START have a fantastic track record in supporting ideas and startups. Tess is just one example from the University of the West of England’s Launch Space.
Lakshit Dabas - BioFringe
"I loved it. I didn't really have a business, it was more an idea that I wanted to turn into something. I didn't really have a business model or financial plan or even a pitch until I did the programme."
Always wanted to run your own startup?
Desperate to see your idea come to life?
Want to create something that’s yours?
Know you want to make an impact?
What's the process?
Fill out our straightforward expression of interest form and one of our team will get in touch.
After speaking to you and learning more about what you would like to achieve, the START team will review your idea.
It’s a simple as that! If you would like someone to guide you through the form, you can contact us:
By phone: +44 (0)117 32 86238
By email: hello@startyour.uk
START is open to anyone within the West of England region shown in the map. If you are outside of this area but would like to start a business here, then please still get in touch.
Frequently Asked Questions
START is to help people who want to start a business in the West of England enabled by technology. We’d encourage anyone to get involved but we have a few criteria to our funding
- You or your business must be based in the local authority areas of Bristol, South Glouscestershire or Bath & North East Somerset. If you not sure you can use this handy post code checker
- You need to be at an early stage of your journey you may have an idea, have just started a business or just know you want to be a founder and looking to find the perfect concept. If you’re a more established business this isn’t for you but you can access support from our partners at the Growth Hub
Our aim is to support people to establish businesses that can grow and utilise tech. If this isn’t you there’s other support at the Growth Hub
It’s completely free!
We receive funding from the West of England Combined Authority and contributions from all four local universities to enable this programme to happen!
We’re running several cohorts each year so we’d encourage you to submit an expression of interest, if you’re not yet ready we can always put you on a future cohort. Once you start a cohort though you have to complete that one.
Yes there is nothing stopping you from being on START and other programmes as well. We’re happy to have a chat to ensure you’re getting value and duplicating your effort!
Different cohorts will run right across the West of England with different timings to make it as open to as many people as possible.
The course is going to be delivered mainly in person, there will be access to some online elements and resources but we know that lots of the value will be from learning and engaging with your peers.