Welcome to the FastForward U Spark Curriculum! 🚀 Each section in this curriculum covers a different aspect of building a venture, from figuring out who your customer is, to building a full financial model. Most of the content is geared towards Idea and MVP-stage ventures; however, the content is applicable for later-stage ventures as well.

This curriculum is meant to be entirely self-paced, allowing you to complete it in your own time. For each section, there are worksheets that you must complete to help you better understand the material, which you will submit to our team for feedback from your strategic advisor(s). Successful completion of all Spark worksheets will result in the release of your full funding amount, as well as give you eligibility to apply for the FastForward U Fuel Accelerator, which is run every Fall and Spring semester.

Read the rest of this page to get your bearings and then go ahead and dive into the curriculum!

Address: 320 W 29th St #200, Baltimore, MD 21211

Hours: Open every day from 10:00 am - 10:00 pm

💫 Our space is open for you. Feel free to come in at any time to work on your venture, study, or just hang out! 💫

<aside> 🔔 Be sure to check Announcements and Requirements weekly!

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<aside> ❓ Questions or Issues? Email your Strategic Advisor or Message us in Slack

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Content Outline

Announcements and Requirements

Early Venture Basics

Market Research & Customer Discovery

Business Model Development

User Attraction, Marketing, & Sales

Funding Your Venture

Financial Modeling

Legal Considerations

Pitch Deck Creation


Glossary

Tool Bank

Worksheets Calendar

Citations

Additional Resources

READ THIS FIRST ▶ How to Use this Curriculum


0️⃣ Decide on how you want to use this curriculum, there are 3 recommended approaches. Do what works for you:

1️⃣ Read each section, taking notes on how the concepts apply to your specific venture and marking down specific questions that you have.

2️⃣ Attend a Weekly Mastermind Group session and Open Work Hours to get support on any questions you have about the curriculum or your venture.

3️⃣ Complete the worksheets associated with each section. When accessing the worksheets, open each link, go to "file" and "make a copy" to save to your own drive, in order to have editing access. After you finish the worksheets, submit them to your team's strategic advisor via discussed platform (Slack or FounderTrac). We will begin accepting worksheets the week of September 20, 2023. Your strategic advisors will set the specific date of weekly submission for your cohort during your first Mastermind session. Check the Worksheets page for more information.

4️⃣ Upon thoughtfully completing all worksheets and incorporating feedback, you should be in a good place to apply to (and hopefully be competitive for) the Fuel Accelerator in future semesters.

5️⃣ (Optional) Make a free Notion account, if you want to leave comments on the curriculum.

Supplementary Resources