For someone exploring a first small business or income idea. Start with the supplied fictional café case and build your practice plan at your own pace.
Course 04 · Work course 01
Start a Small Business From Scratch
Use customer evidence to choose a problem, shape an offer, evaluate a small test, and plan how a business could operate.
Before you start
Open a notebook or document and the supplied practice worksheet. The fictional case includes interview notes, test results, and planning numbers. Core practice is included in each lesson estimate; optional fieldwork adds time.
See everything you’ll needWhat you’ll leave with
A business practice plan that explains a customer problem, presents a clear offer, uses test results to support a decision, and includes an operating checklist.
Start course Start without an account. Sign in to save lesson progress across devices.
Your project
Start with the practice files. Build your project one lesson at a time.
Practice files are free without an account. Sign in to save your project record in My Proof: a description, checklist, and optional work link. Keep the original files in your own app or notebook; saving a project record does not upload them.
- Get your materialsDownload the practice worksheetUse the downloadable worksheet or toolkit alongside the lesson instructions.
- Make your projectView the project checklist Work in your own notebook, document, or software. Use the supplied practice examples when you prefer.
- Keep a private recordSave a project record Sign in to save a description and checklist, then return to update them.
Optional course overview
Watch an introduction.
This overview from U.S. Small Business Administration introduces ideas you’ll practice in the lessons.
Watch directly on YouTubeU.S. Small Business AdministrationAn Introduction to the SBAYouTube
Course handbook
Know the route before you begin.
Here’s what you’ll need and what you’ll make. You can return to this guide during any lesson.
For the eight-week program, use the weekly project checklist. Larger course examples are optional extensions.
- Open a notebook or document and label the supplied café case fictional.
- Use the supplied four interview notes and validation results. Keep source notes separate from your interpretation.
- Use the same case to draft an offer, a setup checklist, an outreach plan, and an operating scorecard. Mark unresolved real-world requirements for later verification.
- Optional extension after the core: investigate an idea you understand using voluntary interviews or a low-risk test. Decide permissions, time, and budget before acting; external responses are outside the lesson estimates and completion criteria.
Finish with proof you can use.
A business practice packet: a customer-problem brief, one-page offer, validation record and justified decision, setup checklist, outreach plan, and operating scorecard. Use the supplied fictional café case or clearly identified permitted real evidence. A supported proceed, revise, or stop decision is a complete learning result.
Save a project record in My ProofSee project checklist and review criteria
Keep your working files in your own notebook or software. Save a private description, checklist, and work link in My Proof.
What to include
- A problem brief with classified source notes, a customer-problem statement citing at least two notes, one counterexample or evidence gap, and a useful follow-up question. Use the four supplied fictional notes or clearly identified real evidence you have permission to use.
- Draft a one-page offer with customer, result, scope, exclusions, price, timeline, and next step. Identify assumptions separately from supported facts.
- A validation record showing the test, the decision rule chosen beforehand, classified observed results, and a justified decision to proceed, revise, or stop. Include a limitation and one bounded next test. Use the supplied practice case or clearly identified real-world evidence.
- Draft a setup checklist naming requirements to verify, responsible official sources or support, status, and next actions. Keep unresolved items marked pending.
- Build a sales-process plan with a sample prospect list, outreach draft, stages, and dated follow-ups. Use fictional records for practice.
- Create an operating scorecard with costs, capacity, cash timing, and review dates. Label assumptions and explain one decision using sample results.
Review and revise
Use these criteria to check your work and choose what to improve.
- Claims can be traced to source notes. Fictional inputs, reported behavior, opinions, assumptions, and missing evidence are distinguished.
- The problem and offer fit the customer situation supported by the notes and acknowledge counterevidence.
- The original decision rule is applied accurately. A justified negative finding or revise/stop decision meets the criterion.
- The next test changes one defined element, sets a rule in advance, and names resource limits.
- Plans are internally consistent and record unresolved checks honestly. Assessment depends on reasoning and the work produced, not sales or outside approval.
Three ideas to help you along the way
Three useful ideas
The rules behind the steps.
Evidence before expense
Classifying observations and applying a prewritten rule can justify proceeding, revising, or stopping. Quality depends on the reasoning and the work produced.
Narrow makes learning faster
One customer, one problem, and one offer make feedback interpretable; breadth hides why people say yes or no.
Operations protect the promise
Separate records, written scope, reliable delivery, and current legal checks turn an experiment into a responsible business.
What do these words mean?
Key words
Key terms worth knowing.
- Customer segment
- A group of customers with similar needs, buying situations, and ways you can reach them.
- Value proposition
- A concise explanation of who the offer helps, what result it creates, and why it is preferable.
- Validation
- Evidence from real customer behavior that reduces uncertainty about a problem, offer, or price.
- Unit economics
- Revenue and direct cost associated with delivering one sale or serving one customer.
- Runway
- The time a business can continue before available cash is exhausted at its current spending rate.
Your route6 lessons.
6 lessons.
One useful project.
Work in order the first time. Each lesson makes something the next lesson can use.
- 1Up next
Choose a problem using customer evidence
Use supplied interview notes to identify a specific customer problem and separate observed behavior from assumptions.
- 228 min
Design an offer people understand
Use the fictional café case or permitted evidence to draft a clear scope, promise, price, and next step.
- 330 min
Evaluate a small validation test
Apply a prewritten decision rule to supplied test results and justify whether to proceed, revise, or stop.
- 435 min
Plan the legal and money setup
Plan the requirements and records to verify before a business begins taking money.
- 532 min
Build the first sales system
Draft a repeatable process for finding relevant prospects, offering a useful next step, and recording responses.
- 629 min
Plan the first 90 days
Build an operating scorecard and use a hypothetical week to reason about cash, costs, and capacity.
Use the tools
See all tools Tools to help you practice.
Source transparency
Sources and further study.
Explore the references behind the lessons and take your learning further. Source notes explain access and reuse.
Ready when you are
Start lesson one Start with the first useful move.
You’ll always know what to do, what to make, and where to go next.
Open collaboration ideaHelp keep this complete course free.
Potential collaboration: Banking, payments, insurance, commerce software
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