Starting a business or startup is not easy. As you embark on a new business, you will face plenty of challenges, issues, and trials that may take you back down. And most entrepreneurs learn the hard way. And there’s absolutely nothing wrong with this. Mistakes help them understand their business more.
However, as a startup, you want to minimize your mistakes. Cause sometimes, one failure could be your last. And entrepreneurs could avoid these mistakes through books, advice, or online courses.
Online business courses can help you acquire new skills, detect gap and holes, and learn how can solve an issue that most startup faces. This article will highlight 8 great business courses that you might want to consider before opening a business.
Why Business Course is a Must for Entrepreneurs?
Business courses can help entrepreneurs increase their chances of success. It often contains the latest and correct information and resources to help them in their journey. They can also learn how to use the right tools and technology to make their business grow.
Likewise, many startup business courses include processes, concepts, and development for businesses. These lessons can help startup entrepreneurs create strategies and plan to foresee common startup failures and learn how to avoid them. They can learn and improve their skills and become more efficient, find new ways of doing things, and develop new skill sets that will make them better at what they do.
8 Online Startup Courses for New Entrepreneurs
Although business courses can typically be taken at top universities and training centers, it is possible to also take them remotely. With the help of technology and the internet, business owners can improve themselves.
The internet is full of free and high-quality resources that can help maintain business and develop ideas. Here are some startup courses for you to consider!
1. How to Build a Startup by The Lean LaunchPad
Price: Free
Length: 4 weeks (Self-paced learning)
Skill Level: Intermediate
Sometimes, business owners start their companies without validating their ideas or testing them. Which ultimately causes their failure due to lack of market or exposure. Likewise, How to Build a Startup by The Lean LaunchPad can help business owners ensure success.
This startup business course tackles an overview of the critical steps needed in building a successful startup. It includes the basics of the famous Customer Development Process. Steve Blank provides insight into the essential steps necessary to build a successful startup.
The main objective of this course is to teach entrepreneurs how to quickly develop and test ideas by gathering massive amounts of potential consumers to get feedback. This idea is great for validating and ensuring that it will sell to real-life customers.
Students enrolled in this course will also learn how to build their idea and address the market’s unmet needs.
2. The Complete Introduction to Accounting and Finance by Chris Benjamin, MBA & CFO
Price: $15
Length: 79 Lectures with 30 mins to 1-hour lectures (8h and 37 minutes in total)
Skill Level: Beginner
Accounting and finance are vital to the success of any business. It provides business owners a picture of their level of success and capability. It is also essential to know accounting for tax and legal purposes.
As such, startup entrepreneurs must know accounting or booking, at least basic. This must-have startup course will teach you the essentials of accounting and finance. Students will learn all of business accounting and entrepreneurial finance in this course. Starting with an introduction to accounting, its concepts, and how to create financial reports.
Startup Bookkeepers, accountants, and business owners can learn how to budget and forecast through this course.
3. Developing Innovative Ideas for New Companies: The First Step in Entrepreneurship by University of Maryland
Price: Free
Length: Approximately 8 hours to complete
Skill Level: Beginner
This idea development startup course is perfect for entrepreneurs to learn to develop great ideas into great companies. Entrepreneurs will learn proven methods and models for new ventures, opportunity assessment, and analysis in this course. They will also learn to enhance their entrepreneurial mindset and improve strategic decision-making.
4. Entrepreneurship by Wharton
Price: Free
Length: 4 weeks (Self-paced learning)
Skill Level: Beginner
This entrepreneurship startup course, offered by The Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania, covers techniques for new enterprises’ conception, design, organisation, and management.
This five-course series is designed to help businesses understand opportunity identification through launch, development, financing, and success. Moreover, students will learn an entrepreneurial mindset to hone their skills in developing the new enterprise. They will also learn how to identify and pursue an opportunity for growth with potential partners in the market.
5. Retails Fundamental by Dartmouth
Price: Free
Length: 4 weeks (Self-paced learning)
Skill Level: Intermediate
Retail fundamental is an excellent course for startups pursuing commerce or product selling. In these startup courses, entrepreneurs will learn the four key elements of retail business – Demand forecasting, Inventory Management, Assortment planning, and Pricing decisions.
It is designed to teach you the different challenges retail businesses often face and have the opportunity to learn other techniques on how to address them adequately. In addition, this course includes simulation tools to get you a better feel of those situations.
6. Essentials of Entrepreneurship: Thinking & Action by University of California, Irvine
Price: Free
Length: Approx. 5 hours to complete
Skill Level: Intermediate
This online free business startup course is excellent for improving your understanding of essential entrepreneurial skills and competencies to succeed. In this course, business owners can learn various business strategies for new business, create a concise business plan, and achieve business success.
7. The Lean Startup by Eric Reis
Price: $10
Length: Six 30-40 Minute Lectures (Self-paced learning)
Skill Level: Basic
The Lean Startup is a business method that uses scientific experimentation to reduce the risk of new products. It was developed by Eric Ries and is an iterative process that employs continuous customer feedback to build better products faster. It relies on minimal resources from a startup company and outside experts in critical disciplines such as engineering or design.
In this Lean Startup business course, you’ll learn how to apply the method and transform how your products are built and launched. You will also learn new techniques suitable for today’s fast-paced, highly competitive startup environment in response to the idea of traditional business methods.
8. Supply Chain Dynamics by MITX
Price: Free
Length: 13 weeks (Instructor-paced learning)
Skill Level: Advanced
The supply chain is the process of getting goods from suppliers to customers. An understanding supply chain is essential in a startup. It is complex and often changes due to external forces and trends. A supply chain in each industry varies.
Knowing how to understand and evaluate your supply chain is key to a business. It can be used to identify the problem areas and take corrective measures before it is too late
This startup course in supply chain dynamics is an essential capstone to understanding how to successfully create, design, and manage a supply chain in any industry. This course builds upon the fundamental models introduced in SC1x and the design trade-offs covered in SC2x, so check up on those two courses before taking this.
Conclusion
Whether you are a student studying business or a business owner preparing to start your company, these eight courses can help you enhance your knowledge and upgrade your skills. Most of these are free and cheap so try to avail it while it is available.
Moreover, don’t let these courses be the end of your learning. Try to read more books, take other free online courses, join a meeting convention, or join our startup incubator program. Contact us now!