Turn Student Dreamers Into Real Founders
Give your students what 90% of entrepreneurship programs miss: tactical frameworks for building products people actually want and will pay for. No theory. No case studies from 2008. Just battle-tested systems that work in 2025.
What Your Students Will Learn:
Most Student Startups Fail Before They Even Start
They build what they think is cool. They spend months on features nobody asked for. They confuse motion with progress. And when they finally show it to the market, crickets.
It's not because they don't work hard. It's because no one taught them how to think about thinking.
The Earn The Right Framework
Downloaded over 1 million times and used by accelerators globally. A systematic approach to mitigating startup failure through validated learning.
Earn The Right to Build
Don't write code until you've proven the problem exists and people will pay to solve it.
Earn The Right to Scale
Don't hire a team until you've proven customers retain and the unit economics work.
Earn The Right to Fundraise
Don't pitch investors until you've got traction that proves the model works.
How We Work Together
Two ways to bring real-world startup frameworks to your program.
Option A: Book Distribution Program
Get your students the foundational frameworks they need to validate and build.
Complimentary Copy for You
Review the frameworks before committing
Student Competition or Distribution
Run a pitch competition or distribute to your cohort
1-Hour Coaching Session for Winner(s)
Direct access to review their startup with James
Perfect for: Programs looking to supplement curriculum with real-world frameworks
Option B: In-Person Workshop Day
Intensive morning or full-day session with your student entrepreneurs.
Choose Your Focus:
The Lift
Live investigation of student startups as a group. Collaborative pressure-testing of models, wedges, and go-to-market strategies.
Real vs Fun: The Validation Conversation
How to know if you have something real or something fun. Mitigating failure through iterative steps in the right direction. Hurry slowly.
Custom Theme
Align the session to your program goals: problem validation, business models, fundraising readiness, etc.
Perfect for: Programs with active student founders ready for real-time feedback
The Lift for MedTech & Deep Tech
A specialized commercialization accelerator practicum for PhD students, PIs, and innovators in medical devices, diagnostics, and life sciences.
Weekly Practicum Sessions
Real work on real projects. One innovation in the spotlight each week for collaborative pressure-testing.
Commercialization Model Building
Surface hidden wedges: pricing strategies, data-as-product, Trojan Horses, arbitrage plays that unlock leverage.
Defensible Roadmaps
Walk out with a one-page commercialization map that makes execution obvious.
Why Universities Love This
"What James did, more than anything, was prove my right to exist. My science was solid but this workshop showed me it had a real space in the market, a way to get it there, and a clear roadmap to follow."
PhD Researcher
Medical Device Innovation, Commercial Accelerator Workshop Participant
Why This Actually Works
Most entrepreneurship programs teach students to build pitch decks and write business plans. Then they wonder why 90% of student startups never make it past the idea stage.
The difference between a student project that dies in the lab and a startup that attracts customers (and eventually acquirers) isn't the science. It's the model.
Starting A StartUp and the Earn The Right framework give students what they actually need: a systematic way to validate assumptions, build iteratively, and mitigate the risk of failure before they've burned months on something nobody wants.
This isn't theory. This is how real founders build real companies that generate real revenue. And it's exactly what your students need to hear before they waste their best shot.
Ready to Give Your Students a Real Advantage?
Let's talk about bringing these frameworks to your program. Whether you want books, workshops, or both.
or email directly at james@startuptoscaleup.com
Questions? Want to discuss a custom program for your specific needs?
Reach out and let's figure out what makes sense for your students.