Refinery Foundations is a sprint for new entrepreneurs

Whether you’re just starting your business, operating as a side-hustle taking cash or Venmo payments, or just don’t know where to begin your entrepreneurial journey, you need a solid foundation, and our 6-Week Bootcamp is the blueprint, the launchpad, and the toolkit to help you start.

Each week we’ll meet and cover the core concepts necessary for success in your new business, hold group discussions and assign deliverables that will help you launch. We hold you accountable to make decisions to move things forward.

You’ll discover if and when you’re ready to start your business, what goes into a profitable idea, get financial literate, form a business entity and more.

Foundations meets 1x week for 6 weeks at MVCC’s thINCubator. Tuition is free but you must apply online – and be committed to the full program. We’ll be curating a small group for this upcoming cohort.

An online option is available for participants who cannot attend in person, that combines Weekly Videos and Deliverables.

In-Person and Online Cohort Runs Wednesday Nights, January 15th through February 19th | 6:00pm – 7:30pm

Program Overview

“All-Hands” meetings every week. Each meeting will lay another brick in your business’ foundation, and have rapid round-robin updates from each participant who will report on progress and challenges. Transparency is a must. We’ll also have topic-focused discussions relevant to the collective goals of the teams.

One-on-One Mentoring and Office Hours – individual mentor sessions are designed to keep participants on track and take deeper dives into issues and challenges that are impeding the growth or acceleration of your business.

Accountability – Each week we’ll invite you to take action base on the weekly content. Whether that’s filing your LLC or DBA, interviewing 5 potential customers or financial projections – we’re focused on practical content and making decisions.

Program Schedule

What Do You Do, and Why Should Anyone Care?

  • What’s the Problem
  • Starting With ‘Why’
  • Reframing Your Value from “Me” To “You”
  • The 5 Ps of Differentiation

Financial Foundations and Your Minimal Viable Business

  • Budgeting & Financial Readiness
  • Pro Forma and Financial Projections
  • Minimum Viable Products
  • Minimum Viable Audience
  • Minimum Viable Everything

Branding, Marketing and Customer Experience

  • The power of branding
  • Target market identification
  • Persona Development
  • Imposter Syndrome
  • Putting your best foot forward

The Business Model

  • The Business Model Canvas

Lawyers & Taxes/Minimal Viable Everything

  • Entity Formation
  • Tax Planning
  • Back Office Tools
  • Time vs. Money Decision Making
  • Minimum Viable Everything (process improvement)

Reverse Engineering/Next Steps

  • Dreamlining
  • SMART Goals
  • Getting first customers
  • Building a 30 day plan
  • Wrap Up

Deliverables: Next Steps/30 Day Plan