subject_01
The pre-seed builder
You shipped an MVP. A handful of users won't leave you alone. You need to figure out what matters next — and the discipline to ignore everything else.
// stage: ignition
Six weeks. Twelve operators. One coach who's been through the smoke. A cohort-based program for early-stage founders learning to build in a world that doesn't slow down for anyone.
Three profiles. If your file matches one of them, we want to read it.
You shipped an MVP. A handful of users won't leave you alone. You need to figure out what matters next — and the discipline to ignore everything else.
You can build anything. Selling it makes you want to crawl under your desk. You want a framework for sales, hiring, and storytelling — without the cringe.
You've done this before. You know the pitfalls. You want peers at your level and a coach who'll push back instead of nodding along.
One live workshop and one 1:1 each week. Every week ships a tangible artifact.
Rewrite your positioning in one sentence. Lock the customer segment you'll obsess over for 12 months.
Run five real customer conversations. Build a repeatable discovery script and a place to log what you learn.
Define your north-star metric. Build a one-page dashboard. Set a weekly cadence to actually look at it.
Build a 5-stage pipeline. Run two live sales calls with the cohort observing and giving feedback.
Story, deck, target list. Practice the pitch live in front of two operator-investors.
Write the job specs you actually need. Build a sourcing plan and a 30-day onboarding loop.
[Short bio placeholder. Two- or three-sentence summary of the instructor's background — companies founded, exits, books written, current investing or advising work, and why they care about coaching early-stage founders.]
"[Testimonial placeholder — a 2 or 3 sentence quote about a tangible outcome the founder got from the cohort, e.g. closing a round or shipping a product.]"
"[Testimonial placeholder — focus on how the cohort changed the way the founder thinks about an aspect of building, like sales or hiring.]"
"[Testimonial placeholder — emphasize the value of the peer group and the coach's willingness to challenge them.]"
Roughly 4–6 hours per week: one 90-minute group workshop, one 45-minute 1:1 with your coach, and the rest applying the week's exercise to your own company.
$2,400 for the full six weeks. A limited number of partial scholarships are available for under-represented founders — mention it in your application.
No. You do need to be working on your company full-time and have at least an MVP or a clearly defined first customer.
Fully remote. Sessions are scheduled to work for time zones across the Americas and Europe. We host one optional in-person dinner in the final week.
You stay in the ScaleUp alumni community for life — quarterly check-ins, alumni-only office hours, and intros to past cohorts.
Tell us who you are and what you're building. We read every application and reply within 5 business days. Intake closes two weeks before the cohort begins.