100 Series Bootcamp
To the first-time builders, the early-stage founders, the “never done this beforers” — if you’re ready to move from guessing to validated execution, you’re in the right place.
11 live virtual sessions 1x/week from 6-10 PM
Tuesday nights starting 6/2 or Thursday nights starting 6/4
From idea to validated business model
You have an idea. Maybe you’ve started before. Maybe this is your first attempt. Either way, you’re unsure whether your assumptions are right.
Intro Cohorts (Series 100) are designed to give you the tools, resources, and confidence to systematize your thinking, validate your idea, and start seeing yourself as an entrepreneur.
What does success look like? A whole lotta execution.
At the end of your 11-week training you’ll have everything you need (and more) to validate your business.
Here’s what to expect week by week.
With over 5o cohorts having gone through this exact framework, our content is structured for success. For those of you who appreciate knowing what you’re getting yourself into, here’s what you’ll be doing each week.
Session 00 [Onboarding]
- Join the< ILT Community on Social Media
Session 01 [Kick-off]
- Start with Why (Simon Sinek)
- Design Thinking in Action
- Set up your Activated Entrepreneur Worksheet
Session 02 [Exploring the Current State]
- Design Thinking Practices: User Need Statements
- ILT Masterclass: the ILT Innovation Framework (Part I)
Session 03 [Unpacking Your Idea]
- Unpacking the Problem
- Jobs to Be Done
- Who to Interview & What to Ask
- Early Adopters
- 30-Second Pitch Exercise (Listening)
Session 04 [Defining the Future State + The Lean Canvas]
- The Lean Canvas Framework (Part 1)
- Start Your Audience Segment Spreadsheet
- Your Minimum Viable Product (MVP)
- 30 Second Pitch Night: Develop pitches and get real feedback from community leaders, seasoned entreprenuers and experienced investors.
Session 05 [Active Customer Discover Prep]
- Don’t be embarrassed by the first version of your product!
- Reality Checking Your Sandwich (TAM / SAM / SOM)
- Making Better Sandwiches
- Empathy Interview Script Instructions
Session 06 [The Lean Canvas Deep Dive]
- The Five “Whys”
- Customer Segments & the Lean Canvas
- ILT Masterclass: Feedback Framework
- Capturing Artifacts & Doing Customer Discovery
- Empathy Interview – First Draft
Session 07 [Lean Canvas Presentations + Active Customer Discovery, Part One]
- Unpacking Your Audience Segments
- Creating a Research Plan
- What are Empathy Interviews
Session 08 [Lean Canvas Presentations + Active Customer Discovery, Part Duex]
- Presenting Your Audience Segments
- Presenting Your Research Plan
- Presenting your Lean Canvas
Session 09 [All Kinds of Pitches]
- Vanity Metrics vs Actionable Metrics
- Pirate Metrics
- Unpacking Innovation
Session 10 [Showcase/Certification Prep]
- Sharing Your Idea: From Good to Great
- All Kinds of Pitches
- ILT Masterclass: Pitching to Advisors vs Investors
Session 11 [Founder Showcase]
- Virtual Founder Showcase Expo: Share and get feedback on a 5-min investor-style presentation, meet entrepreneurs, funders, and investors.
Live Virtual Sessions
Recordings available
Weekly Office Hours
W 4:30-6 PM CST, F 11-1 PM CST
Community Networking
Connect with your cohort
Come for the content, leave with confidence.
The journey to becoming the business owner you dream of being starts with a single click (apply now).
Nick Tietz
Founder + CEO, ILT Academy
Nick is an innovator, collaborator, rule-breaker and change-maker who uses these skills to help founders, entrepreneurs, and enterprise companies drive business forward with a proven system built for repeatable success.
Misha Leptic
Batch Facilitator, EIR
Kenzie Kitzman
Batch Facilitator, Ops
Individual
For solopreneurs and solo business owners
- Enrollment in 11 week live virtual bootcamp
- Access to session recordings
- Attend weekly office hours (2 options)
- All course materials and tools included
- Participation in 30-Second Pitch Night & Founder Showcase
- Connections to subject matter experts and mentors
- Join the alumni network upon course completion
Teams
For teams of 2+ builders
- 20% discount per builder
- Enrollment in 11 week live virtual bootcamp
- Access to session recordings
- Attend weekly office hours (2 options)
- All course materials and tools included
- Participation in 30-Second Pitch Night & Founder Showcase
- Connections to subject matter experts and mentors
- Join the alumni network upon course completion
Apply for a Scholarship
Scholarships are available for entrepreneurs in North East and Central Minnesota. Find out if you’re eligible
Hear from ILT Alumni
“I love how warm and welcoming and the ILT Academy team is. Their coaching is easy to follow, and they’ll help you quickly turn your startup goals into a reality. And as a bonus, they’ll connect you with a community of like-minded entrepreneurs, so you don’t have to go at this alone.”
“Having ILT Academy’s support in our business has been a great experience for Virtuwoof. The activities we completed in the Customer Discovery classes has added to the success in launching our business and strategy moving forward!”
“Having ILT Academy’s support in our business has been a great experience for Virtuwoof. The activities we completed in the Customer Discovery classes has added to the success in launching our business and strategy moving forward!”
“Attending ILT’s customer discovery class was a game-changer for Otrafy. The skills that he shared with us helped us create our discovery funnel, which allowed us to find product-market fit and build a pipeline of priorities for our development that was based on our customer discovery.”
“This class was insightful as it really laid down some basics in asking questions and finding answers to help refine business ideas.” “Having other aspiring entrepreneurs ask questions and give positive critic to the business ideas was definitely a plus. The pre-class work on ILT, while short, was great as an introduction. ILT Academy was really nicely designed and I think the tool will be HUGE in helping us navigate the entrepreneurship journey.”
“As a founder who is often visioning “solo” this class offered me a sense of clarity and structure I’ve been lacking. I have done more in 2 hours than the past two months to push my idea forward!”
“The best part of the class for me was when I could share my idea and have a community of people provide new insights and feedback for me to take in.
The magic of this course is that it works to build your ability to gather and decipher meaningful customer feedback.
When developing a business, success comes in the form of how much value you can maximize for your customers. I thought this course did a good job at making each entrepreneur dive into the value they plan on adding to their customers.”
