Entrepreneurial Training Program (ETP)

ETP is an intensive business-planning training program designed to help participants who want to start a new business, grow an existing business, or make a substantial business pivot that requires viewing the business with a new perspective.

The focus of the program is to help you complete a comprehensive “rough draft” of your business plan in the form of a written workbook. Each session of class will help you learn business terminology and work toward putting your ideas on paper so that, by the end of class, you have made significant progress toward launching your business or writing a more comprehensive business plan.

For ETP, we take the basics you learn in Biz Smart Sprint – understanding the Business Model Canvas, determining your business’ value proposition, identification of key customers and market, marketing strategy, legal & operational considerations, and financial basics – and elevate the curriculum to help you move forward on your plan.

“Comprehensive overview that provided so many resources for further exploration. Gives me much more confidence about the scope of what needs to happen and my ability to accomplish those things – even as an artsy, non-business, non-numbers person. I now I have a road map, woot-woot! This course was ABSOLUTELY AMAZING. Just top-notch. And a fabulous deal for the price. Incredible! So grateful for this opportunity!” ~HBB Studio, Spring 2022 participant

Looking for a lower-commitment opportunity to learn business basics? Biz Smart Sprint might be the best fit for you. For a comparison of the programs – the Entrepreneurial Training Program or Biz Smart Sprint – visit this page.

Registration

Location: Live Virtual portion & In-Person portion at Grainger Hall, UW-Madison*

Fee & course requirements: $249

Note about multiple participants (business partners): All participants in the course must be registered. Businesses can add additional business partners for $99 per person (must be working together on the same business). Each business will submit one workbook, regardless of the number of class participants. If you would like to add additional participants, please call the SBDC at the number listed in the footer of this page.

The $249 reduced cost of this $1,000 course is being funded in part by our generous supporters – Summit Credit Union, Neider & Boucher, S.C. , Porter & Sack CPAs, and M3 Elevate. In addition, the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC) provides significant financial support to the ETP program. See requirements section below for additional information.

Summit Credit Union logo Neider & Boucher logo Porter & Sack

Program Schedule (see “Program Structure” section below for details)*:

LIVE VIRTUAL SESSIONS FOR SPRING 2023
- Thursday, March 2, 2023 from 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm CST
- Thursday, March 9, 2023 from 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm CST
- Thursday, March 16, 2023 from 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm CST
- Thursday, March 23, 2023 from 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm CST
- No class on Thursday, March 30, 2023 for spring break
- Thursday, April 6, 2023 from 5:30 pm – 8:00 pm CST
IN PERSON SESSION: Full-day session Friday, April 14, 2023 (Grainger Hall, Wisconsin School of Business) from 8:00 am – 4:30 pm

* Please note that for this course, there are both live-virtual and in-person components; you must be able to attend both components to successfully complete the course.

Registration policy: Payment will be required at time of registration. You must have either a credit card or valid UW-Madison funding string to be able to register.

Cancellation policy: If you cancel before the program beg ins, there is a $25 cancellation fee. If you cancel after the program begins you will be charged for the full program fee. To cancel, call registration at 608-262-2451 .

Disability Statement: Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact the UW-Madison SBDC office at sbdc@bus.wisc.edu to request accommodations.

Requirements and Cost

Participating in ETP means receiving a wealth of resources and support to help you develop your business-plan workbook. Because this $1000 program is made affordable to you through partial support from the Wisconsin Economic Development Corporation (WEDC), successful course completion requires:

Attend at least 4/5 live-virtual sessions
Attend at least 75% of the full-day session
Successfully complete your business plan workbook

Eligible Businesses

Because of the partial grant funding associated with this program, businesses interested in participating must:

Be a for-profit business currently located in Wisconsin, or the owner must be planning to start a Wisconsin-based business
Be re-examining their currently operating business or plan to start a new business within the next 24 months
Not have declared bankruptcy in the past 12 months
Not have previously received an Entrepreneurial Training Program (ETP) grant in the past

Program Structure

This course contains three primary components, all geared toward helping you complete your business workbook.

ETP starts with a 5-week live-virtual class. These 2.5-hour sessions provide you with an introduction to business basics and terminology. At the end of each session, you will receive direction about what corresponding workbook sections you should complete to stay on track.

Session 1: Course introduction and understanding the Business Model Canvas
Session 2: Business value proposition, identification of key customers and market in order to determine product/market fit
Session 3: Marketing Strategy
Session 4: Legal and Operational Considerations (entity selection, HR Laws/policies, insurance/liability, etc.)
Session 5: Financial basics (key terms, pricing, managing cash flow, sources of financing)

Program Structure

This course contains three primary components, all geared toward helping you complete your business workbook.

For most entrepreneurs, one of the most difficult parts of starting a business is knowing where to start. By joining the Entrepreneurial Training Program, we help you overcome that challenge by providing you with a comprehensive workbook of guided questions to help you sketch out the fundamentals of a business plan.

This comprehensive workbook (as paired with class content) walks you through all of the major areas of your business, including:

Creating your elevator pitch
Sketching out the building blocks of your business with your Business Model Canvas
Determining your target market/customer segment with market research
Considering industry trends, your competitors, and your marketing plan
Understanding key components of the major financial statements (your income statement, your balance sheet, and cash flow for your business) and business financing
Operational considerations (legal considerations, human resources, reducing risk)
And more!

Throughout our virtual course, we will introduce you to many of the key concepts and resources that can help you sketch out these areas of your workbook. From there, you will need to arrive at the full-day session with your workbook 75% completed. During the full-day session, you will then have the chance to ask more in-depth questions to experts, get feedback from your peers and SBDC consultants, and refine your workbook to turn in for a third-party review.

After class is over, you’ll have clarified your business idea and developed written objectives that will inform your next steps, the launch of your business, or the start of your formal business plan.

Program Structure

This course contains three primary components, all geared toward helping you complete your business workbook.

Throughout the course, you will work on completing your business-plan workbook. By the time you arrive at the full-day session, you should have your workbook 75% complete. At our full-day class session, you will have the opportunity to refine the work you have already done by:

Receiving peer feedback – and being able to ask questions of SBDC consultants
Learning more in-depth knowledge about:
1. Understanding the lending process
2. Accounting for your business
3. Understanding how to estimate your market size – and how that information connects with your financial projections
4. Entity selection for your business
5. Key contracts you may need
6. And more!

“I am seriously so grateful for ETP and everything I learned from SBDC. I would not have developed such a strong business plan or secured a traditional commercial loan without that class. I also wouldn’t have been as well prepared to deal with all the challenges and potential pitfalls of starting and running a business. I felt like the course really set me up for success, so thank you!!… I tell every new entrepreneur to take this course!

Karri Bartlett, Owner, Blue Highway Lodge

Advice from past ETP participants

“Even if business is like a totally different language to you like it is for me, just start with this class. Just start. Ask for help.”
“Like anything, the more you put into it, the more you get out of it.”
“Start working on your workbook before class, so you know what to expect and have a solid base to start. Use as many resources as possible, ask questions and build connections with classmates.”
“Don’t be timid; this is not just for people with a solid business plan intact!”
“Pay attention to every detail taught from this course!”
“Make the connections with your classmates. These relationships will help you see your business through fresh eyes.”
“Keep your camera on!”
“Go to the library!”
“Be open minded, and engage with other participants”
“Take it all, and do the work.”
“Don’t fall behind on homework”
“Listen more than you talk, do your homework”
“Keep an open mind and ask questions, whether during class or in follow up”
“Show up and ask as much as you can. No questions are stupid. This is a great resource to come back to.”
“Just go for it”
“Utilize the resources and tools”
“No matter what stage of business planning you are in, this class will benefit you. It will also give those who are forming a partnership some common ground.”
“Be open minded to re-think and re-strategize the direction of your business and decision along the way”

The [ETP] organizational framework was great. Learning about various aspects of creating a business plan was helpful. [I am] very grateful to learn and get this support and meet others who are in the same situation.
Fall 2022 Participant

[ETP] walks you through the steps of creating a clear starting point for your business [and includes] expert advice and feedback.
Jackpine Wakesurf LLC

Everyone was so kind and helpful, and I learned a ton of information. So grateful I discovered and was able to complete the course.
Firefox Bakery LLC, Fall 2022 participant

The entire course content was presented in a high-end format at a very low cost. Very impressive! Great team with great energy.
Simply Speaks LLC, Fall 2022 participant

The most valuable piece of this course was being able to talk and think out my business. It helped me reconstruct my idea.
Assured Home Health Care, Fall 2022 participant

I really valued how structured the whole course was. It put into perspective all the different aspects to think about. And finally made me sit down to think about the details to move my business forward.
Jalistic Coaching, Spring 2022 participant

"This course provided me with structure and accountability to work on my plans in a smarter way. It gave me the confidence to say 'I'm doing this!' and to make it real. There is a world out there that I had no idea about.
Spring 2022 participant

[I loved] the clarity of the workbook - I considered things I had not thought of. Thank you for a great experience; I understand the business world in greater detail.
~Four Winds Gallery, Spring 2022 ETP participant

The Wisconsin SBDC Network is a proud part of the Institute for Business & Entrepreneurship in the University of Wisconsin System.
It is funded in part through a Cooperative Agreement with the U.S. Small Business Administration.

Reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities will be made if requested at least two weeks in advance. Contact us at sbdc@bus.wisc.edu or call (608) 263-2221.