SPARK Business Accelerator

Online Business Planning

Cantillon eCourse for Technology Entrepreneurs

The Cantillon eCourse is a comprehensive training resource for technology entrepreneurs at any stage of business development. Whether you are engaged in pre-launch planning or are working to achieve your first $50 million in annual revenue, Cantillon is a learning experience that will lay an invaluable foundation for your business and enable you to respond quickly and wisely to the ever-changing marketplace.

How it Works

Cantillon’s self-paced, online instruction modules are presented by successful, practicing entrepreneurs and investors. Seasoned educators present practical approaches to harnessing innovation and launching start-up businesses. Coupled with hands-on guidance from experienced business mentors, Cantillon can help you learn to:

Evaluate business opportunities.
Develop new product concepts.
Analyze and segment markets.
Attract business financing.
Build and run a high-growth business.

The Cantillon is accessible 24/7 so you can complete each module at your convenience and from virtually any location. Each course unit is divided into seven 15-20 minute segments that allow a high level of instructional flexibility. For those who wish to explore a topic in greater detail, downloadable examples, recommended reading, mastery questions and links to relevant sites are included. These supplementary elements offer many additional hours of study and realistic examples.

As you proceed through the Cantillon program, your mentor will review your progress and will employ additional tools, techniques and training aids to address the unique needs of your business or market. He or she will review each element in your business plan and will help you evaluate your strategy.

Deliverables

At the completion of the Cantillon program, you will have developed the core documents your potential investors and partners need to understand your business. A detailed business strategy will provide business partners and future management team members with a guide for building the business. Specifically, you will complete these critical business elements:

Executive Summary
Financial Plan
Marketing Plan
Product Roadmap
Business Model

The Cantillon eCourse

Cantillon is comprised of ten modules, each designed to address the strategic decisions common to entrepreneurs and second stage businesses. Each module was developed and is presented by seasoned experts.

Course Fees

The Cantillon eCourse is available to you and up to five members of your team for a single fee. The course fee includes access to the course for a full year and matching your team with a mentor to review the plans you will develop and answer questions along the way. Although the course is priced affordably, financial assistance is also available through participating organizations. Several mentoring organizations across Michigan offer full or partial reimbursement upon completion of the Cantillon course or with satisfactory advancement to the next recommended stage of business development.

How to Begin

To register, contact a mentoring organization for a login ID. You will be assigned a business mentor who will work with you throughout the course and will review all deliverables.

Technical Support

If you have difficulties or if your browser has trouble displaying the course, technical support is available Monday through Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 11:00 p.m. at meonline@umich.edu (Technical support is available at other times as well, but with delayed response times.) If you have questions about the content of the course please talk to your mentor. The course requires Internet Explorer 5.5 or higher or FireFox 2.0 or higher. The course supports either PC or MAC based browsers.

Mentoring Organizations:
Great Lakes Entrepreneur’s Quest
info@gleq.org
(734) 527-9151
www.gleq.org

Ann Arbor SPARK
info@AnnArborUSA.org
(734) 761-9317

Click here to register