For the month of July, Venture Cafe Providence will be partnering with BuildSell30 and Sparrow to run a hybrid startup challenge. BuildSell30 is an online, global startup cohort where first-time founders build real-world businesses to win the challenge. The challenge is to build an online business (i.e. SaaS) from scratch, earn $100 in revenue from it and sell it on the 30th day (if wanted).

Through the Venture Cafe partnership, BuildSell30 will be running a cohort in a hybrid model for the first time ever with half of the cohort participating online and the other half participating in real life at Venture Cafe Providence during the weekly Thursday Gathering program.

Want to Participate?

Joining is free. Pre-Register for this session so we know to count you in for the 30-day cohort starting in July. From there, someone from the Venture Cafe team will reach out with additional details.

Note: Weekly BuildSell30 cohort check-in required to be eligible to win the challenge. 

Winning the Challenge

Winners of the challenge will be determined by how much revenue the participants earned by end of July. Three, 3-month co-working memberships to CIC, which includes unmetered amenities, will be awarded to the top 3 participants.

BuildSell30 Anticipated Agenda

Thursday, June 30 – Virtual Kick-Off!

Due to the 4th of July weekend, we will be hosting the BuildSell30 Kick-Off 100% virtually

• 5:00 – 6:00 PM: Venture Café and BuildSell30 provide an overview of the programming for July.
• Cohort members introduce themselves and what they will be working on for the month.
• Q/A to clear up any questions, comments or concerns from all parties participating.

Thursday, July 7th – Idea Validation

• 5:00 – 6:00 PM: Sparrow special guest will speak to the principles needed to build online products that customers will love. Additional topics will include how to effectively find ideas to work on and how to quickly validate if a product is needed by the market and how to find co-founders for your business.
• 6:00 – 7:00 PM: Cohort goal setting for the next week. Discuss your project with cohort mates.

Thursday, July 14th – Go-to-Market Strategies

• 5:00 – 6:00 PM: Sparrow special guest will teach how to successfully launch an online product / service. Additional topics will include real-world examples of how the special guest did it in the past, how to focus on the right customer acquisition channels and things to avoid when launching online.
• 6:00 – 7:00 PM: Cohort goal setting for the next week. Discuss your project with cohort mates.

Thursday, July 21st – Customer Discovery 

• 5:00 – 6:00 PM: Sparrow special guest will show strategies and tactics to find your first 10 customers. Additional topics will include real-world examples of how the special guest did it in the past, how to increase chances of finding beta users/champion customers within weeks and how to design/iterate a product based on customer reviews.
• 6:00 – 7:00 PM: Cohort goal setting for the next week. Discuss your project with cohort mates.

Thursday, July 28th – Marketing Basics

• 5:00 – 6:00 PM: Sparrow special guest will walk through the absolute basics of successfully marketing a product / service online. Additional topics will include real-world tactics of how the Lecturer scaled their business, habits to stick to / avoid for marketing, how to spend time effectively when growing from 10 to 50 customers and how to personally grow as a founder.
• 6:00 – 7:00 PM: Cohort wrap-up. Discuss the future of your startup.

Bring your idea and help us continue to grow the startup ecosystem here in Providence!

Any questions? Please email reilly@venturecafeprovidence.org