Winter 2019 Sessions
Canadian Financing Landscape
January 24, 2019
Led by Jeff Dennis
Finding money can be tough! Learn about how to find government grants, friends and family, angel investment, venture capital and public venture capital financing.
Led by David Senior
Design thinking is a formal method for practical, creative resolution of problems and creation of solutions, with the intent of an improved future result. Learn how to apply design thinking to your startup.
Time to Embrace the Power of Storytelling
February 7, 2019
Led by Mark Evans
In a fast-moving world, storytelling matters more than ever. It’s how brands capture the spotlight and get consumers to pay attention at a time when they’re inundated with content and information. In this interactive and hands-on workshop, you’ll get insight into why storytelling matters and how you can make storytelling a key part of how you do marketing and sales.
Mindfulness Meditation for the Entrepreneurial Mindset
February 13, 2019
Led by David Schlanger
What are the benefits of a mindfulness meditation practice for entrepreneurs? How can a mindfulness meditation practice enhance awareness, resiliency, creativity, critical thinking, and competitive advantage? How can you successfully incorporate a proper mindfulness meditation practice into your busy lifestyle? Join David Schlanger, a 40+ year award winning professor of Entrepreneurship and Strategy at Ryerson University, in an experiential seminar on the scientific underpinnings and practice of mindfulness meditation.
Content Marketing for the Scrappy Entrepreneur
February 27, 2019
Led by Braveen Kumar
Ideation: Creating a content marketing strategy with limited resources and coming up with good content ideas. Creation: A “playbook” of proven content ideas, free creation tools, best practices, and baking your business goals into every piece. Distribution: How to drive traffic through SEO, email, social, content discovery platforms, outreach, syndication, forums, and more. Optimization: Getting better results from your content (using “lead magnets”, “cross-pollinating” across your blog, website, and social), and measuring your performance.
REGISTER
Business Plans
March 5, 2019
Led by: Ken Grant
Business Plans may be dead, but business planning is not. Learn what goes into a business plan and how to write one.
Entrepreneurial Ethics
March 13, 2019
Led by: Ann Duhlanty
Startup entrepreneurs, particularly those with a business founded on innovative technology or business methods, face special challenges with the potential reach of their products into ethically untested areas, as new technologies are often ahead of existing laws. In addition, entrepreneurs are faced with the challenge of doing as much as they can with as few resources as possible, which puts additional pressures on them that may result in ethical or moral dilemmas.
Startup Social Media
March 21, 2019
Led by: Brent Stirling
Do you know about the “burrito principle?” This is a crash course on SEO, website set-up, audit checklists, social media strategies and how to build one, which platforms to use, execution and measurement.
Applying for Government Grants
March 26, 2019
Led by Jennifer MacInnis (LL.B)
Government grants can make or break an early-stage startup. Learn which grants to apply to, and how to increase your probability of success in getting them.
Led by: Chris Gray of Sales Force
This session will cover the science, methodology and strategy behind customer acquisition and prospecting. We’ll be reviewing the importance of implementing a sales process, exploring proven prospecting and cold-calling techniques, and breaking down effective and ineffective email approaches. The latter half of the session will be hands-on, where audience members write and submit their own prospecting emails based on the techniques presented. Volunteers will be selected to showcase their work.
OPEN TO STUDENTS AND THE PUBLIC, STARTUP SCHOOL IS A ZONE LEARNING INITIATIVE AT RYERSON UNIVERSITY.