Start-Up Success: Fundamentals 

Develop Your Frameworks for a Thriving Venture

Learn. Connect. Collaborate. Succeed.

A 6-week intensive business start-up program offered by Silicon Couloir each spring.

Learn key business frameworks, tools, and financial templates along with developing answers to the essential questions for your start-up. Join fellow budding entrepreneurs, small business owners, non-profit leaders, and business-oriented students in the journey of building a proven framework for success. You will gain skills, strategy, confidence, and community as you build and develop a values-based business. Students will have the opportunity to pitch their business at Silicon Couloir’s Chance Meetings the first Monday in June to an audience of entrepreneurs, local leaders, and investors. 

Start-Up Success: Fundamentals will be taught by world-class instructors Sandy Schultz Hessler and Liza Millet. Each week, guest speakers comprised of local entrepreneurs, mentors, and investors will share their insights and experience with students. 

This program is based on the highly successful Start-Up Intensive program, which Central Wyoming College offered in conjunction with Silicon Couloir for many years. SUI graduates enjoyed great success with their ventures and over 70% are still operational after 3 years. 

Class will be in-person.

2025 Dates:

Weekend of 4/11 - 4/13

• Fri: 5 pm - 8 pm

• Sat : 9 am - 4 pm

• Sun: 9 am - 12:30 pm

Wednesday evenings 5:30 pm - 8 pm

• 4/16, 4/23,  4/30,  5/7, 5/14, 5/21, 5/28

Weekend of 5/30-6/1

• Fri: 5 pm - 8 pm

• Sat :9 am - 4 pm

• Sun: 9 - 12:30 pm

Monday, June 2th: Chance Meetings pitch (optional but encouraged)

TUITION: $895  ~ Early Bird Special: $795 until March 15th. Scholarships available based on need.

Questions? Email Sandy@sixminutesdaily.com

Program Overview

In only 6 weeks you will:

• Determine key need and benefit of your idea

• Define your target audience

• Understand the competitive landscape

• Conduct qualitative and quantitative research

• Identify core competencies and business value proposition

• Build a detailed financial model and cash flow projections

• Create your critical path toward launching your business

• Learn from and interact with other successful entrepreneurs who have very successfully walked this path.

And walk away with:

• Elevator pitch

• Creative brief/look and feel

• Target Audience Profiles

• Competitive analysis and pricing matrix

• ProForma & financial overview

• Marketing frameworks

• Powerful presentation deck 

• 2-page corporate overview and power letter

Meet Instructor Sandy Hessler

Sandy is a passionate marketer, social entrepreneur and teacher. She spent the first seven years of her career in brand management at Procter & Gamble - learning to view the world through customers' eyes and building brands and programs that best meet their needs. She then switched her focus to the social and non-profit worlds. A member of the Imagitas founding team (a marketing services company that focused on public service through private enterprise), she led the build out of the organizational plan for a highly successful business. In 1998, Imagitas received a prestigious "Hammer Award" from then Vice President Al Gore for helping build a government that works better and costs less. In 2005, the company was acquired by Pitney Bowes.

Over the past twenty-eight years, Sandy has been an instructor at the college level in the fields of leadership, marketing, entrepreneurship and communications. Most recently, Sandy served as Assistant Dean at Harvard Kennedy School running the career services and internship office. Sandy was also the Co-Founder of Imagitas. She has also done significant leadership, teamwork, fundraising and strategy training in both the private and non-profit sectors - past clients include NASA, General Motors and the Center for Women & Enterprise. Consistently, Sandy is able to help people create a vision and make it happen, whether individually or organizationally.

Sandy has an undergraduate degree in Political Science and Communications from Northwestern University, a Master’s degree in Organizational Behavior / Communications from Miami University (of Ohio) and a mid-career Master’s degree in Public Administration from the Harvard Kennedy School. She served on the board of the Center for Women & Enterprise in Boston, on the Alumni Advisory Board at Northwestern University and as a strategic advisor to Bantwana, an organization dedicated to helping orphans and vulnerable children in Africa thrive. She is the past Vice Chairman of the Lincoln Massachusetts School Board.

She stays active with her family of 5 children and many pets. They are all active snowboarders, rock climbers and adventurers.  

MEET INSTRUCTOR LIZA MILLET

Liza is an experienced financial/business development professional, passionate about startups and creating opportunities in Jackson, WY. She has worked with over 200 startup businesses, both on strategy, marketing, fundraising and business development. Before moving to Jackson, Liza spent 12 years on Wall Street on the investment side of the business. She currently works at Income Focus Portfolio Management, a Registered Investment Advisor. She is the co-founder of Silicon Couloir, a Jackson-based 501c3 whose mission is to align entrepreneurship with community vision in the greater Teton region. She co-founded the Silicon Couloir Angel group. She also co-founded the Start-Up Intensive, a 10 week intensive entrepreneurial bootcamp under Central Wyoming College and Silicon Couloir. Liza was awarded the Wyoming Mentor of the Year in 2017. She has an MBA from The Wharton School of Business and graduated from Dartmouth College.

Functional experts will be regularly brought in to teach different segments of the program.