Startup Academy

Confidently launch and grow your business with our eight week Startup Academy, designed to help early-stage businesses in Guernsey go from idea to market.

The programme is specifically designed to immerse entrepreneurs in developing their ventures, through a range of structured sessions and workshops.

Gain insider know-how, tips, tricks and essential elements to go from idea to market, and build connections with fellow cohort members for a lasting business network to drive you and your business forward!

The next course is running from October - November 2025

Thursday 2nd October, 12:30 - 14:00

Thursday 9th October, 12:30 - 14:00

Thursday 16th October, 12:30 - 14:00

Thursday 23rd October, 12:30 - 14:00

Thursday 30th October, 12:30 - 14:00

Thursday 6th November, 12:30 - 14:00

Thursday 13th November, 12:30 - 14:00

Thursday 20th November, 12:30 - 14:00

 

Please submit your application at the bottom of this page, by midnight 17th September.

What to expect from the eight-week programme

The Startup Academy consists of a series of workshops and sessions covering the following topics:

What Is a Great Business to you? 

In this session, you’ll get to introduce yourselves to the rest of the businesses in the cohort. We will run through the schedule and course expectations. Before discussing definitions of business success and giving you time to think about your personal vision.

Discovering Customer Pains

This session focuses on effective ways to extract valuable information from customers about their pains. Founders will learn that success might depend on NOT listening to what customers say they need.

Nail it then Scale It

Three sessions focused around the theories of 'Nail It then Scale It' by Furr and Ahlstrom to identify the right problem to solve, identify the right solution to the problem and then the ways in which to build it. 

Early Unit Economics 

This session will equip founders with the tools to evaluate whether their business model has the potential to be financially viable—before scaling. We’ll look at how Unit Economics relates to both B2C SaaS (such as LTV / CAC) and smaller B2B businesses, while also considering key growth metrics.

Business Model Innovation

In this session, founders will understand the key elements of a business model and how they relate to one another. Using the business model canvas, we will begin to deeply analyse how your current business models work.

How to Present your Business

This session focuses on how to present your business idea. Founders will learn about various considerations needed when preparing to pitch.

Who's it for?

This kick-start programme is specifically designed for early-stage, high-growth businesses in Guernsey with scale ambition! If you are starting or have recently started your venture and are looking to scale, this programme is for you. 

The information below specifies the application criteria for the academy:

  • Applicants must be residents of Guernsey
  • The applicant’s business must be looking to scale with growth ambitions.
  • Applications can be from any sector or business type. 
  • Each application is allocated two participant spaces on the programme. If you have a business partner or team member who would like to take part in the Startup Academy programme with you, you must fill in their details when applying.

If you are unsure if your business qualifies for this programme or if this is the right level for the current stage of development, please email info@digitalgreenhouse.gg or call 01481 701010 for further advice. 

Apply below to discover how you can launch and grow your business.

Deadline: Midnight 17th September

Startup Academy Autumn 2025 Application Form

Your Details

We would like to know a bit about you. What is your background? Do you have particular skills, knowledge or experience that you bring to the business or have led you to start this venture? (80 words max)

Second Participant's Details

Each application is allocated two participant spaces on the programme, so if you have a co-founder who would like to join the programme too, please fill in their details here. Please ensure that you have their permission to share their details with us. If you are a sole founder, please skip to next section,

What skills, knowledge or experience to they bring with them to the business? (80 words max)

Business Details

Please take into account the time the business has been running and its growth.

Think about some of the following: What is the vision and mission of the organisation? What are your products/solutions/services? What problem is your business solving for the customer? How do you create value? Who is your target customer and how will you reach them? (200 words max.)

Why do you think your business can scale successfully? For example: potential size of the target market, your ability to reach customers, the size of the problem being addressed (please use bullet points, 100 words max.)

What are your big hairy audacious goals for the business? (150 words max.)

This programme is only available for residents of the Bailiwick of Guernsey.

All data is kept in accordance with our privacy policy which can be found at: digitalgreenhouse.gg/privacy/

Hear from the Startup Academy alumni

Andre Duquemin

2023 Cohort Founder of Three Brain Training Academy

The Three Brain Training Academy is a private online community for next-gen leaders who want to prioritise peak performance while maximising their health and well-being.

"I joined the academy to help me build and scale a paid community of next-generation leaders who are looking for guidance and support in areas such as mental well-being, peak performance and leadership. 

I have found the training with Red Team to be fascinating and hugely valuable training. Having the resources to really dig deep into what my business needs to do to move forward is vital. From uncovering customer pains to working up prototypes of possible solutions and then getting out in the field and talking to real people, it's been a thorough and rewarding journey. I have no doubt that my business is in a far better state to achieve real growth in the next 12 months as a result of this training."

Ben Wratten & Dave Wratten

2023 Cohort Founders of Stage Portal

Stage Portal is a platform designed for the live event industry, meeting the demands and logistical challenges faced by event organisers, venues, production teams, and performers. Stage Portal enables the streamlining and automation of processes giving users the power to effortlessly manage equipment, artists, personnel and schedules saving days if not weeks of work. Allowing all parties to focus on creating unforgettable experiences, one event at a time. 

"Our time on the Startup Academy was invaluable to the development of our business, Read Team, the Digital Greenhouse and the other businesses on the cohort have been so supportive on our journey. Having the space to focus on each of the different areas covered in the academy enabled us to accelerate at a much faster rate.

We are looking forward to next implementing the learning on how we can innovate on our business model."

Joanna Corder

2023 Cohort Founder of The Veterinary Content Company and Petlearnia

Run by passionate vets, The Veterinary Content Company provides blogs and articles about pets for companies and pet owners all over the world. Their new solution, Petlearnia, will give owners an engaging learning experience so they can better understand and help their pets.  

"The course has been amazing. I’ve run several small businesses from home but never even did economics at school, so it’s been so great to learn the theory. Having said that, it’s been surprisingly practical and I loved being part of a supportive and cohesive cohort helping one another with business plans, technological issues, and our pitches."

Louis Jooste

2023 Cohort Co-founder of Cloud Wealth

CloudWealth is a secure, interactive online platform for clients and service providers in the Financial Services Industry where all aspects of the client journey can be managed by the use of automated decision-making processes and a centralised filing system - thereby reducing reliance on paper, ensuring better data protection and allowing teams to work remotely. 

"The Startup Academy was a great journey and I learned a lot of useful things. Sometimes with these things, you learn the theory behind it but never get the opportunity to apply it practically. To me, the academy was like a short course MBA for startups and I would recommend it to even the most 'knowledgeable' aspiring entrepreneur.

I appreciated the learning modules that dealt with business model innovation the most - there are so many ways to present a business to the market and to be able to pivot a business by changing the business model or even selecting a fit-for-purpose model is so crucial. My learnings will help me know what to look out for." 

Looking for support with your startup? We have a range of support programmes and services available

Startup Support Programmes