Did you know that 70% of entrepreneurs incubated their ideas for a startup while working for someone else? I'm sure you might just be one of them!
However, building a startup is not the easiest of tasks. That’s when Udacity how to build a startup courses come in handy.
I’m sure that even if you had a degree in business from some of the best universities when it comes to doing things by yourself, questions start arising. That’s completely normal in all spheres of life. The theory is quite different from doing things practically.
That’s why you sometimes need some guidance on a specific topic. What’s better than taking a course made specifically for answering those questions?
More often than not, real-life life university courses fail to prepare you for doing things practically. That’s why people seek help from online courses, which are often more suitable for applying the knowledge to the field.
That’s why I recommend Udacity how to build a startup courses! Let’s see what’s so good about them.
Table of Contents
What is a Startup?
The term “startup” has been floating around for years now. It seems to describe both scrappy companies, which seem to be destined for failure, as well as high-scale companies, which seem to be well-established and about to become multi-millionaire companies.
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Therefore, there’s quite a bit of confusion when it comes to defining a startup. However, it can be explained pretty easily.
A startup is a newly-founded company. It may have one founder or multiple co-founders. According to Neil Blumenthal, “A startup is a company working to solve a problem where the solution is not obvious, and success is not guaranteed.”
A startup is often not as stable as older companies, and it’s more fluid. Also, it’s defined by solving a problem. Therefore there has to be a lack of something, or maybe even too much of something you need to solve.
So, in essence, a startup is a company that’s made for solving a problem.
Now, I mentioned that a startup is a new company. However, the word “new” is rather relative. Some may say 10 years is new, and others may believe that more than a year is no longer considered new.
There are no strict rules on how long a company can be considered a startup, but there are general guidelines. A company that’s been around for 5 years might still be considered a startup. However, a company that’s been around for 10 years or more isn’t likely to be called a startup.
When a startup grows beyond 80 employees, revenue higher than $20 million, then, well, it’s not a startup anymore. So, as you can there are some guidelines on what could be considered a startup.
Now that you know what a startup is, it’s time to see what the best Udacity how to build a startup courses are.
Best Udacity How to Build a Startup Course
When searching for learning materials, you will likely come across many different suggestions ranging from books and articles to short videos on Youtube. However, a great alternative to that is an online Udacity how to build a startup course.
The previously mentioned resources all lack certain things. For example, by reading books, you rarely get demonstrations on how things are done. People often get bored and don’t stick to learning when only relying on books.
Furthermore, there’s a huge lack of hands-on projects in the books. Learning from online videos is not much better. You don’t usually get a structured approach, and you’re left to google every single topic on your own.
This way, you’re likely to get lost and maybe even miss out on certain topics. That’s why I recommend learning from online courses. They’re well-structured, interactive, and simply much more fun to learn from.
However, before choosing a course you have to look into what it’s all about. So, let’s check the best courses out!
How to Build a Startup (Enroll Here)
- Platform: Udacity
- Duration: Approximately 1 month
- Price: Free
- Certificate: No
- Level: Intermediate
- Where to apply? Here
The first course I’d like to talk about is Udacity How to Build a Startup course. It's very popular among soon-to-be entrepreneurs. Despite its popularity, it’s still important to look into it.
Some courses might be among the most popular ones, but that doesn’t mean that they suit everyone. While it’s more likely to come across a well-made course if it's popular, some people may come with different expectations and find it unsuitable for them.
That’s exactly why it’s important to look into the details before taking it. There are usually quite a few alternatives, so it’s best to explore them all before diving straight into the first course you see.
While I’m sure you could definitely benefit from the Udacity How to Build a Startup, you may think otherwise. To get to know the truth, let’s look into the course details and see if they suit your taste!
Varied Materials
The first thing that caught my eye was the variety of topics covered in this Udacity How to Build a Startup course. It’s really nice to come across a learning method that won’t let you get bored with hours of being lectured on just one topic.
The course is dynamic, helping you stay concentrated on the materials. While a course following just one topic is not necessarily a bad thing, it is way more fun to explore many different aspects of the topic.
That’s when different lessons come in handy. Some courses have just 3-4 different lessons, even when they last up to 4 months. Well, if you’re deeply passionate about the topics that the course covers, that’s great.
However, no two people are the same, even if they’re interested in the same thing, let’s say it’s programming. Some may be all about front-end programming, while others thrive in iOS app development.
It’s highly likely that they’ll have a few things they’ve learned in common. However, the distinction between them is just so prominent. You can’t really say that they do the same thing.
The same goes for entrepreneurship and startups. While there are steps every entrepreneur will have to take, their startups and their experience will differ greatly.
That’s why it’s important for a course to have a well-rounded approach. It’s also important because no matter what sphere you’re concentrating on, you’re going to need a little bit of everything.
Larger companies usually have a few people for every sphere, be it marketing or designing. However, when you’re building a startup, it’s highly likely that you and maybe another cofounder or two will be expected to be knowledgeable in many fields.
That’s due to startups being fresh companies that often don’t have the funds yet to expand their business and hire specialists for all the different fields.
Don’t let that discourage you. While the beginning might be difficult, it’s possible to do it with just a few people on your team and expand your business later on. Taking a course like this really helps you with that.
Well-Structured
Having mentioned that the How to Build a Startup Udacity course covers various topics, you might get the idea that it’s not exactly well-organized. However, that couldn’t be further from the truth.
The course is very well-structured and follows a logical pattern. It might appear self-explanatory, but trust me, not everybody gets it right - it starts with an introduction. An introduction before jumping to the smaller details is vital for a good course.
Everyone comes to learn having different levels of understanding of the topic, and some may need some general guidance on the very basics. Even if you’re sure you know the general idea, it’s still great to hear it from a different person.
While the main things won’t change, different instructors will have different approaches to how to teach the basics and lecture on the essence of the subject. Hearing a different opinion will help you understand the subject in a broader sense.
Furthermore, the course continues with lots of different topics. However, they are not scattered. The second course familiarizes you with different business models. That means that you’ll be able to decide on your strategy and understand the different ways businesses operate.
It continues with different lessons on various subtopics that will surely help you later in your entrepreneurship.
It’s very important to find a course with a logical structure. While you may think that the structure is not really important, as you’re still going to learn all of it, it couldn’t be further from the truth.
The way lessons are arranged has a great impact on your learning journey. If the lessons are scattered, the hardest ones being put at first, it’s not likely that you’re going to stick to the course.
It’s very important to have easier lessons at first, the ones that build the foundation before concentrating on the harder, more specific subjects. This way you’ll be able to broaden your knowledge gradually and will be able to keep up with the course.
Some lessons have information that will be required later on. It’s important to have them at first, as they make taking other subjects easier. While in some cases, you may not see a direct relation, understanding some concepts makes it easier to learn others.
So, now that you know why it is important for a course to be well-structured and that Udacity How to Build a Startup is, let’s look into other qualities the course has!
Free
Another great perk that the course has is that it’s free. While it’s important to invest in your future, it’s even better when all the investment it takes is some time. Some people may argue that good things don’t come for free.
I’ll have to disagree here. This course just proves my point. There are so many great things to learn from it. It provides invaluable insights to help you build your startup.
A course being free means that way more people will be willing to try out learning about a subject. When a course has a price tag attached, it makes people doubt whether it’s worth it. Although, it, more often than not, is worth it, especially when it comes to the high-quality Udacity nanodegrees.
Despite that, people start doubting: maybe this topic isn’t suitable for me? What if I’ll pay for a course only to find out I don’t like it? What if the course has some major drawbacks I’m unaware of, and I’ll have wasted my money? What if I don’t like the instructor?
Well, all these problems and many more can arise. Many of them can be solved by simply reading reviews, but there are some that you need to see for yourself, as you’re an individual whose opinion might be a little bit different from the opinion of the majority.
That’s when free courses come in handy. You can try them out without making any investment. It surely is more convenient to try it out and won’t make you doubt too much whether it’s worth it.
However, paid courses have some perks too. The paid courses are called nanodegrees on Udacity. They come with advantages such as continuous support. It can definitely help you stay motivated, especially if you encounter some problems you can’t solve on your own.
Also, the support doesn’t end when you finish the course. You can get career support, which will help you to land your first job in the field. Finding a job straight after finishing a course on the topic might be a little complicated.
That’s why some support and help will definitely be appreciated. You might not even be aware of what you can do with your knowledge, and having someone expand your horizons can surely help you.
Furthermore, if you choose to take a paid course, you’ll get feedback on your projects and tasks you had to complete. It’s hard to know sometimes whether you are on the right track when learning a subject.
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That’s why a second opinion can really be of great value. If you don’t get feedback on your mistakes, you’re likely to continue making them. However, once they’re pointed out, you’ll surely remember not to make them next time.
Not only are mistakes pointed out are important, but also your strong sides. Knowing what you do well, maybe better than the majority of students, can surely help you with choosing a path in your future career.
So, even though free courses are tempting and have some benefits, I still advise you to look into paid nanodegrees. It’s great to have a free introductory course, but if you’d like to expand your knowledge, you should invest in more extensive learning materials.
Udacity offers quite a few courses on entrepreneurship, so, after finishing the How to Build a Startup Udacity course, look into some other ones.
Alternative Course - Get Your Startup Started (Enroll Here)
- Platform: Udacity
- Provided by: Google
- Duration: Approximately 3 weeks
- Price: Free
- Certificate: No
- Level: Intermediate
- Where to apply? Here
If you believe that the course just simply isn’t for you, maybe you don’t like the topics there, or maybe the instructors there simply don’t suit your taste, there’s another Udacity how to build a startup course.
This course is made by Google, and it’s called Get Your Startup Started. While the topic of both of the courses mentioned is the same, it has a bit of a different approach. The aforementioned course isn’t among the longest courses - it only takes a month to complete.
However, this one is even shorter, and it’s estimated that it takes around 3 weeks to complete.
So, let’s see what this Udacity how to build a startup course has to offer.
Perfecting the Idea Approach
What does every successful business or a startup start with? You got it. It starts with a good idea and some planning. So, if you’d like to make sure your business idea is up-to-par and you’d like to learn how to plan everything you could need, this course is for you.
One of the contents of the course is a goal-setting lesson. Setting your goals is vital for your business. As you might know, having goals, and especially having them written down, can help you stay on track.
It also helps you to monitor your progress and not to get discouraged. Not seeing what you’ve achieved can really demotivate you. That’s why it’s important to write it down and review what you’ve successfully completed.
Furthermore, in this Udacity how to build a startup course, you’ll be able to evaluate your skills. Seeing your skill level and what you lack can surely help you with your startup. It’s really important to assess what you lack and what your strong sides are.
Let’s say you’re a marketing guru, but you don’t really know how to build a website. Your first priority will be hiring a programmer who could help you with the website, and only then you would start to think about getting a marketing specialist to free up some of your time.
However, what if I told you that you don’t have to hire anyone? If your business is small and you can still do with only a few team members, you could simply learn the skill quickly on Udacity. Just check up on the topic you’d like to learn and start studying!
You’ll also learn how to build your team, get capital and create your pitch deck. That means that you’ll have it all planned out!
Practical
Another great thing about this course is that it is practical. While some courses may provide you with a lot of theory, this one will actually give you the steps you need to take. Don't get me wrong, the theory is important.
Knowing the theory behind it, you can make better thought-about decisions, analyze statistics with a skilled eye and make better strategies. However, you might know all the theory, but don’t really know how to do things practically.
That’s the problem of so many university graduates who seem to know so much about business and economics but fail to take the correct steps to establish their businesses. It can be fixed as easily as taking this Udacity how to build a startup course.
Furthermore, there’s just so much theory you can learn by doing things practically. It’s known that there’s not just one specific recipe for a successful business. You have to be innovative, take risks, and not be scared to experiment.
Maybe you’ll be the one to create the new business theory book based on your experience? Sure, you might now quote Otto von Bismarck and say: “Only a fool learns from his own mistakes. The wise man learns from the mistakes of others.”
That’s why I’d recommend you take the Udacity How to Build a Startup course along with this Get Your Startup Started course. This way, you’ll get the best of both worlds and be knowledgeable in both theory and the practical approach.
- Easy to use with a learn-by-doing approach
- Offers quality content
- Gamified in-browser coding experience
- Free certificates of completion
- Focused on data science skills
- Flexible learning timetable
- High-quality courses
- Nanodegree programs
- Student Career services
- Nanodegree programs
- Suitable for enterprises
- Paid certificates of completion
- A wide range of learning programs
- University-level courses
- Easy to navigate
- University-level courses
- Suitable for enterprises
- Verified certificates of completion
Really Short
Three weeks. All you’ll need is three weeks of taking a course, and you’ll have the plan for your startup sorted out. Isn’t it great? I believe it is.
I’m sure that even if you’re the busiest person on earth, you could still find a little bit of time to complete this course. After all, it only takes three weeks and offers so many benefits. If your priority is building a good startup, then this course is for you.
However, you shouldn’t expect to learn all you’ll need in just three weeks. You’ll need to have learned some theory and some other skills required for running a business. This course simply gives you the steps to take in order to build a startup.
So, if you believe that you lack knowledge, you should first check out some other courses on Udacity.
Did you know?
Have you ever wondered which online learning platforms are the best for your career?
Conclusions
Udacity how to build a startup courses are a great way to prepare for starting your own business. There are two main courses on the topic.
The first one is called Udacity How to Build a Startup and the second one is Udacity Get Your Startup Started. Both of the courses have their benefits and drawbacks. Therefore I’d suggest taking them both!
This way, you’ll get to understand the more theoretical approach in the Udacity How to Build a Startup course, as well as the more practical one by taking the Udacity Get Your Startup Started.
So, whichever course you choose, you should head to Udacity and start studying. Also, if you’d like to explore entrepreneurship and business more, make sure to check some courses out that can also be found on Udacity.