University of Wisconsin–Madison

Founder Foundations

Start Where You Are. Build What’s Next. 

Building a successful venture isn’t a linear path—and your learning shouldn’t be either. Founder Foundations is a recurring series of practical, hands-on workshops tailored to support entrepreneurs at every stage of their journey.  

Whether you are leading a for-profit startup or a non-profit organization, Founder Foundations helps you validate opportunities, build core business skills, and connect with mentors and ecosystem resources.  

Because we view this as a living program, our curriculum is flexible and designed to continuously evolve based on founder feedback and emerging market needs. Drop in for a single topic or join us for the full four-part series.  

Who should join?

Founder Foundations is open to UW-Madison undergraduate and graduate students, postdocs, faculty, and staff founders building either for-profit ventures or non-profit organizations. 

Why join?

  • Tailored & Non-Sequential: Engage directly with the topics most relevant to your immediate needs without committing to a rigid, multi-month curriculum.  
  • Action-Oriented Learning: Gain practical tools—from business model mapping to customer interview techniques—that you can apply to your business immediately.  
  • Ecosystem Access: Connect directly with campus and community partners, mentors, and fellow founders.  
  • Flexible Engagement: Participate through synchronous interactive workshops accompanied by asynchronous learning resources.  

Workshop Schedule & Registration 

Workshops take place on Mondays from 4:00 PM – 5:30 PM at the Wisconsin Entrepreneurship Hub (1403 University Ave – Ground Floor). Register for individual sessions below.  

Session Breakdown 

Session 1: Define Problems 

  • Upcoming Dates: September 28 | October 26  
  • Overview: Many startups fail not from a lack of product development, but from a lack of actual customers. This session focuses on stepping back from your solution to deeply understand the core problem. You will learn how to identify who experiences the problem, map functional, social, and emotional “jobs-to-be-done,” and utilize the Business Model Canvas and Value Proposition Canvas to ground your idea.  
  • Key Topics: 
    • Avoiding the “If you build it, they will come” trap  
    • Mapping customer jobs, pains, and gains  
    • Practical application using the Business Model Canvas (BMC)  

Session 2: Talk to Customers 

  • Upcoming Dates: October 5 | November 2  
  • Overview: Ideas are just untested hypotheses until you get out of the building and talk to real people. This session teaches you how to conduct unbiased customer discovery. You will learn how to draft testable hypotheses, map out key customer roles (end-users, decision-makers, buyers), and ask powerful open-ended questions that uncover true insights without “selling”.  
  • Key Topics: 
    • Primary vs. secondary market research strategies  
    • Developing “Leap of Faith” hypotheses  
    • Interviewing techniques, identifying decision-makers, and overcoming bias  

Session 3: Craft Value 

  • Upcoming Dates: October 12 | November 16  
  • Overview: Value is contextual and depends entirely on your customer’s alternative options. In this workshop, you will learn how to articulate a clear, concise, and quantifiable value proposition. Using ecosystem, stakeholder, and decision-process mapping tools, you will craft compelling messaging that clearly differentiates your solution and directly aligns with customer metrics.  
  • Key Topics: 
    • Understanding the 3 levels of fit: Problem-Solution, Product-Market, and Business Model Fit  
    • Mapping ecosystems, stakeholders, and workflow processes  
    • Formulating testable, specific, and quantified value statements  

Session 4: Take Action 

  • Upcoming Dates: October 19 | November 23  
  • Overview: Turn your validated concepts into a tangible go-to-market plan. This pre-revenue session addresses the critical operational and financial metrics every founder needs to understand before scaling. Learn how to evaluate market size, establish pricing, identify distribution channels, and build actionable milestone plans to determine your funding needs.  
  • Key Topics: 
    • Market Sizing 
    • Pricing models, COGS, and sales channel identification  
    • Milestone planning and evaluating capital/resource requirements