Startup Ignition

I enrolled in Startup Ignition 4 years into my entrepreneurial career and was wondering how helpful it would be since I was already well on my way to what I thought was success at the time. Well... the short answer was I was nowhere near success and the... Read More things I learned blew my mind and completely changed my outlook on entrepreneurship! I learned how to scale a business that I had been stuck in for years... a business that I had quickly become a slave too that was not only eating all of my time, but was also draining my bank account as well as my emotional reserves. Long story short it was bad.

After learning the principles of customer validation, generating business hypotheses, creating minimum viable products and a few other key concepts taught in Startup Ignition, I decided to shut the business down after realizing it would never grow as I expected it... So what did I move onto?

Well... I ended up taking a quirky little hobby business that I had run on the side to make a little extra money here and there and made that my full time endeavor. I applied what I had learned in Startup Ignition and I went from making a little over $1000 my first month to $38,000 3 months after. That was in March of 2018 so I am still pretty early on in my journey with that company, but it is now a healthy 6-figure lifestyle business for me and my family. I likely will never have some multi million dollar exit or become the next Elon Musk off of this current company (there are plenty of Startup Ignition students and people that John Richards (the main instructor) has mentored that have had that outcome) but for me a very healthy 6-Figure lifestyle business that only requires me to work 15-30 hours a week was a better outcome than I ever could have hoped for.

All in all, I LOVE Startup Ignition! John and the other instructors are been there done that experts that not only know the theory, they understand the practical application and how to get results. It was such an amazing experience working alongside John and the other incredible people I met in Startup Ignition that I am enrolling in the program again (2 years after my first time) at the end of this year.

I went into entrepreneurship knowing nothing about business, products, marketing, investments, business formation, and the list could go on. I was just graduating college and knew I wanted to build something great. Startup Ignition gave me the tools and... Read More connections I needed to accomplish my goals. I made connections with people there who have helped me, mentored me, and even partnered with me. The best thing is, I still get support from Startup Ignition through the Alumni program. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to start a business, even if they have an extensive business knowledge.

After taking Startup Ignition I learned that my business was not feasible with the resources that we had available to us. I was able to shut that one down and join forces with an entrepreneur who was starting to see some success. The company has been growing at a 10X rate each year since then.

I will always be grateful to Startup Ignition.

This course will save you years of wasted time chasing ideas that aren’t good or on having to learn it yourself through your own mistakes.

The best part of this boot camp is that the instructors are entrepreneurs who have actually done it.

They’ve all... Read More built and sold successful companies because they implement what they teach in the course.

Their network alone is worth the investment.

I highly recommend the course over any other material I’ve paid for online or in person to date.

Grateful for the mentorship provided and would encourage anyone to apply to at least talk through their idea or desire with John or any of the other instructors to be pointed in the right direction.

Start Up Ingition is a program that will change the course of your life as an entrepeneur (im not exagerating). The information, the examples with real life companies, the networking, and the generosity of the mentors to facilitate valuable connections... Read More is AMAZING!

I took it and sent my 2 brothers to take it too! Definetely the place to be at if you wanna be a good entrepeneur!

Startup Ignition is a thorough framework for STARTUP MANAGEMENT. I've seen plenty of bootcamps that will teach you some tech or some marketing, but SI is about something more fundamental--how do you run the company? From vetting your idea to crafting... Read More an appealing investment deal, John Richards knows it all, and he delivers it in jam-packed sessions. Take notes--LOTS of notes. Best of all, John--an entrepreneur, investor and educator who is worth nine digits and has seen it ALL--gives all of his students free mentoring for life. By passing business deals by him before my attorney, my tuition has paid for itself many times over. I've been able to turn to John for boilerplate agreements, guidance on negotiating personality-based conflict in the company, and for brutally honest feedback of almost any other kind. If he doesn't have the answer, he finds someone who will, so my network of mentors has grown through his introductions. The curriculum, kept constantly up-to-date, is a complete road map for launching a business successfully. And all alumni are part of a closed Facebook group where we share resources and advice. In fact, that's where I met my current business partners. This course just doesn't stop giving.

Startup Ignition was amazing! I thought I had a solid business idea and after taking startup I realized I had some major pivots to make. Now I have a validated business model, didn’t waste anymore time (and money) on a plan that was less than mediocre,... Read More and have the tools needed to start my business. With startup you learn how to validate your idea, split equity, test your idea in the market, and so much more!

Startup Ignition is amazing and was a huge factor in helping me launch my company. Not only does it teach many of the core principles needed to get a startup up and running, but it was the first time I got to meet a lot of like minded entrepreneurs that... Read More were as dedicated as I was to getting a business built.

It was through Startup Ignition that I got one of my first paying customers and it was also through Startup Ignition that I found my right hand man.

If that wasn't enough John Richards is just great. He has years of experience from multiple vantage points and goes out of his way to make time to meet one on one and answer any questions I have. This resource alone makes the price worth it.

As for cons there really isn't any I can list. That being said I would say if you aren't truly committed to building a business this may not be for you. The resources and networking opportunities are amazing, but building a company is extremely hard work. This is not a get rich quick scheme, but if you have the dedication required Startup Ignition will give you the tools needed to launch a startup.

By far the best money I have spent as an entrepreneur. Not only was it worth the price of admission, but it was worth the additional cost to drive 4 hours north to attend and be away from the wife and kids. I was an entrepreneurship major in college and... Read More what I learned in the Startup Ignition boot-camp replaced everything I had previously learned with new proven best practices of how to build and grow a business in a way that would minimize mistakes if we followed what was taught.

I have found that to be true. After following the principles that John Richards teaches along with his mentoring and guidance, we successfully validated our idea and was able to secure pre-sales contracts signed with voided checks of customers willing to purchase before the software solution had any lines of code written. We are now working on developing and getting our pre-sales on-boarded. Although there is so much still unknown in our journey, the information learned and applied in this course gives us confidence as we move forward.

As for John Richards, he genuinely cares and wants to help entrepreneurs succeed and fulfill their dreams. He is highly knowledgeable and has a ton of experience both as an entrepreneur and investor. This insight goes along way as he articulates the best practices of lean start up, while providing personal experiences from his own ventures and others. He has lived up to his word of always being available and eager to help and advise or make connections with his network. I have appreciated his guidance and it has made all the difference for this serial entrepreneur now onto his 4 venture. If you are serious about building something great and want to do it the right way, while minimizing your mistakes, then you have to enroll in Start Up Ignition. There is a growing alumni community that is connected, engaged and eager to help.

Thanks John for have and executing on this idea.

I RECOMMEND THIS COURSE FOR EVERYONE!

It is A MUST take for anyone serious about achieving their ideas and dreams be it via a career path or entrepreneurial path.

Don't think, just take this course. It will be the best self/career investment you make.... Read More Even if you are not wanting to start your own business, you will benefit from this course. Plan to exit this course with a new way of looking at life; a dynamic skill to identify, evaluate, and execute opportunities; tools to produce money; a network to the most influential individuals in Utah, and a resilient self-confidence that will get you were you want to go.

I have spent years in formal education, pursuing multiple degrees including a bachelors in Entrepreneurship, along with participating in diverse entrepreneurial ventures to know what I could have easily gained out of Startup Ignition. I wish Startup Ignition had been around 15 years ago to save me hundreds of thousands in education and profit me hundreds of thousand in revenue and time having fun.

So what exactly does Startup Ignition do? The course properly opens your mind and shifts your thinking. You begin to see opportunities (problems, pains, gaps), evaluate them (profitability of creating a solution), and effectively execute (make money) without even thinking that you're doing it. The associative skills to that mindset are seeded if not adequately matured for harvest; including questioning, listening, negotiating, collaborating, and selling.