Blog

In India, women founded and co-founded startups account for only around 6% of total investments infused into the Indian startup ecosystem..

To change this narrative and help more women succeed with their entrepreneurship ambitions, YourStory is partnering with Dell Women’s Entrepreneur Network (DWEN) to mentor and help women entrepreneurs deal with common challenges, scale their businesses, and ultimately succeed.

As part of the programme, DWEN and YourStory are organising a series of online courses and in-person mixers with subject matter experts, to guide them in this exciting yet arduous journey called entrepreneurship.

These specially curated courses are designed to provide women founders with valuable resources, first-hand insights, tips, best practices and more from ecosystem experts on the topics that are key for startups looking to scale and raise funding.

Growth hacking for early-stage startups

Growth hacking is a strategy that focuses on rapid experimentation and testing of various marketing techniques and tactics to identify the most effective ones for driving growth for an early-stage startup. Key strategies include identifying the target audience, experimenting with different marketing channels, and using data to inform decisions. The course, as such, will focus on acquiring and retaining customers in a cost-effective manner.

Leveraging acceleration and incubation for early-stage growth

Acceleration and incubation are designed to provide startups with the resources and support they need to succeed, but they differ in their approach and focus. Acceleration is typically more focused on rapid growth and scaling, while incubation is focused on providing a supportive environment for the startup to develop and refine its product or service. The course will educate founders about acceleration and incubation avenues available to startups and how best to leverage them for growth.

Funding avenues for early-stage startups

This course deep-dives into various funding avenues for early-stage startups, including bootstrapping, angel investing, venture capital, crowdfunding, grants incubators and accelerators, and debt funding The choice of funding avenue will depend on various factors such as the amount of funding needed, the stage of the startup, the business model, and the goals of the founders. This course will enable founders to carefully consider options and choose the funding avenue that aligns with their needs and goals.

Pitch perfect: perfecting the pitch deck and the elevator pitch

This course is a must-have for every entrepreneur. Pitch decks are concise presentations that help investors and clients understand more about the startup, including products, services, goals, and strategies. The course will include elements of a successful pitch deck and also cover tips and hacks to better it.

The startup social media playbook

Founders have limited time and resources to do just about everything—and that includes reaching customers on social media. But what they might not realise is that they also have a leg up when it comes to social media. They can be more agile, try more things, and have more fun than most large corporations. And that can be a huge win when it comes to social media. In this course, founders will learn how to spend their time focusing on the right areas so they can get results and grow their startups.

Effective brand strategies for the Indian market

Brand building in India now requires new perspectives, refreshed thinking, holistic approaches, and deep understanding of the factors that influence consumer needs. This course covers key elements in this process, including emerging consumer profiles, generational nuances, how to articulate value perception, principles for brand building success in India, common challenges that brands face in India, and more.

The essential tech playbook from seed to scale

Innovations are introduced in technology on a daily basis. Each promotes new and improved functionalities that could propel your applications with modern proficiencies. This course covers the essential tech playbook for startups, from seed to scale, and how to get tech strategies right from the very beginning.

Tech strategies for creating efficiency at scale

Technology has become an essential part of every business, but brings with it the challenge of managing complexity and cost. The course delves into a scalable technology strategy to minimise the impact of unnecessary complexity, implement underlying software, infrastructure, and flexible support solutions, view technology as an investment, and align with best practices as early as possible.

All of the courses are free.

To know more about the DWEN Masterclass Programme,