Welcome to Course II

Welcome to building your business from MVP to Profitability. The second course in the Who Says You Can't Start Up Program. I'm Jothy Rosenberg, and I founded or led nine startups throughout my 37 year career in our first course called Startup Leadership and Fundraising, a Foundation for Success. We built the essential foundation for startup success.

Through leadership skills and fundraising strategies. Now we're taking the next critical step, transforming your idea, your passion, and your product concept into a profitable business. This is where things get truly exciting and challenging. You've got your initial funding, you've assembled your core team, and you've created a solution you think customers will be willing to pay for, but how do you scale that into a sustainable, profitable business?

This 14 lesson course focuses on the make or break phase of startup development that separates the companies that merely survive from those that truly thrive. We'll begin by diving deep into product market fit, the single most critical factor in startup success. I'll show you exactly how to identify your target market.

Secure lighthouse customers. Develop your minimum viable product and prove beyond doubt that you've achieved real product market fit. Then we'll explore how to build on that foundation with a comprehensive go-to market strategy that aligns every function in your company. You'll learn why GTM isn't just about starting to sell.

It's a systematic approach to market entry and growth. We will tackle the strategic business planning that will guide your decisions, including how to craft a concise yet comprehensive business plan, understanding and managing cash, burn and runway, and the transformative milestone of becoming cash flow positive.

Why this matters is, well, let me be candid with you. This is the phase where most startups fail, not because they don't have good ideas or passionate teams, but because they can't successfully bridge the gap between early product development and sustainable business operations.

I've experienced both spectacular failures and remarkable successes in this phase. At Web Spec, we achieved a 53 times revenue exit because we nailed our product market fit in a massive market. At GeoTrust, we grew market share by a full percentage point monthly until we were acquired for 125 million.

But I've also led companies like service integrity that developed impressive technology, but struggled to find a market that truly valued our solution. And it flew right off the cliff into oblivion. And at Dover, we [00:03:00] briefly achieved cash flow positive with a single lighthouse customer only to learn that one customer doesn't make a sustainable market.

These hard earned lessons have shaped the strategies I'll share with you in this course. What makes this course different is that it isn't theoretical knowledge from someone who's never been in the trenches. Every lesson contains real world stories from my personal experiences, both successes and failures.

You'll learn why market is more important than team or product in determining startup success. How to recognize the difference between a single enthusiastic customer and true product market fit the practical steps to create and execute a comprehensive go-to-market strategy. How to manage your cash burn and extend your runway when needed.

And the transformative impact of becoming cashflow positive. Unlike other courses that focus exclusively on the whims, I'll share the painful lessons from my failures because sometimes knowing what not to do is more valuable than knowing what to do.

This course is a critical piece of your complete startup education. The who says You can't Start Up program is designed as a comprehensive system , divided into four focused courses. The first is leadership and fundraising, a foundation for success. We started here because without these skills, nothing else matters.

The second course is building your business from MVP to profitability. Now we're focusing on developing your product and establishing product market fit with customers. The third course is people and culture building your startup dream team. Here you'll learn how to build the right company culture, how and when to add sales and marketing, fostering a culture of innovation and establishing team dynamics to scale successfully.

And course four is mastering startup operations, exit strategies and beyond. Finally, here, you'll master the management skills to handle difficult situations. How to work with your board and your investors, how to downsize if needed, and how to prepare for an exit. Each course builds on the previous one, creating a comprehensive roadmap for startup success.

And at just $375 per course, you're getting extraordinary value compared to the original 1,333 price of the combined program. Whether you've just completed the first course or you're joining us specifically for this critical phase of startup development, I'm excited to guide you through the journey from MVP to profitability ready to transform your early product into thriving business.

Let's get started. Enroll now and let's build a business that doesn't just survive. It thrives.