Engineer to Entrepreneur: Create your Business Plan in One Day

A one-day intensive bootcamp for UNSW Engineers ready to turn their ideas into ventures.

Overview

This intensive, one-day bootcamp is designed for researchers from Faculty of Engineering, ready to translate their technical expertise into a viable business opportunity. Through four focused, hands-on sessions, participants will move rapidly from research insight to a structured business plan draft, grounded in real markets, commercial pathways, and investor expectations.

The program combines practical frameworks, guided exercises, and direct exposure to investor thinking to ensure participants leave with both clarity and momentum.

Session 1: Market Opportunity & Ecosystem Mapping

Participants begin with a rapid sprint to identify and validate their market opportunity. This session focuses on:

• Defining the problem worth solving and the value created
• Mapping the ecosystem surrounding the technology (customers, partners, competitors, regulators)
• Identifying target customers and key stakeholders
• Surfacing critical barriers to market adoption and entry

Outcome: A clear view of who the customer is, where value sits, and what stands in the way.

Session 2: Minimum Viable Product & Path to Pilot

This session shifts focus from idea to execution. Participants explore:

• What constitutes a minimum viable product (MVP) for their technology
• Validation strategies beyond the lab
• Pathways to pilot trials, demonstrations, or early adopters
• Key technical and commercial assumptions to test early

Outcome: A practical MVP or pilot roadmap aligned with customer needs.

Session 3: Commercialisation Strategy & Venture Design

Participants examine how their innovation reaches the market and how value is shared. Topics include:

• Commercialisation pathways: spinout vs licensing
• Who drives the venture and with what incentives
• Equity, ownership, and “slicing the pie”
• Funding pathways and capital requirements
• Defining the investment opportunity
• Self-assessing whether the venture is scalable and “venture-backable”

Outcome: A clear commercialisation model and venture structure.

Session 4: Investor Perspective – Is Your Venture Backable?

The final session features an investor perspective on what truly matters when backing early-stage ventures:

• What investors look for in teams, technology, and markets
• Common red flags and deal breakers
• What makes a business venture investable
• How your opportunity may be perceived from the outside

Outcome: A reality-check on investor readiness and next steps to strengthen the opportunity.

What You Leave With

• A draft business plan tailored to your technology
• A defined commercial pathway
• Clear next steps for validation, pilots, and funding
• A stronger understanding of how investors assess early-stage ventures

This bootcamp is fast-paced, practical, and designed to move engineers from insight to action—in one day.