Cambridge Venture Builder
Programme Overview and Phase 1 Weekly Guide
Overview of the Venture Builder Programme
📢 You will receive a handbook and weekly guide as you start each phase.
📅 Phase 1 Weekly Guide
📢 Note: As speakers are confirmed, new sessions will be added. You will receive a notification via Slack and a calendar invite when this occurs. Session recordings and materials will be added to the session archive.
Start of Phase 1
Week 1 - In person
🎯Meet your peers
25th September, 09:30 - 17:00
📍 Murray Edwards College
Welcome to Carbon13
Mission to Protect
Do Something, Say Something, Be Something
26th September 09:30 - 17:00
📍 Murray Edwards College
Is there such a thing as a perfect team?
Speed Networking
Small Group Brain Storming
27th September 09:30-17:00
📍 Murray Edwards College
Carbon Case Part 1 - Impact Framework
Carbon Case Part 2 - 10 Million Tonnes
Cambridge Immersion Afternoon
Week 2 - Virtual
🎯Meet your peers and set up group deep dives
2nd October
09:30 - 13:30, Self Awareness Diversity of Thought and Behaviour in a Team
3rd October
09:30-10:30, Introduction to Transition Engineering
11:00-13:00, Small Group Brain Storming
14:30-15:30, Embarking on your Odyssey
4th October
10:00-11:30, Cambridge C7 meets Berlin C3
12:30-13:30, Pitching Skills + Intro to Delta Pitches
14:00-15:00, Startup Battle Scars
Week 3 - Virtual
🎯Meet your peers and set up group deep dives
10th October
14:30-15:30, EiR AMA: Focusing on a problem/ business model
11th October
09:00-12:30, Finding your focus and harnessing creativity
Week 4 - Virtual
🎯Meet your peers and set up group deep dives
17th October
09:30-10:30, The Wackiest
10:45-12:00, Small Group Brain Storming
18th October
09:30-11:30, Live Delta Pitches
*Message Mai Silk to present
Week 5 - Virtual
🎯Set up group deep dives, have a shortlist (yes/ no/ maybe)
24th October
09:30-10:30, EiR AMA: Building a hardware startup
11:00-12:00, Industry Insights: Food industry
13:00-14:00, EiR AMA: What is the commerical problem you are solving?
14:30-15:30, EiR AMA: Building a carbon removals start up
25th October
09:30-10:30, Industry Insights: Materials & Chemicals
11:00-12:00, Industry Insights: Agritech
Placeholder - Industry insights: Ikea - Supply Chain
Placeholder - Industry Insights: Energy
week 6 - In Person
🎯Have a shortlist (yes/ no/ maybe) and trial a team
28th October 09:00-17:00
📍 Geovation, London
What does an investable idea look like?
Idea Carousel
Pitch deck and financial models
Small group networking around problem spaces
29th October 09:00-17:00
📍 Geovation, London
Hackathon with corporate problem statements
(working in teams - either self select or we can help you)
17:00-19:30, Pub social at The Old Ivy House RSVP
(Eventbrite password - cheers!)
30th October
Self organised meet ups
Optional 2 hour bookable slots to work at office (whether you want to work on the hackathon or something else)
📍 Co working space TBC
31st October
08:00-09:00, Female coffee morning
📍 Location TBC
09:00 - 17:00
📍 Geovation, London
Teams present hackathon pitch
Meet our EiRs
DE/ EiR faciliated small group ideation
Week 7 - Virtual
🎯Have a shortlist (yes/ no/ maybe) and trial a team
7th November
Placeholder - Session on grants
8th November
10:00-12:30 Domain Experts Carousel
*Bios shared in advance, please prepare some questions/ points to discuss.
Week 8 - In Person
🎯Have a shortlist (yes/ no/ maybe) and trial a team
11th November, 09:00-17:00
📍 Geovation, London
Carbon Case Part 3 - Carbon Coffee Cup Challenge
Time in teams - Ideation
12th November, 09:00-17:00
📍 Geovation, London
Domain Expert Carousel
*Bios shared in advance, please prepare some questions/ points to discuss.
13th November, 09:00 - 17:00
📍 Geovation, London
Customer Discovery and Human Centred Design
Week 9 - Virtual
🎯Team and work on P2 application video
21st November
11:00-12:00, EiR AMA : Customer Discovery
13:00-14:00, Assessing your Competitive Landscape
14:30-15:30, Industry insights: Built Environment
Placeholder - Alumni Panel
22nd November
09:30-10:30, Industry insights: Fintech
11:00-12:00, EiR AMA: The Problem is not the problem, it's your attitude to the problem!
Placeholder - Session on EDI
Placeholder - Session on Bias Data/AI
Week 10 - Virtual
25th November
🎯Deadline to submit Phase 2 Application Video! Send to Mai Silk and Puja Balachander
09:30-10:30, Getting your foot on the door + building a brain trust (AMA)
11:00-12:00, Industry insights: Batteries
12:30-14:30, Investment Readiness
26th November
09:30-10:30, Transition Engineering Part 2
11:00-12:00, EiR AMA: Building a software startup
Placeholder - Introduction to Phase 2
End of Phase 1
Phase 1 Structure
Participation
🏙️ Mandatory Attendance
In-person sessions are crucial to the team-building process and are therefore mandatory. You are responsible for reflecting your attendance on the register on arrival.
Similarly, certain virtual sessions are equally important to your success, and attendance is expected. You will receive advance notice of these sessions, so we hope you can attend them all.
👩💻 Live participation in virtual sessions
When live participation is required, the session will not be recorded. This approach fosters a more engaging and comfortable environment for founders to interact and share openly.
Virtual sessions are held on Zoom and to encourage smooth and productive sessions, please follow these guidelines:
- Breakout Rooms: Be prepared to participate in breakout rooms as assigned.
- Screen Sharing: Have your screen ready to share if required during discussions or presentations.
- Note-Taking: Keep notes handy to capture key points and action items.
- Account Name: Ensure your Zoom account displays your correct name for easy identification.
⚖️ Balancing other commitments
It is normal to start Phase 1 with other commitments, in fact Phase 1 is designed to be part time to help you manage this balance.
Once you have teamed up, your primary commitment is to your fellow team members, not to Carbon13. However, all Carbon13 participants should be aware that if they are part of a team that receives investment, they will need to be on a path to detaching from these other commitments and going “all in” on their start-up at the appropriate time.
Phase 1 Session overview
🔍 Summary
Through a series of facilitated sessions, you will have the opportunity to meet and connect with your peers, delving into various problem spaces, while exchanging and developing ideas. The sessions are designed with a variety of styles and formats to accommodate different networking preferences, whether you have an idea or are still exploring possibilities. Use these sessions as a way to test team dynamics and see what it would be like to work together. We may assign you to a team during the beginning of the programme, but from Week 5, you should be taking the lead. These sessions are both in-person and virtual and should be in addition to your own self directed networking.
Sessions
- Do Something, Say Something, Be Something
- Is there such a thing as a perfect team?
- Speed Networking (Formal 1-2-1)
- Teaming prompts/deeper dive
- Small group problem space chats
- Immersion afternoon
- Cambridge C7 meets Berlin C2
- Hackathon
- EDI
- Ideation tools – working in teams
- Breaking up is hard to do
🔍 Summary
Ideation sessions introduce innovative tools and methods for exploring and refining problem spaces and completing customer discovery.
Sessions
- Finding your focus and harnessing creativity
- Idea Carousel
- Transition Engineering
- What Does an Investable Idea Look Like
- Customer Discovery Day/Human Centred Design Intro
🔍 Summary
Each team will need to develop an Investment Case and a Carbon Case. The Carbon Case references the understanding that carbon is a primary component of all life on earth and four key sessions provide guidance on how to understand and utilize this in support of your venture.
Sessions
- Mission to address Earth’s Vital Systems
- Carbon Case Part 1 – Impact Framework
- Carbon Case Part 2 – 10 Million Tonnes and other metrics
- Carbon Case Part 3 – Carbon Coffee Cup Challenge
🔍Summary
These sessions focus on gaining insights from industry leaders, successful entrepreneurs, and experts. Through case studies, discussions, and Q&As, you’ll learn from their experiences, challenges, and successes. The goal is to help you apply proven strategies, avoid common mistakes, and leverage the wisdom of others to accelerate your own journey.
Sessions
Two key series include:
Industry Insights
These sessions offer an overview of the latest trends and emerging opportunities in each field, covering sectors such as energy, fintech, agritech, materials and chemicals, IP, batteries, the built environment, bias in data and AI, and the supply chain.
EiR AMAs
EiR AMAs are dynamic sessions led by our Entrepreneurs in Residence, where they share their personal experiences on key entrepreneurial topics and provide valuable tips for tackling these challenges yourself. Each session begins with the EiR introducing themselves, highlighting their startup journey and the alumni they’ve supported, before diving into the topic at hand. A significant portion of the session is reserved for your questions, so be sure to come prepared to make the most of this unique opportunity to learn directly from experienced entrepreneurs.
AMA topics include:
- The Untold Lessons of Entrepreneurship
- Navigating Customer Discovery
- Understanding Consumer Insights
- Building a Hardware Startup: Key Considerations
- Building a Software Startup: Key Considerations
- Focusing on a Problem and Crafting a Business Model
- Innovation in Food: Challenges and Opportunities
- Startup Journey: Insights from CQuestr8 (a carbon removal start up)
Other sessions include:
- Panel discussions with female founders, investors and alumni
- Domain Experts Carousels (in person and virtual)
- Investment Readiness with David Gill
- Assessing your Competitive Landscape with EiR, Jerome Joaug
Other Relevant Programme Overviews
🗂️ Previous session recordings and materials
🎥 Pre programme introduction
🗣️ Cohort 7 Introduction Deck
📸 Photos from previous Venture Builder cohorts
