Have you ever dreamed about starting a tech company? Maybe you have an app idea that you just can’t stop thinking about, or maybe you want to build the next Airbnb, Pinterest or Fitbit.

If that sounds like you, Volta Academy could be the perfect place to start.

You’ll learn how to take an idea out of your head and into the real world in under 11 weeks with the help of some brilliant instructors. Instructors who have been in your shoes, and can offer practical advice. Brilliant instructors aside, you’ll be surrounded with other cool entrepreneurs who are starting their startup journey too.

Sounds rad, right?

WRONG.

Dead wrong.

Volta Academy is not, I repeat, NOT right for everyone.

It’s not right for you if…

 

1. Your business idea is already perfect

We’ve all read the stats… 92% of tech startups fail within 3 years.

But, obviously YOU don’t have to worry about it. Why? Because your business idea is so frickin’ amazing that you’ll likely IPO in the first 12 months.

You don’t need to learn how to validate your assumptions using the lean startup method. And you needn’t get caught up in those pesky details like customer development or rapid prototyping.

You’re just going to dive in and start building stuff. After all, you’re not like those dummies at Twitter, Groupon or Instagram. Those dillholes started with crappy ideas because they needed to pivot after years of hard work and spending gobs of cash.

Total amateur hour, amiright?

You don’t need to worry about that stuff. Your idea is pure gold. Your mom, your bestie and your cat all think so.

If this sounds like you, carry on. You don’t need Volta Academy.  

Real Talk:
Ideas, no matter how brilliant, are pretty much worthless (sorry!) Execution is everything. At Volta Academy you’ll learn how to quickly test ideas so you can build products that people actually want much faster.  

 

2. You already know how to build a startup

You’ve watched every episode of Silicon Valley, read TechCrunch religiously, and follow Mark Zuckerberg on Facebook. Obviously you know everything there is to know about building a successful tech company.

How hard can it be, right!?

Startup people are always throwing around these fancy terms like “product-market fit” and “MVP” and “SaaS.”

Ignore them.

You don’t need to trouble yourself with mundane tasks like creating a pitch deck or calculating your CAC:LTV ratio.

That stuff won’t matter to you. Why? Because you’ll have investors lined up around the block waiting to invest millions in your fledgling company.

That’s how startups work, right? You come up with a great ideas and venture capitalists hand you big cheques?

Yup. It sounds like you’ve already got it all figured out.  

Real Talk:
You may have studied business in school or even built a successful business in the past, but tech startups aren’t like other businesses. Trust me. High growth companies play by a completely different set of rules and if you don’t learn the game, you can’t win it.

 

3. You hate learning from experts

Volta Academy has brought together an incredible group of instructors to teach this program. But, that shouldn’t matter to you because learning from experts is B-O-R-I-N-G.

You’d rather try stuff yourself and see what happens than learn from other people’s experiences. After all, what could these “experts” teach you that you don’t already know?

Sure… they’ve been in the trenches and have lived to talk about it.

And OK. They’ll walk you through each step of taking a business from idea to reality — with a combination of theoretical best practices and hands-on workshops.

But, how valuable is that stuff really?

Why on earth would you want to learn from successful entrepreneurs who have done the exact thing you want to do?

For that matter, why do you need to learn anything at all. Why not just skip the learning phase all together and jump straight into the fun part — making money.

Einstein said, “Once you stop learning, you start dying.” But, what did that guy know anyway?

He thought that fish should ride bicycles… or something like that. I can’t remember because learning new stuff is lame.

Real Talk:
Volta Academy is a crash course in building a startup taught by people who have actually done it. Many of these experts have been in your shoes and, with their help you’ll move faster and potentially avoid costly mistakes.

 

4. You are a master at pitching with no room for improvement

Learning to pitch your business to prospective investors, advisors, and team members is an important part of building a tech company.

Fortunately, you were born to rock the mic.

While 74% of people fear public speaking, you LIVE for it.

The thought of standing alone on stage in front of a room full of people to pitch your business idea makes you positively giddy.

You can’t wait to answer questions from venture capitalists about how you’ll scale your business or give them the play-by-play breakdown of your go-to market plan. You don’t sweat under pressure — you thrive on it.  

You’re not interested in learning how to feel comfortable on stage, and you don’t want to experience founders pitch their businesses, or discover which 8 slides every pitch deck should have.

Why bother? You don’t even need a pitch deck.

You’ve got this.

When the time comes to stand on stage and pitch your business, you’ll just channel your inner Steve Jobs and knock ‘em dead.

Real Talk:
Stage fright is no joke. But, if you want to build a successful tech startup, you’ll need to learn how to present your ideas with confidence.

Pitching is arguably one of the most important skills an early stage entrepreneur can learn and Volta Academy is the perfect place to practice. You’ll get to perfect your pitch in a supportive, friendly environment so when it’s time to rock the mic, you’re ready to go!

 

5. You enjoy feeling alone and misunderstood

Building any business is hard. But… building a tech startup? It’s practically masochistic.

You need to build something from nothing, make massive sacrifices, get rejected constantly, and grow lightning fast. It’s tough work.

Many articles have been written about the psychological price of entrepreneurship… but you’re not worried.

You’re a lone wolf.

You don’t want to meet other founders who are building tech startups. And you certainly don’t want to be part of the Volta community (yuck!)

Sure, studies show that you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with.

(And, the Volta community is chalk full of brilliant people who have built multi-million dollar businesses — people who dream big, work hard, and unapologetically make sh*t happen.)

But, you’re not interested in hanging out with those kinds of people.

You’d rather stay in your own little bubble… surrounded by people who don’t really understand what you’re doing and can’t offer meaningful advice.

You’d rather push forward all alone without a support network to lean on when times get tough.

You’d rather hang out at home than come to Volta and drink free beer while plotting world domination with other crazy founders.

If that’s you… then Volta Academy definitely isn’t right for you.  

Real Talk:
Volta Academy will give you the skills to succeed, but that’s not even the best part. The best part is the connections you’ll make along the way.

Joining the Volta community was one of the best decisions I made in my life. There is no way I could have survived the ups and downs of startup life without the support of other founders.

 

In conclusion…

All sarcasm aside, this program is going to be truly epic.

In 11 weeks, you’ll learn some of the step-by-step processes that companies like Facebook, Uber and Dropbox used to grow their businesses.  

I’m not going to lie to you… it won’t be easy.

Some Volta Academy students will graduate with a fully functional, money-making business — hurray.

Others will make huge pivots. Some may even discover their idea is fundamentally flawed and choose to move onto the next one.

But, regardless of the outcome at the end of the 11 weeks, I can promise you two things for sure:

1. You’ll walk away from this program as a much smarter entrepreneur.
2. You’ll meet some of the raddest people in Nova Scotia.

Some of them might be the next Mark Zuckerberg, Sheryl Sandberg or Elon Musk.

It could even be you.

Ready to apply for the fall 2018 semester of Volta Academy? Apply here by August 6, 2018. Not ready to apply? Sign up for updates below.

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