Y Combinator, one of the most famous startup accelerators from Silicon Valley, opens a MOOC (Massive Open Online Course) for all interested in founding their own startup. The course will be free of charge and accessible to participants from all over the world.
“We believe the barrier to entry for people to start a startup is still too high,” said the organizers in an official statement on the Startup School website. “We want to make it easier for people to start a company, regardless of who or where you are, so we’re starting by sharing what we’ve learned, through Startup School.”
Startup School will start on 5th April and last for 10 weeks. Every week, a set of lectures recorded at the Stanford University will be posted on the program’s website. The course is designed to encourage and inspire participants, equip them with sufficient knowledge to start their own company, and build a community of entrepreneurs who can support each other even after the course is over.
An amazing lineup of entrepreneurs and industry leaders will deliver the lectures each week, providing valuable insight into topics such as obtaining ideas, building a product, getting users or managing a team. Some of the lecturers include Jan Koum (WhatsApp), Alex Schultz (Facebook), Steve Huffman (Reddit), Adam D’Angelo (Quora), or Dalton Caldwell (YC).
The organizers offer two participation tracks. The first one, called Spectator, does not require any registration. It is dedicated to those who are not actively working on a startup but wish to expand their horizons. Such participants will have full access to all lectures posted on the Startup School website.
The second participation track, called Startup Founder, is for those who are actively building their own company. After signing up, they will receive full access not only to lectures, but also to weekly group advisory sessions, and a Slack room for communication with other students in the group.
The workload is estimated to be 3 hours per week, plus any additional time you wish to dedicate to your startup. All participants who will have submitted weekly updates and taken part in feedback sessions will be eligible for certificates of completion. They will also have the opportunity to present their product to the public.
