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Ignite: Entrepreneurial
Education Programme
Empowering pre-spinout and pre-start teams to transform their innovative concepts into commercially robust spinouts and startups.
Ignite innovation and learn how to:
- Test and validate ideas in the market
- Chart route to market for launch
- Attract investment
- Propel business forward
- Adopt an entrepreneurial mindset
About the Programme
Grand Scale Ignite bridges the gap between research and entrepreneurship, by providing an actionable roadmap for commercialisation.
We do this by upskilling teams with the essential entrepreneurial acumen and practical skills required to successfully:
- Craft a compelling business model
- Test initial assumptions in lucrative markets for product-market fit
- Validate the market potential
- Gather early customer insights for product refinement
- Understand the route to market and
- Gain insights into the funding and investment landscape to propel the business forward.
Ignite innovation, validate for commercial success and propel to the next level
Our Mission
We're here with a clear purpose: to confront the harsh realities of startup life and, through the Grand Scale Ignite programme, to help you navigate away from common pitfalls. With our guidance, you're not just learning what not to do; you're gaining a toolkit to build a robust, commercially viable venture.
Success lies not just in creating advanced technology, but in applying this technology in ways that genuinely meet customer needs and solve real-world problems, while also establishing repeatable sales and a scalable business model.
will enable you to:
Commercialise
Gain crucial entrepreneurial skills and competencies, enabling the accelerated introduction of innovations to market
Test & Validate
Successfully test and validate your innovative concepts in the market ensuring product-market fit
Go to Market
Define a clear route to market and execute a winning entry strategy
Get Funding & Investment
Demystify the investment landscape and learn how to secure funding at various stages of development
You will learn:
- Commercialisation Fundamentals: Discover the core principles of entrepreneurship and embrace a commercial mindset.
- Creating value for your customers: Master the art of crafting effective value propositions.
- Creating value for your business: Discover proven methodologies to evaluate, improve and build robust, scalable and successful business models.
- Business Design and Testing: Learn key principles and methodologies to test your business model and strategy, mitigating risks before scaling.
- Market validation: Acquire the techniques to validate the feasibility and market demand for your product or technology.
- Achieving Product-Market Fit: Learn systematic approaches to ensure your product aligns with market needs for business success.
- Clear Route to Market: Utilise a proven 7 step framework to build a robust Go-To-Market (GTM) strategy.
- Fundamentals of Investment Excellence: Gain insights into the financing landscape, the art of engaging with investors, and the strategies required to secure funding.
Equips entrepreneurs and teams with the skills, strategies, and confidence needed to navigate the complex world of early-stage commercialisation and establish thriving and sustainable ventures.
The process of launching a new business can often feel overwhelming. Without a structured approach, entrepreneurs may find themselves adrift, unsure of where to allocate their limited resources and efforts effectively. Recognising this complexity, the Ignite programme takes a strategic approach, offering a clear pathway to commercialisation. By guiding entrepreneurs through the key steps, they are primed to seize opportunities and successfully bring new innovations to market at an accelerated pace.
Our methodology
Introduction to Commercialisation
- Acquire understanding of the importance of customer-centric businesses.
- Understand and develop your Value Proposition Canvas.
Build a scalable robust business
- Design, invent and improve your business model using the Business Model Canvas.
- Cultivate the ability to assess your organisation's external business environment and learn how to adapt and thrive.
Ensuring Product-Market Fit: Business Design and Testing
- Understand the principles of business design and testing (assumptions, experiments, learning and action).
- Develop the skills and processes to complete customer discovery and market validation (market opportunity and competitive landscape).
- Introduction to design thinking
Route to Market: Charting the Path to Success
- Discover a 7-step framework to develop a successful go-to-market strategy.
- Learn about: setting your SMART goals, defining your target market segment, assessing your product market fit, understanding your competitors, developing your value proposition statement, understanding of how to develop a sales and pricing strategy, and the 4-step formula to developing a winning marketing strategy for international break-through and accelerated growth.
Fundamentals of Investment Excellence: Securing Funding
- Understand the necessary preparatory work before seeking investment.
- Learn about the range of materials needed to support discussions with investors.
- Explore various types of shares and investment instruments.
- Understand the funding landscape and the different types of investors.
- Develop a thorough understanding of the key steps and strategies involved in the investment process.
Key Features
Teams embrace a commercially oriented mindset and acquire the methodology to develop thriving, market-ready ventures.
- Accelerated commercialisation training specifically designed for academics, pre spinout and pre-start teams.
- Developed and led by seasoned entrepreneurial educators.
- Fully online curriculum accessed through a state-of-the-art ed-tech portal.
- A comprehensive series of downloadable resources to enhance learning and practical application.
- Access to an online community, to connect and support participants throughout the programme.
- 12 months access to training module recordings and suite of training materials including actionable workbooks per module, how-to guides, best practice templates and toolkits.
Who is it for
The Ignite programme is designed for pre spinout and pre-start teams, including academics, independent researchers and entrepreneurs aspiring to commercialise their innovation and launch a business.
Entrepreneurs
Academics
Pre-start Teams
Pre-spinout Teams
We also work with strategic innovation partners to deliver the Ignite programme – if you are interested in partnering check out our partner page.
Meet the Team
With over 70 years of combined experience, our team has worked with hundreds of tech entrepreneurs across the UK and Ireland, providing the skills, strategies, and support needed to launch, grow, and achieve international success.
We've led marketing efforts for innovative tech startups from early stages to growth, scaling and exit, as well as for global brands. Ro and Leanne have distilled their extensive knowledge into proven, actionable programmes like Ignite, guiding entrepreneurs through each stage of their business journey.
Leanne Jennings
Grand Scale Co-founder and chartered marketer with 20 years of experience in international B2B tech sales and marketing including 10 years with Kainos, from SME to Unicorn. Currently, empowering over 100 spinout, startup and scaleup companies to commercialise, launch and accelerate growth.
Roisin Garland
Grand Scale Co-founder with 25 years of proven success in spearheading marketing for many tech companies, from early stage to growth, scaling and multi-million-pound acquisitions (Wombat and Neueda). Currently, empowering over 100 spinout, startup and scaleup companies to commercialise, launch and accelerate growth.
Les Gaw
Les Gaw, is a seasoned, serial tech entrepreneur who has successfully led a tech company from early-stage through to exit and understands the process and the challenges this brings to inexperienced founding teams. As a director of Gabriel Investment Syndicate, a Glasgow-based angel syndicate, Les has personally invested in over 20 early-stage Scottish companies, leveraging his expertise and network to strengthen the evolving Scottish tech ecosystem.
What our clients say
Grand Scale Ignite, is a very well prepared course. I would recommend it to any academic or business oriented person who wants to get a solid grounding in entrepreneurship.
Hadi Larijani
Professor & Director of Smart Technology Centre, Glasgow Caledonian University
A knowledge rich, practical approach to what commercialisation should and could be, delivered by warm and supportive contacts.
Susan Armstrong
Contracts & IP Manager, Glasgow Caledonian University
Before the course I had the idea: I need to spend more time in the lab as it is not perfect….now after the course I think: Get out of the building and speak to customers!!!!! I am 100% confident that in 12 months my business will be out there up and running!!!
Carlos Fernandez
Senior Lecturer, Robert Gordon University
It has been a worthwhile journey and has provided my team with key and bespoke knowledge in all the major steps that are crucial to the generation of a spinout company. I can't thank the GSI team enough for sharing their outstanding expertise - thank you very much.
Mark Williams
Lecturer in Cancer Biology, Glasgow Caledonian University
This programme is an eye opener, a game changer for any new or growing business. It would have been disastrous to have started our business without participating in this programme. What a great privilege to be enlisted in the Grand Scale Ignite programme before spinning out.
Dr. Joshua Dala
Researcher, University of Aberdeen
What makes Grand Scale unique
Trusted Delivery Partner
Experience delivering national scale programmes for partners such as Innovate UK and the Scottish Government
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UK-wide companies empowered by our entrepreneurial programmes
Proven Methodology
Empowering ambitious ventures to validate, commercialise, launch, grow and scale their innovation
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Customer Satisfaction Score (CSAT) reflecting strong customer approval, with an average rating of 9/10 for our programmes
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Companies commercialised and launched or were on track to launch within 12 months of our programmes
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female representation—exceeding the 29% in the STEM workforce highlighting our commitment to promoting gender equity and inclusivity in entrepreneurship
Industry & Sector Agnostic Programmes
Accelerating commercialisation in net zero, medtech, fintech, agritech, manufacturing, pharma, and more
Digital-first
Online delivery model offering flexibility and accessibility in terms of location, timing and digital content
Highly experienced delivery team
With a proven track record in delivering impactful entrepreneurial education programmes
How we engage
Are you an entrepreneur, academic or independent researcher?
We deliver Ignite as an online programme to a small group of pre spinout and pre-start teams twice a year.
Please contact us to learn more or to register your interest in joining the next cohort.
Interested in finding out more?
Are you a business accelerator, incubator, government agency or investor seeking to partner?
We collaborate with strategic innovation partners to empower pre spinout and pre-start teams to confidently navigate the challenges of early-stage commercialisation.
We deliver Ignite, as an online entrepreneurial training programme enabling academics and independent researchers to validate their idea in the market, conduct market discovery, develop a go to market strategy and understand the investment landscape.
Interested in finding out more?
FAQ's
Ignite is industry-agnostic and designed to support academics, independent researchers, and entrepreneurs from any B2B innovation sector. Our programme is particularly beneficial for teams looking to commercialise their innovative concepts and establish successful spinouts and startups.
Ignite takes place in BST time, so it’s a great fit for anyone based in Europe.
Participants in the Ignite programme may include a diverse group of pre spinout and pre-start teams, including academics, independent researchers, and aspiring entrepreneurs. It’s a small group environment providing ample opportunities for networking through our private LinkedIn group and interactive coaching calls, allowing you to connect with peers, share experiences, and build valuable professional relationships.
No, the Ignite programme is specifically designed for individuals who want to upskill in commercialisation, regardless of their prior experience. It provides a solid foundation and offers accelerated training to ensure you gain the essential skills and knowledge needed to confidently transform your innovative concept into a commercially robust spinout or startup.
Participants have 12 months of continued access to all modules, resources, and materials to review and reinforce their learning.
Ignite offers ongoing support throughout the 4-week programme via our private LinkedIn group. This platform enables direct interaction with our experts, providing opportunities to ask questions, receive guidance, and enhance your learning experience.
