Your chance to
make a difference
(An opportunity for anyone who eats)
Join acclaimed teacher and entrepreneur Will Rosenzweig, together with food entrepreneurs, farmers, operators and scholars in a deep dive into the business of food.
99% of students recommend Akimbo workshops
(more than 60,000 people have taken our courses)
IT TAKES LESS THAN A MINUTE TO SIGN UP
10 lessons · 80 days
money-back guarantee · peer-to-peer discussion
AFFILIATIONS FOR IDENTIFICATION ONLY
How It Works
The workshop is open for 80 days. We release a new video lesson every Tuesday for the first ten weeks of the workshop. The videos are between 5-10 minutes each.
Each video lesson comes with a set of questions that challenge you to explore how the lesson applies to your own work, and a call-to-action to share your answers and insights on the discussion board.
It’s impossible to fall behind. Some participants do each lesson the day it’s revealed, others do it a few weeks later. There are always people in the discussion board for each lesson—challenging each other, asking questions and sharing examples.
It’s not unusual for there to be a new post every three minutes. You don’t (you can’t) read them all, just as you can’t hear every conversation in every classroom on Yale’s campus. That’s okay. Take what you need and be in the conversations that interest you.
There are 4 parts to the learning process in this workshop:
1. Watch the lesson video
Each lesson features author and entreprenuer Will Rosenzweig, sharing his insights and experience. The lesson videos generally last five to ten minutes each.
2. Respond to the prompt
Each of the ten videos will prompt you to think hard about your particular audience, your project and your work, and then share those insights with the cohort in the workshop.
3. Discuss with other students
Comment on other students' responses and ask questions in the 24/7 discussion board . It's called a workshop because this is where the real work happens. You'll soon discover just how much you have in common with others on this journey, even if they live in a different country, serve a difference audience and have access to different resources. This diversity is hard to find anywhere else. Coaches are available daily to support your progress.
4. Question and answer discussions
Every Thursday for the first ten weeks, you're invited to participate in an optional live question and answer Zoom session lead by Will and the coach team. It's an opportunity to engage further in the lesson content and meet fellow students.
This workshop is your chance to be:
- Challenged on the “WHY?” of your innovation
- Articulate core values as competitive advantage
- Experience a deep dive into fresh and actionable consumer insights
- Engage in a survey of packaging innovations along with contacts to leading suppliers
- Learn de-risking practices using design thinking and lean-launch methods
- Discover how to conduct better, faster, cheaper market research using tech-enabled consumer testing methods
- Create category-defining products and platforms using cutting edge skills and processes
- Devise a rock-solid innovation plan for your food concept that’s viable, feasible and desirable
- Focus your time, and find inspiration to sharpen your concepts, thinking and decision-making
- Learn creative business tools and methods for assessing options through the lens of the consumer, marketplace, organizational culture and your own leadership skills
- Engage in peer-peer learning in an intimate cohort of enterprising food professionals
- Produce an investable, viable scaling plan and persuasive pitch deck and great pitch presentation
You’ll learn how to:
- Finance growth initiatives through equity, debt and strategic partnership
- Clarify the direction and right size for the next chapter of your business
- Orchestrate a“cross-over hit”
- Protect your authenticity
- Build organizational capacity and capability to stretch and take the leap
- Test the “permission level” of your business to move up and away from your core
- Determine the right structure(s) to scale, from strategic partnerships to acquisition
- Gain insights about a broad set of pressing needs, opportunities and innovations in the food system
- Develop ‘food-systems intelligence’ and “triple-bottom line” business design capabilities 3. Learn the skills, tools and mindsets of mission-driven entrepreneurs
- Practice a collaborative, team-based entrepreneurial process
- Grow and cultivate your professional network in the food sector
- Develop and practice the core tenets of entrepreneurial leadership
- Develop a rigorous approach to opportunity recognition
- Create an “innovations map” for a specific sub sector that charts
- technology development, applications and innovations, leading to
- potential “white space” for a new venture
- Articulate the vision, values and unique value proposition for a new venture
- Imbed and amplify opportunities to scale impact through the health and sustainability attributes of the venture
- Practice customer interviews to vet your hypothesis
- Develop a business model canvas
- Develop and test a rapid prototype of the solution
- Explore ways to frame and measure the impact of your venture
- Create and deliver a pitch presentation for the venture
- Develop a professional network of valuable resources
Work at Your Own Pace
No giant promises. No rigorous timeline. No tests. No grades.
This is learning?
Yes, because it works.
Most learning experiences are defined by a set schedule with exact deadlines, correct answers and a certificate at the end.
We’re offering something different. We want you to commit to this workshop and to fit it into your already jam-packed life. We offer you guidance and peer accountability, and ask you to respond with effort and contribution.
This workshop is a safe space with support from people just like you to help you do the work that matters to you. We celebrate discovery, possibility, curiosity, generosity and the asynchronous nature of today's world.
In this workshop, you decide how much time you have to contribute and the effort you’ll put in and the ways you'll apply it to your life.
The truth is that the more you put in, the more you’ll get out. If you simply watch the videos, that’s fine, but the real magic happens when you become a contributor, a teacher, and a partner. The real magic in our workshops is when you do the work and the work is stretching by giving it your best attempt and joining discussions with other students. It will feel uncomfortable, at first.
During the 80 days of the workshop, we provide a flexible structure. The lessons outline the work, and the discussions make it real. Our coaches aren’t there with test prep or right answers—instead, they help you focus on the work at hand.
You can take a few days away, then pick up where you left off, work within your time constraints, balance other responsibilities and address obstacles so you can keep moving forward no matter what.
The feelings of falling behind or not doing enough are a trap. We’ll fight hard to keep those feelings from distracting you from doing the work that matters.
With nearly 10,000 students in our programs over the last few years, we've seen extraordinary results occur because our students embrace a simple possibility: That better is possible. That generous, open-hearted work in a community is a magical opportunity. Does that sound like what you’re looking for?
Coach Support
We have a team of coaches who will support you during the workshop. Our coaches model the culture of possibility, commitment, respect and connection.
They are trained to help facilitate and bring out the best in you by reflecting questions and holding you accountable.
They will not provide you with answers, reassurance or validation.
The project you're developing might not work. But this workshop will get you closer to one that will.