Launchpad: The First Step to Becoming an Entrepreneur 🚀
Stop Guessing. Start Testing.
💭 Got a business idea but not sure whether it’s worth pursuing?
🤔 Have several ideas and don’t know which one to take forward?
Launchpad is a practical entrepreneurship programme from the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre (MEC), designed to help you stop relying on assumptions and start finding out what real customers and users think.
Across three weeks, you’ll test your thinking, gather evidence, develop your idea and build the confidence to decide what should happen next.
You’ll also have the opportunity to pitch your idea and win prizes of up to £1,000.
📅 Registration closes: Thursday 22nd October 2026
You don’t need previous business experience. You just need an idea you’re willing to explore.
What will you do?
During Launchpad, you’ll learn how entrepreneurs move from assumptions to evidence by testing ideas, speaking to potential customers and adapting your thinking based on what you discover.
You’ll:
🔍 Research and test your idea with potential customers and users
🧪 Turn assumptions into simple experiments you can run
💬 Build confidence speaking to customers and gathering useful feedback
🔄 Learn when to iterate, adapt or pivot
🎯 Develop greater clarity about whether — and how — to take your idea forward
You might finish Launchpad ready to develop your idea further. You might discover something needs to change. Or you may decide the opportunity isn’t right to pursue.
All three are useful outcomes.
The aim is to help you make better decisions based on evidence rather than guesswork.
How Launchpad works
Launchpad runs over three weeks, with one core practical workshop each week and additional drop-in support between sessions.
Week 1
📅 27th October 2026
⏰ 9am - 5pm
Week 2
📅 3rd November 2026
⏰ 9am - 5pm
Week 3
📅 12th November 2026
⏰ 9am - 5pm
🤝 Drop-in support will also be available between the main workshops, giving you the opportunity to ask questions, talk through what you’ve discovered and get support as your idea develops.
Pitch your idea and win prizes 🎤
As part of Launchpad, you’ll have the opportunity to pitch your idea and show how your thinking has developed throughout the programme.
There are also prizes available:
🥇 1st place — £1,000
🥈 2nd place — £500
🥉 3rd place — £500
The pitch isn’t just about having the most polished idea. We want to see what you tested, what you learned and how you responded to the evidence you gathered.
What’s included?
As a Launchpad participant, you’ll receive:
🍽️ Lunch vouchers during programme sessions
🤝 Drop-in support between workshops
🛠️ Practical tools and activities to help you test and develop your idea
💬 The chance to work alongside other entrepreneurial students and graduates
🎤 The opportunity to pitch your idea
🏆 The chance to win up to £1,000
Hear from previous Launchpad participants
“Launchpad gave me the confidence to start pursuing my business idea more seriously. It showed me how close I was to where I wanted to be and gave me structured steps to achieve my business goals. The weekly work kept me accountable, and my cohort members have been an incredible support system since the end of the programme!”
— Jacob Katz, Launchpad participant
“Launchpad was a great way to stress-test my idea, value proposition and target customer profile. The strong focus on customer discovery pushed me to step outside my comfort zone, speak directly to potential customers and learn how to uncover their genuine opinions, which gave me valuable insights and greater confidence in my idea.”
— Yoana Kirilova, Launchpad participant
What happens after Launchpad?
Launchpad is designed to help you understand what your idea needs next.
If you discover a promising opportunity and want to continue developing it, there are further opportunities available through the Masood Entrepreneurship Centre.
One possible next step is Venture Builder, MEC’s programme for founders who are ready to continue developing and building their ventures.
🔗 Find out more about Venture Builder:
https://www.entrepreneurship.manchester.ac.uk/manchester-venture-builder/
Whether you continue with your current idea, change direction or use the skills you’ve developed elsewhere, you should leave Launchpad with stronger entrepreneurial skills, better evidence and a clearer idea of what to do next.
Who can join?
🧑🎓 Current University of Manchester students, including undergraduate, postgraduate taught and postgraduate research students
🎓 University of Manchester graduates from within the last two years
🌍 Open to all degrees and disciplines
You don’t need to study business and you don’t need previous entrepreneurship experience.
If you have an idea you want to explore, Launchpad is for you.
Ready to stop overthinking and start testing?
Register for Launchpad by 16th October 2026 and start finding out what your idea could become. 🚀