01 · VENTURE MAPPING · NOW ENROLLING · OPENS SEPTEMBER 15
Map your venture and build an evidence-based business model you can test.
Creating a business is a journey. Venture Mapping helps you clarify what you want to build around real customers, a workable model, and clear next decisions before you invest more time or money. It is step one of a three-course path that stays with you from idea to launch to growth.
Enroll Now for September 15
THIS STAGE ASKS DIFFERENT QUESTIONS
You are not trying to know everything about entrepreneurship. You are trying to make this idea clear enough to test.
You have been circling it for months, maybe longer. You have notes, a name you love, perhaps even a logo sketch. What you do not yet have is evidence that people want it, a model that can work, or confidence about what to do first.
An idea-stage business does not need a growth strategy yet. It needs customer evidence, a workable model, and a clear next decision. Venture Mapping helps you create those foundations.
By the end of Venture Mapping, you will have:
- An evidence-based business model built around your idea, goals, customers, and market
- Real customer insights from primary research you conduct yourself, giving you evidence instead of assumptions
- A defined value proposition and target customer you can describe in one sentence
- A practical soft-launch plan, including a proof of concept, focused marketing plan, and system for customer feedback
- A plan for your legal and administrative foundation, including structure, registration, licensing, taxes, and banking
- The entrepreneurial mindset and confidence to keep moving when the work gets difficult
- A Certificate in Business Model Development after passing the final test and submitting your portfolio, the first of three course certificates in the Certified Entrepreneurial Professional pathway
WHAT'S INSIDE
Five maps. One clear path.
Venture Mapping guides you through five maps, each building on the last. Self-paced students move through them on their own schedule. Live cohort students complete them across eight weekly classes.
Map 1 - MY SUCCESS MAP: Unleashing the Entrepreneur Within
Before you build a business, you build the builder. Develop the mindset, confidence, goals, and habits that help you keep moving when the work gets difficult.
Map 2 - MY FOUNDATION MAP: Creating Business Ideas People Want to Buy
Learn where strong ideas come from and how to pressure-test yours. Understand your customers, competitors, and industry, and conduct primary research to gather real customer insights.
Map 3 - MY VENTURE MAP: Building Your Dream Business for Success
Define your value proposition, test it with potential customers, and build your complete business model, including key activities, partners, resources, revenue, and costs.
Map 4 - MY LAUNCH MAP: Charting Your Course for Market Entry and Impact
Set up your proof of concept, create a focused marketing plan and brand for a soft launch, plan for customer feedback, and prepare your start-up operations.
Map 5 - MY COMPLIANCE MAP: Planning for Legal and Administrative
Plan the essential legal and administrative foundation for your venture, including structure, registration, taxes, licensing, financial systems, banking, and your digital presence.
Every map includes video lessons, readings, workbook assignments, and quizzes. You will apply each concept to your own venture as you work, rather than simply watching videos. Access the course from your desktop, tablet, or the Kajabi mobile app.
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PRIMARY PATH · MOST FLEXIBLE
Self-Paced Course | $497
Self-paced Venture Mapping drops on September 15, 2026 at 6 AM Eastern. Enroll now and you get your login and receipt today. The course unlocks at 6 AM Eastern on the 15th, and we email you when it does.
Get the complete Five Maps learning path and work through it on your schedule with video lessons, workbooks, quizzes, and practical action steps.
- Enroll now, start September 15, and keep lifetime access
- Revisit lessons as your idea develops
- Complete the final assessment and portfolio to earn your Certificate in Business Model Development
Best when you want a complete path you can move through on your own schedule.
Enroll for September 15 · $497PREMIUM SUPPORT · DIRECT ACCESS
Live Cohort | $1,497
Next cohort begins Tuesday, October 20. Enrollment closes when it fills, because eight weeks of direct access only works at a limited size.
Complete the same Five Maps with eight weeks of live guidance, direct weekly access to Kristi, and a peer cohort shaping new ventures alongside you.
- Eight weekly 90-minute live classes with Kristi
- Real-time teaching, questions, feedback, and accountability
- A supportive peer cohort moving through the same stage
- The complete course, final assessment, portfolio review, and certificate
Best when you want the complete course plus more connection, feedback, and accountability.
Explore the Live CohortWHO’S TEACHING
Learn from someone who has taught it, led it, and lived it
Venture Mapping was created by Kristi Mitchell, MBA, Professor of Practice in Entrepreneurship and Innovation at Butler University and a contributor to Butler’s 2026 USASBE Award-Winning Entrepreneurship Program.
Kristi directs Butler’s Real Business Experience program, where 56 student teams a year ideate, validate, launch, and operate real businesses with real customers and real revenue. She is also CEO and co-founder of GCR Security Experts, a firm she has run since 2004, now roughly 150 employees serving individual and Fortune 500 clients.
Forty years building businesses. Ten years teaching this at university level. You are not learning theory from a marketer.
REAL ENTREPRENEURS. REAL PROGRESS.
"Kristi changed my life. I struggled to have the confidence to start. Now I believe in myself - and I'm running my own business while managing a full-time job and my kids."
- Olivia C.
My Venture Coach Entrepreneur
"My Venture Coach and CEP changed everything for me. I'm now running a successful business, mentoring others, and achieving goals I never thought possible."
- Jennifer B.
My Venture Coach CEP Entrepreneur
WHAT YOU’RE GETTING
Everything inside Venture Mapping
Both formats include the complete five-map course and the opportunity to earn your Certificate in Business Model Development.
LEARN
The complete five-map course
Work through 34 applied lessons with video, written teaching, custom diagrams, module quizzes, and progress checkpoints.
APPLY
Workbooks for your own venture
Use workbook assignments and action guides to build your business model as you move through each map.
DEMONSTRATE
Assessment, portfolio, and certificate
Complete the final certification test and portfolio review to earn a Certificate in Business Model Development you can share on LinkedIn and your resume.
Study from your desktop, tablet, or the Kajabi mobile app.
TWO WAYS TO LEARN
Same course. Choose your support.
Self-paced · $497
Self-paced Venture Mapping drops on September 15, 2026 at 6 AM Eastern. Enroll now, then move through the five maps on your schedule.
Live cohort · $1,497
Add weekly instruction, direct feedback, and peer accountability.
Add support when you want it
Coaching and Community are optional. Add either at checkout or later.
One-to-one coaching with Kristi
Bring decisions about your venture, pricing, test, or model to someone who has built businesses and taught entrepreneurship for a decade. Add one session or a package.
My Venture Coach Community
Continue with peer discussion, moderated Q&A, a vetted resource library, and on-demand business skill sessions after the course ends.
WHERE VENTURE MAPPING LEADS
One course now. A path as your business grows.
Venture Mapping is course one in the three-course Certified Entrepreneurial Professional (CEP) pathway. Each course matches a stage of your business and earns its own certificate. Complete all three courses and pass the CEP exam to earn the designation.
YOU ARE HERE
01 · Venture Mapping
You have an idea. Build an evidence-based business model you can explain and test, then earn the Certificate in Business Model Development.
WHEN YOU ARE PREPARING TO LAUNCH
02 · Launch Navigation
Build a practical plan for bringing your business to market and reaching your first customers, then earn the Certificate in Business Launch Strategy.
WHEN YOUR BUSINESS IS OPERATING
03 · Growth Mapping
Create a focused 90-day growth strategy with clear priorities, then earn the Certificate in Business Growth Strategy and Scaling.
Start with the business you have today.
If you have an idea and no customer proof, Venture Mapping is your starting point.
QUESTIONS? ANSWERED.
Frequently asked questions
When does the self-paced course open?
How much time does it take each week?
What if I don't feel like "an entrepreneur" yet?
What does the Certificate in Business Model Development represent?
What's the difference between self-paced and the live cohort?
What if this isn't the right stage for me?
How long will I have access?
Do I need to have a business idea already?
You've been circling this idea long enough.
Choose the format that fits how you want to learn. Self-paced Venture Mapping drops on September 15, 2026 at 6 AM Eastern. The live cohort begins October 20 with weekly instruction and a peer group moving through the maps with you.
Venture Mapping is the first of three milestones toward your Certified Entrepreneurial Professional (CEP) designation.
Let's find out what your idea can become.
