AI for Founders
Validate, pitch, spec, sell and run the numbers with AI doing the legwork.
AI for Founders is a self-paced online course: 8 hours of recorded sessions across 5 modules, with 3 graded by Nova, Square 1's AI tutor. The founding price is A$45, down from A$90. Start any time and keep your own pace.
- Module 1Validation and strategy90 min · graded
- Module 2The pitch and the plan90 min · graded
- Module 3Spec what gets built90 min
- Module 4Sales, ops and the numbers90 min
- Module 5Project: the founder's operating pack120 min · graded
- recorded hours
- 8
- modules, in order
- 5
- deployed projects
- 2
- graded checkpoints
- 3
Who it is for, and what you receive.
Founders and small-business owners who are every department with no time.
You run or are starting something.
- 1
The recorded sessions
Taught by an instructor, taken in order at your own pace, yours for twelve months.
- 2
Graded work after every module
Exercises and projects marked by Nova against a rubric you can read, with what you did well and what to fix.
- 3
The projects
Deployed and graded, each one on your record with its repository.
- 4
Your hiring plan
The same six-part plan the bootcamps use, run with the career agent.
- 5
The record and the certificate
Every grade at square1ai.com/u/{handle}; a credential ID that resolves at square1ai.com/verify.
- 6
Nova as your tutor
Help that is about your actual work, because it has read all of it.
The content plan, module by module.
8 recorded hours from an instructor, taken in order at your own pace. Nova grades the work at the end of each module.
-
Problem validation
Strategy
Positioning
The projects.
Each is deployed and graded by Nova against a rubric you can read before you start.
- Project 1
A validated problem and pitch
Work on your own venture, or a fictional service helping tradespeople chase unpaid invoices. Use AI to test the problem against real evidence, sharpen the positioning, then build a pitch and grade it against a rubric you wrote before drafting.
You hand in- Validated problem statement
- Evidence log
- Positioning statement
- Pitch deck or script
- Rubric self-grade
The rubric requiresThe problem statement cites its evidence and the pitch meets the rubric's bar.
- Project 2
A founder's operating pack
Assemble the pack you would run your week from, for your own business or the fictional invoice-chasing service. It holds strategy, a scoped spec for a builder, a sales plan, operating routines and the numbers, each drafted with AI and checked by you.
You hand in- Strategy and positioning page
- Scoped build spec
- Sales and operations plan
- Numbers sheet with assumptions
- Note on using the pack
The rubric requiresEvery section of the pack is complete, consistent with the others, and meets the grading rubric.
What you can do at the end.
A first team you can afford, and two graded projects on your record.
- 1
Validate an idea and set strategy with AI.
- 2
Write the pitch and the plan.
- 3
Spec what gets built.
- 4
Run sales, operations and the numbers.
- 5
Build a founder's operating pack.
No placement rate is shown, because there are no graduates to count yet. The roles above are what the projects are built for.
Your record at the end.
Every exercise and project is graded by Nova against a rubric you can read, and every grade is kept on one page an employer can open and run. This is what the programme writes to it.
- Graded, line by line
- Nova reads every submission against the brief and the rubric and returns a score, what you did well and what to fix.
- Module by module
- Each module ends in graded work; the next opens when you are ready, on your own schedule.
- Nova remembers
- Help is about your actual work, because the tutor has every submission and every failed exercise of yours.
- One page an employer can run
- Every grade and project at /verify. An employer opens it and runs the code.
- ProjectGraded
A validated problem and pitch
The problem statement cites its evidence and the pitch meets the rubric's bar.
- ProjectGraded
A founder's operating pack
Every section of the pack is complete, consistent with the others, and meets the grading rubric.
- Every moduleGraded
3 graded checkpoints
Each module ends in work Nova grades line by line against a rubric you can read.
- AfterKept
Your hiring plan
Target roles, the gap map, the proof to send, weekly actions and an interview log.
The entries, not the grades: those are yours to earn. The page lives at /verify and an employer needs no account to open it.
4 entries, at your own pace. Reserving a spot holds the founding price.
Pre-orderHow we help you find a job.
Proof, not a certificate: the projects you deployed are the thing you show, and the tools below are yours to use.
The whole plan on a few pages: the parts, the projects, the gates and the price. We email it to you.
Get the booklet- 1
Your hiring plan
The same six-part plan the bootcamps use: target roles, the gap map, the proof to send, weekly actions, an interview log, the outcome. You run it with the career agent.
- 2
A record an employer can run
Your graded projects on /verify. An employer opens it and runs the code.
- 3
The career agent
Paste a real job posting at /career and it maps the role to your graded work and what to do next.
- 4
The roles directory
Every role we prepare people for, what it pays and what it asks, at /roles.
- 5
A path to the live cohort
If you want the instructor, the gates and the hiring sprint, the bootcamp on the same subject is one waitlist away.
Questions people ask.
About AI for Founders, answered from the plan on this page.
- Can a small business owner use AI without hiring anyone?
- Introducing AI in a Small Business: A Step-by-Step Guide
- AI for Operations · 6.5 h on demand
- AI for Marketers · 7 h on demand
- AI for Sales · 6.5 h on demand
Founding spots are open. Hold yours.
Recorded by an instructor who does this work, graded by Nova. Spot holders hear the opening date first, and nothing is charged before you confirm.
- A first team you can afford
- Two graded projects on your record