If there’s one thing that we care about at Foundr, it’s education. As outlined in our manifesto, we strive to be the ultimate resource for entrepreneurs who want to launch and grow their businesses.
To that end, we publish some of the most in-depth, actionable, and realistic content in the entrepreneurial community, through our blog, magazine, and podcast. And in recent years, we’ve poured resources into developing a top-notch, growing platform of online courses.
With the help of experienced entrepreneurs, including Gretta van Riel, Sabri Suby, Steve McLeod, and more, that effort has paid off big for our brand and for our students. In fact, over 12,000 students and counting have enrolled in our premium courses.
Today, we’re proud to share an important breakthrough in the development of our educational platform.
Shopify, the world’s largest ecommerce platform, has named our flagship course Start & Scale one of its approved courses, and named Foundr as one of only a few education partners.
This is a big deal for us, so we want to share what this means for you and Foundr.
Why Shopify Decided to Partner With Foundr
The process of launching an ecommerce store isn’t easy. It takes a deep understanding of marketing, manufacturing, operations, and more. It’s no wonder that so many entrepreneurs become overwhelmed, something that often stops them from launching their ecommerce stores in the first place.
Shopify understands how profound this problem is for entrepreneurs. They know that in order for people to launch their ecommerce stores—and become happy Shopify customers—they need to help people overcome these early challenges. And there’s no better way to do that than through education, both free and paid.
The content they publish on their ecommerce blog has helped a lot to close the knowledge gap between failure and success. But for many, this just isn’t enough.
For those entrepreneurs looking for more extensive guidance as they launch their stores, there’s a variety of paid courses out there, including our popular Start & Scale course.
Ever since we launched it in 2015, Start & Scale has helped over 5,000 entrepreneurs launch and grow their stores, a fact that hasn’t gone unnoticed by Shopify.
Recently, Shopify launched a partnership with several companies that they recognize can help them educate their customers. These partners can be identified with this badge:
According to Shopify, these recognized educational programs have been:
- carefully reviewed by Shopify to ensure quality and accuracy;
- designed specifically to help you launch and grow your business;
- developed by experienced and trusted Shopify merchants.
In short, it’s a way for Shopify to tell its current and future customers: You can trust these courses to help you!
So far, they’ve approved seven courses, four of which are in English, one in Dutch, one in German, and one in Spanish.
Three of the four English courses are centered on dropshipping—the process of managing distribution and logistics through third-party companies. And only one is for people who want to build a brand and develop their own products, start to finish.
That, as it turns out, is our flagship Start & Scale course.
What This News Means for You and Us
To say we’re excited and proud of the news would be an understatement. This is a big honor for us, and validates that our work is highly respected by leaders in the ecommerce industry.
We’ve worked hard to bring the best, most experienced teacher we could find, and develop a syllabus that would summarize everything you need to know to launch your store and succeed. After our initial investment, we quickly saw that we had a hit on our hands, as people responded incredibly well to it.
We’ve watched as so many of our students have completed their first sales, and gone on to make their stores real, profitable businesses.
Many others have grown their stores to the six- and seven-figure range. Just take a look at our case studies and you will see what we mean.
That we are now being recognized and held up by Shopify only underscores that we are on the right track. It will help us to expand our audience, continue building our brand, and expand on this line of teaching. This partnership will help us help more of you all to achieve your dreams of starting your own online businesses. Including some new courses on the horizon.
What the Future Holds
Before closing, we want to share a couple more pieces of news. First, we’re about to relaunch Start & Scale with even more content on everything about branding, marketing, operations, and more. You can get on the waitlist to be notified when we release it.
(If you’re already a member of Start & Scale, keep an eye on your inbox for the 2.0 release—you’ll be among the first to know!)
The information in the course is geared towards beginners and intermediate entrepreneurs, people who want to understand the basics of what it takes to launch a store and get it done.
Then, later this year, we will launch a new course on advanced ecommerce strategies. This course will go much deeper into everything related to the growth and management of your ecommerce store to help you take it to that next level.
And, as usual, we will continue to invest in your education‚ not just on the premium side (which represents just 1% of our educational content), but through top-notch free content as well. We will continue to publish the best content possible across our channels, helping you at every step along the way.
Have you enrolled in Start & Scale? Thinking about it? Are there any questions or comments on the course? Let us know below.
