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The Launch Pad Resources
Helpful tools for ventures in all stages
Welcome to the
Resource Center
From video walkthroughs to our favorite software and media recommendations, we’ve got an entire resource library for entrepreneurs at all stages. Resources are broken down by category and color-coded according to the business stage where they’ll be most useful.
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to learn further about each resource.
Idea & Concept
Prototype
Launch & Growth
Developed
UM Resources
Funding/Capital
Legal
Market Research
Video Workshops
Marketing
Brainstorming
Co-Working
Startup Book Library
Technology
UM Law School Startup Clinic
Legal Resource
Free legal help for startups establishing legal foundations
Creative Studio
Digital Media Lab
For developing initial concepts and media content
Coulter Center
Uinnovation
Helps carry projects from translational stage to tangible products
UM Software
Miami.edu/Software
Basic tools like LinkedIn Learning, Zoom, Qualtrics, Adobe Creative Cloud for early development
Labs and Facilities
College of Engineering
Research and development facilities for a range of engineering fields
Becoming a University of Miami Vendor
UM Vendor
Information on selling to the university market
Selling Your Product In UM Bookstore + UM Logo
UM
Retail distribution and branding guidelines
Supplier Diversity
For Suppliers
Registration as a university supplier for expanded market access
Create Employer Profile on Handshake
Hiring Resource
Hiring resources for growing teams
University of Miami Business Development Program
Human Resources
Advanced business development support
On-Campus Resources
The LaunchPad
Comprehensive resources for established businesses working with the university
Funding and Capital
Angel
Jason Calacanis (Book)
One of Silicon Valley’s most successful angel investors shares his rules for investing in start-ups.
Cost + Revenue Streams Chart
Brainstorming Resource
Cost and Revenue template to assist you with your business’s accounting and financial planning.
Pitch Deck Template
Pitch Deck
Having a strong pitch deck is essential to beginning your funding journey.
Grants List
Grants
Check out our most up-to-date list of grants.
Funding Stages
The Launch Pad
View different types of funding for the different stages of your venture.
Capital Opportunities List
Investor Resources
Our extensive list of resources to assist in securing investors.
Black Girl Ventures
Community
Connect with and provide black/brown women-identifying entrepreneurs with funding and a community to help scale their venture.
Black Ambition Prize
Prizes
Prizes that fund bold ideas and companies led by Black and Hispanic entrepreneurs.
WomensNet
Support
Grants and other funding to help women achieve their business dreams, as well as encourage female entrepreneurs.
The Women’s VC Fund
VC Funding
Funding platform that makes investments in early stage (A/B), revenue-generating, and high-growth companies led by management teams inclusive of women.
PeopleFund
Investing
By partnering with management and entrepreneurs, PeopleFund has generated industry-leading returns for our investors.
Las Olas Ventures
Investing
Their investment themes reflect our view on the emerging technologies and business architectures that will have a fundamental impact on how the world runs.
Medina Capital
Investing
Medina Capital helps fill the gaps needed to accelerate the growth of a thriving business, by customizing their involvement based on the needs and requirements of each portfolio company.
Miami Angels
Investing
Miami Angels is comprised of over 100 angel investors who are passionate about early-stage ventures.
New World Angels
Investing
By being nearby in Florida, New World Angels tap into their extensive members’ skill set and contact list to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses.
Ocean Azul Ventures
Support
Ocean Azul Ventures is proud to support entrepreneurs building unique solutions that will shape the futures of their industries.
Secocha Ventures
Investing
Secocha Ventures focuses on Consumer Products & Services, Healthcare & Fintech companies. Most companies we look at are post-revenue, or have creatively proven Product Market Fit.
Tamiami Angel Fund
Funding
Tamiami Angel Fund empowers entrepreneurs who are ready to scale.
Legal
The Michelson Institute For Intellectual Property
Legal Resource
Free patent, copyright, and trademark resources for budding inventors and entrepreneurs.
Dade Legal Aid
Legal Resource
For inventors, artists, and small businesses.
UM Law School Startup Clinic
Legal Resource
Free legal help for startups by UM Law.
Market Research
Google Forms
Form Creator
Create simple forms using a variety of field types free of charge.
Wufoo Online Form Builder
Form Builder
A cloud-based form builder that makes it easy to create a variety of surveys, registration forms, payment forms, and more.
Competitor Comparison List
Market Research Tools
Use the Competitor Comparison Chart for your business planning.
Survey Monkey
Market Research + Data Collection
Create detailed surveys to collect market research, and customer or employee data. Collect payments and manage teams.
Qualtrics
Market Research
Create surveys and gather market data and employee insights using an easy-to-use design interface.
Video Workshops
You ARE an Entrepreneur
Sam Shorts
Entrepreneurial mindset and identity development
Validating Your Idea
Sam Shorts
Essential techniques for testing and validating business concepts
Learning Your Industry
Sam Shorts
Research strategies for understanding your market and industry
Knowing Your Competitors
Sam Shorts
Competitive analysis and market positioning fundamentals
Business Plans
Sam Shorts
Creating effective business plans for your startup
Naming Your Venture
Sam Shorts
Strategies for choosing the right name for your business
Creating Your Digital Home
Sam Shorts
Building your online presence and digital foundation
Networking For Insight
Sam Shorts
Strategic networking to gain industry insights and connections
The 5 Essentials of Starting Your Business (Episode 1)
The LaunchPad
Building your MVP
The 5 Essentials of Starting Your Business (Episode 2)
The LaunchPad
Growth Platforming
The 5 Essentials of Starting Your Business (Episode 3)
The LaunchPad
Talking to customers
Web/App Prototyping
Sam Shorts
Creating functional prototypes for web and mobile applications
Financial Series (Episode 4)
The LaunchPad
Pitch Deck Financials
Art of the Pitch
Daniel Herrera (Miami Angels)
How to pitch your company to investors effectively
How To Tell Your Company’s Story
Tyler Koenig
Crafting compelling narratives for your business
Inbound Marketing
Julieta Sopeña (Grupo Mass)
Half-day workshop on improving inbound marketing efforts
Social Media 101
Sam Shorts
Fundamentals of social media marketing for startups
Administration Emergency Funding Intro
Althea Harris (Small Business Association)
Emergency funding, Economic Injury Disaster Loans, and Paycheck Protection Program
Building a Team
Sam Shorts
Strategies for hiring and building effective startup teams
Marketing
Demand Curve
Marketing Education
Free marketing masterclass on the science of the demand curve.
Canva
Digital Marketing
A great, easy way to make content. From flyers to Instagram-dimension posts.
Later.com
Social Media Marketing
A way to automate your social media posting to maintain a consistent posting schedule.
MailChimp
Email Marketing
Mailchimp is a great way to engage your subscribers through engaging, interactive email blasts.
Vistaprint
Physical Marketing Materials
Create custom marketing materials for your company.
Fiverr
Freelance Business Services
Freelancers offer their services for all of your business needs on Fiverr.
Goldie
Bookings/Appointments
Appointment scheduling, text reminders, online booking, and payments.
Adobe Illustrator
Graphic Creation
The Adobe graphics app for logo and vector creation.
Brainstorming
Lean Canvas
Ideation Resource
Help flesh out ideas and get on the right track with this handy resource.
Lean Canvas Business Model – TLP Walkthrough
The LaunchPad
This presentation was created by The Launch Pad. This resource is geared towards breaking down and explaining each section.
SaaS Strategy Worksheet
Strategy & Planning
Use this worksheet to assist with SaaS strategy planning.
Co-Working
Ampersand Studios
Co-Working Space
Location: Miami (Edgewater)
MADE at the Citadel
Co-Working Space
Location: Miami Shores
The Lab Miami
Co-Working Space
Location: Miami (Wynwood)
Pipeline
Co-Working Space
Locations: Brickell, Coral Gables, Doral
Buro
Co-Working Space
Locations: Miami Beach, Midtown, Coconut Grove, South Miami
WeWork
Co-Working Space
Locations: Brickell, South Beach, Coral Gables
Expansive
Co-Working Space
Location: Miami (Edgewater)
Forum
Co-Working Space
Location: Coral Gables
General Provision
Co-Working Space
Location: Ft Lauderdale
Startup Book Library
A World of Opportunities for Aspiring Entrepreneurs
Greg Smogard, PhD
Creating Your Own Job in the New Normal
Design Thinking
Robert Curedale
Design thinking has become the new design doing that is sweeping the globe
Disciplined Entrepreneur
Bill Aulet
24 Steps to a Successful Startup
Entrepreneur-ship for Dummies
Kathleen Allen
A comprehensive beginner’s guide covering the fundamentals of starting and running a business.
Gadget Nation
Steve Greenberg
Celebrates American inventiveness with over 100 quirky and clever gadgets, offering a fun look into the creative world of everyday innovation.
Good Capitalism, Bad Capitalism, & the Economics of Growth & Prosperity
Robert Litan & William J. Baumol
Capitalism’s success depends on balancing
Head First Object
Brett Mclaughlin, Gary Pollice, David West
A beginner’s guide to flexible, maintainable object-oriented software.
It’s Your Biz
Susan Wilson Solovic & Ellen R. Kadin
Motivational guide for women entrepreneurs starting their first business venture.
Lean Impact
Anna Mei Chang
Applies lean startup methodology to social impact ventures and mission-driven organizations.
Principles
Ray Dalio
Shares key principles of radical truth, transparency, and systematic decision-making to help individuals and organizations succeed.
Profit First
Mike Michalowicz
Revolutionary cash management system that ensures profitability from day one.
Value Proposition Design
Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur, Gregory Bernarda, and Alan Smith
Provides a practical framework to design, test, and refine products that fit customer needs.
When Coffee and Kale Compete
Alan Klement
Explains the Jobs to be Done framework, helping businesses understand customer motivations to create products that truly meet needs and drive growth.
Without Their Permission
Alexis Ohanian
A personal guide from Alexis Ohanian on leveraging the internet to create impactful businesses and communities, sharing lessons from his Reddit experience to inspire aspiring entrepreneurs.
Talking to Humans
Giff Constable
A practical guide to mastering customer interviews, helping startups vet ideas and turn insights into actionable improvements.
Teaching Entrepreneur-ship
Heidi M. Neck, Patricia G. Greene, and Candida G. Brush
Explores methodologies and frameworks for developing entrepreneurial thinking and skills.
Technion Nation
Maital
Chronicles Israel’s innovation ecosystem and the role of technology in entrepreneurship.
Testing Business Ideas
David J. Bland and Alexander Osterwalder
A practical guide to testing business ideas quickly to reduce risk, validate assumptions, and make smarter decisions.
The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Customer Development
Brant Cooper
A step-by-step guide to finding early adopters and achieving product-market fit using Lean principles.
The Future of the Professions
Richard Susskind and Daniel Susskind
Predicts how technology will transform traditional professions and create new opportunities.
The Origin of Wealth
Eric D. Beinhocker
Explores how complexity economics explains wealth creation and business innovation.
The Purpose is Profit
Ed Mclaughlin, Wyn Lydecker, and Paul McLaughlin
Shares lessons on building a successful startup through competence, funding, branding, profit, and ethics.
Side Hustle
Chris Guillebeau
Practical guide to starting a profitable side business while maintaining your day job.
Founders at Work
Jessica Livingston
A collection of candid interviews with famous tech founders revealing how they turned simple ideas into successful startups, offering insights into innovation, challenges, and business fundamentals.
Lean Analytics
Alistair Croll and Ben Yoskovitz
Lean Analytics helps startups focus on key metrics to validate ideas, find customers, and achieve product-market fit, using practical steps and real-world case studies.
Million Dollar Consulting Toolkit
Alan Weiss, PhD
Million Dollar Consulting offers step-by-step guidance for consultants to grow a million-dollar practice by attracting clients, setting fees, raising capital, and accelerating growth.
Nail It then Scale It
Nathan Furr & Paul Ahlstrom
Offers a step-by-step lean startup approach guiding entrepreneurs to avoid common mistakes by doing the right things in the right order, increasing chances of success and growth.
The Rise of the Creative Class–Revisited
Richard Florida
Examines how creativity drives economic growth and entrepreneurial opportunities
StartUp Communities
Brad Feld
Explores how to build vibrant startup communities by fostering connections, mentorship, and education, based on Brad Feld’s two decades of experience creating successful entrepreneurial ecosystems.
Nail It then Scale It
Nathan Furr & Paul Ahlstrom
Offers a step-by-step lean startup approach guiding entrepreneurs to avoid common mistakes by doing the right things in the right order, increasing chances of success and growth.
Competing Against Luck
Clayton M. Christensen, Taddy Hall, Karen Dillon, David S. Duncan
Transform innovation from a game of chance to developing products customers want to buy at premium prices
Explosive Growth
Cliff Lerner
A startup’s journey to 100 million users with practical growth tactics and lessons on product, metrics, viral marketing, and culture.
Business Model Generation
Alexander Osterwalder, Yves Pigneur
A Handbook for Visionaries, Game Changers, and Challengers
Angel
Jason Calacanis
How to Invest in Technology Startups–Timeless Advice from an Angel Investor Who Turned $100,000 into $100,000,000
Engineer to Entrepreneur
Rick De la Guardia
Success Strategies to Manage Your Career and Start Your Own Firm
Bootstrapping Your Business
Greg Gianforte
Start and Grow a Successful Company with Almost No Money
Conversational Marketing
David Cancel, Dave Gerhardt
How the World’s Fastest Growing Companies Use Chatbots to Generate Leads 24/7/365
Crossing the Chasm, 3rd Edition
Geoffrey A. Moore
Marketing and Selling Disruptive Products to Mainstream Customers
A Random Walk Down Wall Street
Burton G. Malkiel
The Time-Tested Strategy for Successful Investing
Crazy is a Compliment
Linda Rottenberg
The Power of Zigging when Everyone Else Zags
The Outsiders
William N. Thorndike Jr.
The extraordinary success of CEOs who took a radically different approach to corporate management
The Confidence Game
Maria Konnikova
An investigation into the minds, motives, and methods of con artists, and the people who fall for their cons over and over again
Entrepreneurship & Small Business Management
Steve Mariotti & Caroline Glackin
Comprehensive management guide for established businesses
A New Brand World
Scott Bedbury
8 Principles for Achieving Brand Leadership in the 21st Century
Built to Last
Jim Collins, Jerry I. Porras
Successful Habits of Visionary Companies
Big Brands Big Trouble
Jack Trout
Lessons Learned the Hard Way
Coming Jobs War
Jim Clifton
Definitive leadership strategy for fixing the American economy
Bourgeois Dignity
Deirdre N. McCloskey
Why Economics Can’t Explain the Modern World
Conscientious Equity
Neal Asbury
An American Entrepreneur’s Solutions to the World’s Greatest Problems
Conscious Capitalism Field Guide
Rajendra Sisodia
Tools for transforming your organization
Design Patterns
Erich Gamma, Richard Helm, Ralph Johnson, John Vlissides
Elements of Reusable Object-Oriented Software
Doing Business Anywhere
Thomas G. Travis
The essential guide to going global
Strategic Marketing Management
Alexander Chernev
Advanced marketing strategies for established businesses and market leaders.
Technology
Figma
Design & Prototyping
Figma is a great way to create an interactive design for your next application that you can bring to a developer.
Grass Hopper Celebration
Tech/Conference
The world’s largest gathering/conference of women and non-binary technologists.
pre.dev
Plan + Build Your Venture
Generate a development plan for your venture that includes detailed product documentation, roadmaps and customized code for your idea, all using AI.
Where ideas happen.
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