The Women Startup Training Series was developed to empower female founders and women interested in tech-driven entrepreneurship.
Whether you’re validating your first startup concept, building an MVP or looking to strengthen your entrepreneurial skills: our training sessions provide the knowledge, tools and community to help you take your next step.
Our focus is on supporting female students, researchers and professionals with a clear interest in founding a company, developing a startup idea or joining an early-stage startup team – especially those with a technology- and innovation-driven background.
We Look Forward to Your Application
Your first step toward joining our training series is your application. We’re excited to learn more about you and your motivation! Once our team has reviewed and accepted your application, you will receive an e-mail with the next steps and an invitation to register for the upcoming training course.
Please note: Registration opens three weeks before each training and closes 48 hours before. Already accepted for this year’s series? Keep an eye on your inbox – we will notify you as soon as the next registration window opens.
This interactive 2-hour online training empowers you as an aspiring female founder and future entrepreneur to confidently step into your leadership identity.
You’ll gain clarity on your strengths, build leadership presence, and learn how to position yourself strategically for founding opportunities, co-founder matching, and mentoring. Through practical exercises and insights from our experts, this training supports your transition from “exploring” to “leading” within the startup ecosystem.
Learning Outcome:
Develop your leadership identity: Reflect on your own understanding of leadership and define an authentic leadership style as a tech founder.
Sharpen your strengths and role profile: Clearly communicate your value to teams, co-founders, mentors, and investors.
Identify and address biases: Recognize and overcome typical barriers.
Gain leadership presence: Appear confident, express your opinions, and give constructive feedback.
Grow your network of aspiring female leaders, entrepreneurs, and changemakers.
Requirements:
First leadership experiences
Self-awareness and curiosity
Commitment to completing online pre-work and engaging in self-reflection prior to the course
2. STRENGTHEN – Team Resilience & Effective Collaboration / 21.05.2026
9:00 am – 11:00 am / Online Training
Stand out through your team and culture!
But what are the essential ingredients for a thriving team culture and collaboration? This training might just be what you need to learn how to attract and enable diverse talent and steer teams toward success.
We invite all (future) female founders and (future) entrepreneurs interested in the topic of team resilience. Find out why raising a resilient & diverse team is most likely the best decision you can make for any of your endeavors.
Learning Outcome:
Align expectations and working methods with the Team Resilience Canvas.
Gain clarity on roles & responsibilities within your team and identify gaps in your founding team composition.
Recognize and address early warning signs of team conflicts.
From assumptions to evidence-based decisions through Customer Discovery & Market Validation
You have an idea, but there are still too many open questions. Who has this problem, how big is the demand, and what's the right first step? In this training you'll structure your customer discovery journey: sharpen your problem hypotheses, conduct insightful interviews, and use the Decision Canvas to turn learnings into clear decisions. You'll leave with a prioritized test plan, success criteria, and a concrete commitment to move forward with confidence.
Learning Outcome:
Specify and prioritize problem hypotheses for your venture idea.
Demonstrate market understanding and identify opportunities (push/pull strategies, business modeling).
Develop interview guidelines and collect qualitative evidence.
Apply the Decision Canvas and derive clear next steps.
Formulate experiment designs and define success criteria.
Support structured customer discovery as a co-researcher.
Connect your validation approach to TUM Founders Platform and AI tools.
Preparation for the training "4. GROW – Create & Validate".
Requirements:
Early-stage founders in the ideation or validation phase, minimum viable idea (not just thinking about entrepreneurship/founding)
Openness and engagement to interactive work
Commitment to completing online pre-work and engaging in self-reflection prior to the course
Expert:
Lisa Schebitz Program Lead XPLORE, Business Coach & Trainer
4. GROW – Create & Validate / 21.07.2026
9:00 am – 11:00 am / Online Training
Build trust first: Turn customer insights into a focused MVP!
In early-stage ventures, the fastest way to waste time and money is to build on assumptions. In this session, you will switch to customer-led growth: you start with one real customer and a persona-in-context, earn trust by listening and delivering measurable outcomes, and grow in a capital-efficient way through satisfied customers rather than sales pressure.
Using the Value Proposition Canvas as your core tool, you will turn jobs, pains, and gains into clear priorities, a focused MVP slice, and experiments that produce decision-grade evidence. You will leave with real next steps: what to build, what to test, what to measure, and how to execute.
Learning Outcome:
Apply the Value Proposition Canvas to identify and articulate customer jobs, pains, and gains.
Design a focused MVP slice and plan iterative experiments to test key assumptions.
Replace assumptions with validated insights by maintaining a structured evidence log.
Define and track traction metrics that reflect customer success and capital-efficient growth.
Structure work into clear task packages with defined ownership and measurable deliverables.
Requirements:
Attend as a team (2–4 people) with one clear focus segment
Bring a completed customer profile + BMC snapshot, VPC draft, or three customer quotes
Commit to five validation touchpoints within the next 1–2 weeks
Participation in the training "3. BUILD – Envision & Decide"
Own your capital strategy. Lead your funding journey.
In this session, you will gain a clear understanding of early-stage financing options – from grants and bootstrapping to angel investment and venture capital – and learn how to strategically align the right funding instrument with your venture’s stage, ambitions, and growth roadmap.
You will assess your investment readiness, refine your investment narrative, and strengthen your pitch materials. In addition, you will learn how to identify the right investors and understand key term sheet fundamentals — enabling you to approach fundraising and negotiations with clarity, confidence, and control.
Learning Outcome:
Gain an overview of financing options (grants, angel investors, VC, bootstrapping), understand the financing landscape and typical funding stages
Conduct a funding readiness check and identify gaps
Understand the core elements of a pitch deck and apply them to your own story
Know the investor fit criteria and research target investors
Understand the basics of term sheets and recognize red flags
Requirements:
Clear business idea or early-stage venture with defined growth ambitions
Basic understanding of your product, market, and current traction
Willingness to actively work on your funding strategy and pitch materials during the session
Expert: Jule Wilhelm, Founder of fundraising fempire, former managing director of Speedinvest Pirates
6. NEGOTIATE – Make Your Deal / 15.10.2026
9:00 am – 11:00 am / Online Training
Transform your next negotiation into a strategic win!
Your next negotiation can shape your startup’s runway, equity, and growth. In this training, founders build a clear, repeatable approach for high-stakes conversations such as co-founder equity splits, investor terms, key hires, and supplier contracts.
You will work with a proven framework built on three pillars: Interests (what truly matters to you and the other side), BATNA (your best alternative if there is no agreement), and Opening Ask (a confident, well-anchored starting point).
You will also learn how to use anchoring and fairness standards to handle objections and reach better outcomes while protecting the relationship.
Prepare 3 bullet points for your scenario: Interests, BATNA, Opening Ask
7. CONVINCE – Pitch with Confidence & Impact / 12.11.2026
9:00 am – 12:00 am / Online Training
Master the art of business storytelling and deliver pitches that inspire action!
Your pitch is your moment to shine. Whether you're presenting your research, startup idea, or project, the right pitch can secure the support you need to bring your vision to life. Strong pitching skills help you captivate your audience and inspire them to take action.
This training is part of the Women Startup Journey and equips you for critical moments in your founder journey – including co-founder matching, networking events, program applications and investor meetings.
Learning Outcomes:
Learn about the must-haves of delivering an authentic and effective pitch (deck) with confidence.
Develop effective communication strategies to connect better with your audience.
Learn how to optimize your pitch through narrative storytelling hacks.
Understand the difference between elevator pitches and stage pitches, and when to use each format.
Requirements:
Prepare a 1-minute elevator pitch (no slides required)
Whether you want to start your own company or join a startup – at our MatchLabs you’ll meet like-minded people who share your passion for innovation. As part of the Women Startup Training Series, MatchLab offers a smart search for co-founders through a curated, data-driven matching process.
How does the MatchLab work?
Onboarding & pre-selection: Create your online profile with the co-founder matchmaking tool on the Founders Platform, with algorithm-supported and curated matching based on skills, interests, values and commitment.
On-site pitch & connect events: Join MatchLab events to build real connections.
More matching opportunities: Continuous matching throughout the year (see dates & locations below).
Why does it work so well?
Quality over chance: Evidence-based matching and structured “go/no-go” decisions reduce team mismatches
Inclusive by design: Bias-aware processes ensure equal matching opportunities for all participants
No one gets left behind: Second matching rounds and ongoing support from the peer community for all participants
MatchLab Events
Women Startup MatchLab
Oct 21, 2026Networking & Matchmaking5:30 PM – 8:00 PM
