PhD / Postdoc / Entrepreneurial Skills: From zero to first customers: Go-to-market for startup founders

This half-day workshop gives researchers an understanding how early-stage sales works in practice. Participants learn how to identify real buyers, secure meetings, and generate early traction before a product is finished. 
 
The session provides a concrete path to first customer engagement: defining who has buying power, who will evaluate a solution, and what triggers a purchasing decision. The focus is on early adopters, structured outreach, and building repeatable sales while the product is still evolving. 

The workshop focuses on early-stage sales for software, sustainability and engineering-driven ventures. It does not cover the sales processes typical for life-science startups. 

• How to prepare and structure discovery conversations 
• Distinguishing real buyer problems from polite interest 
• Identifying the Economic Buyer, decision-makers, influencers, and internal champions 
• Buying signals that indicate genuine commercial intent 
• How to qualify prospects without scaring them 
• Using AI for automated go-to-market action 
• Repeatable tactics for building an initial sales pipeline 
• Interpreting rejection and common “no” patterns  
• Securing first commitments (pilots, LOIs, paid trials) 

Manuel Merki, UZH Innovation Hub, Lead Startup Advice

Early career researchers of all disciplines (focus: digital, impact, tech).

Prerequisites: Idea of customer persona in one specific market + value you could provide (draft of Value Proposition). Readiness to engage in early customer-facing activities.

This workshop is part of the "Entrepreneurial skills" series, which is organized in collaboration with the UZH Innovation Hub.

A certificate of participation will be issued for each workshop. When four or more certificates are achieved, participants may request a certificate for "Entrepreneurial skills" issued by the Graduate Campus and Innovation Hub.   

1 ECTS Credit will be awarded (on request) to PhD candidates who have completed four or more workshops of the "Entrepreneurial skills" series. 

Conditions of participation