About this Event
Validate Your Startup Idea: Private Market and Business Vetting Session (3h)
About your mentor
Lena Baudo is a marketing strategist, startup mentor, and entrepreneur with 15 years of experience (including brands like Google, Microsoft, and Forrester). She has worked with more than 50 B2B and B2C companies across North America, Europe and Asia, helping them refine positioning, validate demand, and build go-to-market strategies that drive measurable growth. She also works as a startup mentor in accelerators and a university lecturer, supporting founders in turning early-stage ideas into validated and scalable business opportunities. In her work with founders, Lena focuses on helping teams cut through assumptions, clarify market reality, and make confident go or no-go decisions on their ideas. LinkedIn
What this session is
This is a private, hands-on working session designed to help you validate your business idea with clarity and structure.
It is fully tailored to your project and focused on helping you move from assumptions to evidence-based decisions.
You will leave with a clear direction: launch, pivot, or stop.
“Lena delivered a terrific marketing strategies session to our startup accelerator cohort, providing strong insights on marketing campaigns, messaging, branding, and budget allocation.”
Elan, Senior Program Manager, SOSA Startup Accelerator
“Very data-driven and structured in her approach. Lena brings clarity to GTM discussions and provides practical, actionable input. Highly recommend working with her on strategic topics.”
Martin Jancura, CEO, iTranSys
Session agenda
1. Alignment and objectives (20 min)
Clarify your business idea and assumptions
Align on expectations and goals for the session
2. Market reality check (25 min)
Identify gaps between assumptions and real demand
Distinguish interest from willingness to pay
Highlight early blind spots
3. Market validation framework (40 min)
Problem clarity
Target customer definition
Competitive landscape
Demand signals
Market size realism
4. Startup risk analysis (30 min)
Market risk
Customer adoption risk
Execution risk
Timing risk
Completion of a structured scorecard
5. Strategic working session (50 min)
Build a market validation map
Refine positioning
Identify key assumptions to test
6. Live advisory and feedback (30 min)
Personalized feedback on your idea
Challenge assumptions and refine direction
Answer key strategic questions
7. Decision and next steps (15 min)
Define next steps
Decision framework: launch, pivot, or pause
Action plan based on your specific case
Who this is for
Co-founders working on a startup
Small teams validating a product or idea
Solo founders seeking expert validation
Available in English or French
What you will walk away with
A validated or clearly challenged business idea
A realistic understanding of your market
A prioritized list of next actions
A clear decision on what to do next
Event venue & nearby stays
Anticafe, 294 Sainte-Catherine O, Montreal, Canada
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