Thinking of starting a ‘web entrepreneur’ bootcamp in the Mediterranean - any good?

[brokenhill]

I’m looking into starting a bootcamp for people to learn the fundamentals of web entrepreneurship, on a sunny mediterranean island.

The idea is that it would be an intensive, on-site course of 8-10 weeks, where people who had never built a business before got a crash course in how to start and grow an internet business. Still a very rough plan at the moment, but would be something like this:

• Fundamentals of web development & how to ship websites quickly using tools like WordPress etc.
• Brand building - standing out from the crowd
• PR & Copywriting - how to convey your message and sell your products
• Facebook Ads - understanding and profiting from social media advertising
• Google AdWords - As above, but with Google
  Social Media - carving out your own part of the internet with Instagram, FB, Twitter etc.
• Data & testing - Setting up and understanding Google Analytics, A/B testing platforms etc.
• Email marketing - building a list and using it to sell

Just a first stab at the content for the time being.

The idea is that there would be a small group of ‘students’ - 20 or so - and that it would be an intense on-site 8-10 weeks, but with the lovely backdrop of the Mediterranean, so we’d organise activities and other fun things outside ‘working’ hours.

Another potential angle is doing less teaching, and then putting the students into local businesses to get real-life hands on experience executing on the things they have just learned about.

Thoughts & inevitable criticism much appreciated

 

[risensoul]

@brokenhill I suppose the obvious question is, are you an "authority" on the above bullets, or will you need assistance from others to deliver the content? Your idea seems to be a play on what I see many web entrepreneurs doing: hosting summits/retreats/seminars in exotic locations. 8-10 weeks is a long time and will probably make this not cheap. I think you'll have to be able to clearly communicate what the value is to prospective students. Have you thought about maybe creating a series of online courses (paid, or free on YouTube) on these topics first, both to market yourself and to build out your content prior to 20 in-person students looking at you to deliver what they've paid good money for? Or, are you partially relying on students to be like "I want to learn this stuff, so I might as well do it somewhere fun and exotic?" Regardless, I think you have to focus on delivering solid content.

I think the piece about the local businesses is pretty cool. A lot of it may be mom/pop type places, but it's probably a safe bet they know little/not enough about digital marketing and could use the free help.

 

[brokenhill]

@risensoul Thanks. I am an authority on some of the above bullets, but will need assistance from others on some of the content.

Yes, it likely won't be cheap. Back of a napkin calcs is looking like somewhere €5-8K. Reference point is that General Assembly charges £8K in London, and that doesn't cover anything other than the tuition.

Re: free courses, I have this one I created at the end of last year - thestartupmarketingcourse.com - which ended up being more popular than I'd anticipated. Which is part of the impetus behind this bootcamp.

Re: point on motivation of the students, I know that often people need to take themselves away from their familiar situation of work/home/friends to really learn something, and so making that 'foreign place' a lovely island with lots of sun is another benefit.

Completely agree that the content has to be great - this is a learning experience first, and a nice location second.

Thanks again for your feedback - and feel free to holler if you'd like me to elaborate on any of the above.