The Startup Roadmap: Your Guide to Successfully Starting a Business

A SCORE mentor with short gray hair wearing a light blue SCORE Quad Cities shirt provides guidance to a smiling woman in a yellow M.A.D. Bakery shirt. They are seated at a desk with a laptop covered in colorful stickers, books, pens, and notes. Shelves filled with baking supplies, books, and decorations are visible in the background.

The Startup Roadmap

A Step-by-Step, How-To Guide for Starting a Business

The Startup Roadmap outlines each step in starting a business with information and resources on the most difficult tasks. It also contains tips for working with your mentor on each topic.

Start your journey

Each module of the Startup Roadmap contains:

Steps to Success: A series of steps you complete in order to move on to the next module. Each step contains concrete, actionable tasks to complete, as well as information to help you. Some steps include recommended homework; your mentor may recommend additional work.
With Your Mentor: This section provides suggested topics you can discuss with your mentor. This might include questions you can ask or recommendations on what types of mentors might be best to help you with the current topic.
Resources: Information and resources, including tools, templates, and online workshops, to help you learn more or complete the steps in that module.

To reach your destination faster, work on the Startup Roadmap with a SCORE mentor.

Like an experienced tour guide, your SCORE mentor can point out things you might otherwise miss, offer insider suggestions and shortcuts, and help you make the most of your journey.

If you dream of business ownership and want clear directions to reach your destination successfully, start the SCORE Startup Roadmap today. And if you work with a SCORE mentor, you don’t have to travel alone.

The Startup Roadmap includes these 12 modules, but you do not have to take them all or in any specific order:

The Startup Roadmap: Starting Your Journey

Congratulations on taking the first step towards starting your business! Even though many steps lie ahead, our Startup Roadmap can guide you along the journey.

The Startup Roadmap: Are You Ready to Start a Business?

In this module of the Startup Roadmap, you’ll conduct a thorough self-assessment to confirm that you have what it takes to start a business.

The Startup Roadmap: Defining and Validating Your Idea

Define and Validate Summary In this module of the Startup Roadmap, you’ll define your business idea in detail by completing SCORE’s “Simple Steps for Starting Your Business” program.

The Startup Roadmap: Business Plan or Business Model Canvas?

In this module of the Startup Roadmap, you’ll create a business plan that maps out a detailed blueprint for getting to your goal of owning a business.

bank loan application with a stamp of approval

The Startup Roadmap: Finding Funding

In this module of the Startup Roadmap, you’ll assess how much money you can contribute and how much you’ll need to get from outside sources for your startup.

The Startup Roadmap: Setting Up Your Business

In this module of the Startup Roadmap, you’ll take the first, exciting steps toward making your business plan a reality.

The Startup Roadmap: Accounting, Insurance, and Legal Considerations

In this module of the SCORE Startup Roadmap, you’ll establish your administrative and operational structure and processes.

The Startup Roadmap: Marketing Your Business

This module of the SCORE Startup Roadmap details how to market your business and find your first customers.

The Startup Roadmap: Pricing, Sales, and Distribution

Are you confused on how to price, sell and distribute your products or services for your startup? Watch this module of the Startup Roadmap for tips.

The Startup Roadmap: Setting Up Your Physical Location

Choosing your startup company’s brick-and-mortar location is a crucial decision. View this module of the Startup Roadmap for tips.

The Startup Roadmap: Staffing Your Business

In this module of the Startup Roadmap, you’ll think through the costs and benefits of hiring workers, either employees, independent contractors or both.

The Startup Roadmap: Open for Business

In this module of the Startup Roadmap, you’ll prepare for your grand opening and learn important steps to keep your business running smoothly in its first year.

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