Content is split into modules that mirror the major interest areas involved in exploring whether nor not to start a business. Individuals interested in simply evaluating an idea will find the Opportunity Analysis module a useful guide, while others may wish to work through all the modules for a more comprehensive overview. 

In a similar fashion, you may be visiting Enterpriser with a specific question you wish answered. Our program is sufficiently detailed that you should either find the answer here or find a link to another site that will provide the information you require. From our home page, simply click into the module that seems closest to the area you are inquiring about, or conduct a search of the site using the Search function at the top of the screen.

Some say that there is no better introduction to all aspects of business than starting a new venture. You must master to some extent, finance, marketing, operations and personnel management. A guide to starting a business spans many different areas of content, without bogging down in academic detail or becoming too thinly spread.

We have tried to achieve this balance by mixing content tested in our classrooms with adult learners - mainly skill based learning - with the great reach of the Internet, to provide answers to those seeking detailed, nuts and bolts, information. 

For example, we try to show the learner what questions to ask when analyzing a business opportunity, and some methods that can be used to answer those questions. When the need to acquire specific facts about the characteristics of that opportunity arises, Enterpriser points to other web sites that may contain the specialized answers the learner requires. 

Likewise, we have dubbed areas such as Insurance for New Ventures as 'Twisters' throughout our modules. Twisters are often introduced by a general discussion and then a reference to a site on the net that can provide more specialized, up to date and detailed, information than we could ever hope to. 

Be warned that we have a bias for the basics.

We don't tell you how to dress for success, how to decorate your office, what pencils to buy or what business card colours project the most power.

We do try to give you a series of filters, tips, grids, structures and templates to run your idea through, to transform it from just an idea, to a business with an improved chance of success. 

Modules in this beta version of Enterpriser:

1. Analysing a Business Opportunity
   Provides a useful screening mechanism for assessing whether nor not a business idea will meet your objectives. You will be introduced to the "4Ms" and encouraged to apply them to your business idea.
2. Composing a Business Plan
   Examines the various sections that make up a conventional planning document.
   You will be introduced to both the structure of the plan and the business fundamentals of each area to be discussed within the structure.
3. Financing
   Perhaps the biggest roadblock facing many new ventures. This area is riddled with myths and inconsistencies. The purpose of this module is to help you identify which funding sources are feasible, how they should be approached and what type of financing relationship you should define with them.
4. Marketing Strategy
   Stressing the conventional 4p approach, supplemented by coverage of the vast array of new promotional media that have emerged in the past five years.
5. Red Tape
   Presented in a checklist form, this module identifies the major regulatory and legal issues that the new venture will face  .
6. Start Up Check List
   Allows you to review the information from the previous modules in a list form, to ensure that you have taken care of business before you start your venture. Click into this module before starting up.
7. April Newberry Diary
   Accompanies all modules, allowing you to observe the experience of an average person trying to start a business.
8. Portfolio Learning Tool
   A series of templates you can use to record information, thoughts and ideas in tested formats. These help you filter your  work so that you only focus on the important information. 

• an overview of the module in schematic form
• content oriented toward showing the learner processes and skills, rather than factoids 
• mini cases that describe what other entrepreneurs have experienced
• a core case, showing how the learning in the current module could be used  in a hypothetical situation. Our core case will be that of April Newberry, a person just like yourself whom you will come to know in detail as you make your way through the modules 
• asummary of the modules main points 
• hot links to a wide range of sites that may prove helpful 
• links to PORTFOLIO, our interactive tool, throughout the module