Training course · ChatGPT · Founders & Startups

ChatGPT for Founders and Startups

Use ChatGPT safely and productively at work: projects, custom GPTs, data analysis, Canvas and privacy settings in team workspaces.

Duration
1 day (7 hrs)
Format
Online or on-site
Language
German or English
Participants
open dates or exclusive for your team
Certificate
Certificate of attendance

Overview

This course connects ChatGPT with the everyday processes of Founders & Startups. Participants work on realistic scenarios and leave with prompts, workflows and checklists they can use straight away.

For many business teams, ChatGPT is the first AI tool they use every day – yet there is a methodical gap between asking the odd question and achieving real productivity gains. In this hands-on day you learn to apply ChatGPT deliberately to recurring work: drafting and editing text, summarising documents, analysing spreadsheets and structuring decision papers. You work with Projects that keep files and instructions together, with Canvas for reworking longer documents, and with data analysis for Excel and CSV files. Every exercise is based on genuine tasks from your own function.

The second focus is scale and responsibility. You build a custom GPT that knows your templates, tone of voice and review rules, and that colleagues across the workspace can use. We also clarify which data belongs in ChatGPT and which does not, how Team and Enterprise workspaces differ from personal accounts, and which settings matter for model training, memory and sharing. You leave with a personal prompt library, a working GPT and clear ground rules for using ChatGPT responsibly across your organisation.

Founders have to juggle many roles with a small team and limited budget: product, sales, marketing, finance, hiring and investor relations. Generative AI acts like an extra team member. It helps with market research and competitor analysis, drafts pitch decks and investor updates, writes landing pages and sales emails, structures customer interviews and supports the financial model. With vibe coding, prototypes, clickable mock-ups and internal tools come together in hours rather than weeks, so hypotheses can be tested in the market much sooner. AI agents automate lead research, onboarding emails or support replies. The key is to combine speed with critical review and to get the legal basics right from day one.

The course is delivered live – either online in a virtual classroom or on-site in our training rooms in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart and Kaiserslautern. We can also run it exclusively for your team.

Who is this course for?

  • Early-stage founders
  • Founding teams in incubators and accelerators
  • Early employees at startups
  • Corporate venturing and intrapreneurship teams
  • Solo entrepreneurs with product ideas

Typical challenges we address

  • Little time and few resources for many parallel tasks
  • Hypotheses need to be validated quickly and cheaply
  • Heavy effort for pitching, investor relations and grant applications
  • No in-house experts for legal, finance and development in the early stage

What you will be able to do

  • You write structured prompts that reliably produce usable results for your day-to-day tasks.
  • You organise your work in Projects and revise longer documents efficiently with Canvas.
  • You analyse spreadsheets and files with data analysis and critically verify the results.
  • You build a custom GPT for a recurring task and share it with your team.
  • Validate business ideas faster with AI through research, interviews and prototypes.
  • Produce pitch decks, investor updates and sales materials efficiently with AI.
  • Build simple prototypes and internal tools through vibe coding and understand their limits.

Course outline

Module 1 Foundations and effective prompting
  • How language models work: strengths, limitations and hallucinations
  • Building effective prompts with role, context, task and output format
  • Refining iteratively instead of starting over: follow-ups and correction loops
  • Choosing models and using web search and deep research appropriately
Module 2 Projects, Canvas and document work
  • Setting up Projects to group files, instructions and chats by topic
  • Summarising, comparing and interrogating long documents
  • Using Canvas to revise text and drafts section by section
  • Templates for emails, reports, minutes and presentation outlines
Module 3 Data analysis with spreadsheets and files
  • Uploading, cleaning and analysing Excel and CSV files
  • Calculating KPIs, replicating pivot logic and explaining variances
  • Generating charts and preparing them for presentations
  • Verifying results: checking calculation steps and sanity checks
Module 4 Custom GPTs for recurring tasks
  • Identifying and scoping good use cases for GPTs
  • Configuring instructions, knowledge files and conversation starters
  • Testing, improving and sharing a GPT within the workspace
  • Maintenance, change tracking for instructions and ownership in the team
Module 5 Privacy, workspaces and governance
  • Personal accounts versus Team and Enterprise workspaces
  • Settings for model training, memory, temporary chats and sharing
  • Handling personal and confidential data in line with GDPR
  • Internal usage policy and quality assurance for AI output
Module 6 Practice lab: Founders & Startups
  • Market and competitor analysis
  • Analysing customer interviews
  • Pitch decks and investor updates
  • Prototypes via vibe coding
  • Sales and marketing
  • Grants and business plans
Module 7 Data protection, quality & transfer to daily work
  • Startups must comply with the GDPR, imprint requirements and unfair competition law from the outset, for example for waitlists, newsletters and outreach. For AI-based products, the EU AI Act, copyright in generated content, code licences and the confidentiality of investor and customer data must be considered.
  • Ground rules for safe AI use in your team
  • Checking results: facts, sources, tests and the four-eyes principle
  • Personal action plan for the next 30 days
  • Open questions, outlook and resources for further learning

Practical scenarios from your field

Market and competitor analysis

AI structures market segments, target groups and competitors, derives positioning options and helps identify research sources – figures and facts are then backed up with reliable references.

Analysing customer interviews

Guides for problem interviews are created, notes are analysed for pain points, willingness to pay and quotes, and insights are condensed for the next iteration.

Pitch decks and investor updates

Storyline, slide copy and answers to typical investor questions are developed; regular updates for investors and advisers are generated from KPIs and milestones. Investors stay informed with little effort.

Prototypes via vibe coding

Landing pages, clickable prototypes and simple MVPs are built with AI coding tools to test demand and user behaviour before investing in professional development. Scaling up follows once demand is confirmed.

Sales and marketing

Ideal customer profiles, outreach sequences, website copy and social posts are written for the target audience and prepared in variants for A/B testing. Test results feed straight into the next iteration.

Grants and business plans

AI helps make sense of funding programmes, structure applications and business plans and explain financial assumptions clearly; the figures themselves are checked by an expert.

Prerequisites

Confident use of office applications and a web browser; no prior AI knowledge is required. Feel free to bring your own non-confidential sample tasks from your daily work. A startup idea or a role in a young company; no programming skills required.

Technical requirements

A laptop with an up-to-date browser and a ChatGPT account; a paid plan or access to your organisation's Team or Enterprise workspace is recommended for custom GPTs, Projects and data analysis.

Data protection & compliance

Startups must comply with the GDPR, imprint requirements and unfair competition law from the outset, for example for waitlists, newsletters and outreach. For AI-based products, the EU AI Act, copyright in generated content, code licences and the confidentiality of investor and customer data must be considered.

Suggested dates

All dates are suggestions – your preferred date is always possible.

  • Fri, 27 November 2026 Online Request
  • Tue, 1 December 2026 Augsburg Request
  • Mon, 14 December 2026 Online Request
  • Thu, 7 January 2027 Online Request
  • Fri, 22 January 2027 Kaiserslautern Request
  • Wed, 3 February 2027 Online Request

Frequently asked questions

Do I need a paid ChatGPT licence for the course?

You can follow the fundamentals with a free account. However, features such as custom GPTs, Projects with larger files and advanced data analysis are tied to paid plans or come with far more generous limits there. Ideally you join with access to your organisation's Team or Enterprise workspace, so you practise under real conditions.

May I enter confidential company data into ChatGPT?

That depends on your plan, your contractual terms and your internal policy. In Team and Enterprise workspaces, content is not used for training by default, but GDPR and confidentiality obligations still apply. In the course you learn how to classify and anonymise data and how to choose the right settings.

How is a custom GPT different from a saved prompt?

A GPT bundles persistent instructions, knowledge files and optional tools such as web search or data analysis into a dedicated assistant. Colleagues can use it without any prompting skills and get consistent results. A saved prompt, by contrast, has to be copied and supplemented with context every time, which is far more error-prone.

Can I build an MVP with AI without knowing how to code?

For landing pages, clickable prototypes and simple web apps, yes – often enough to test demand. For a scalable, secure product handling user data and payments, however, you need development expertise. The course shows where that line lies and how to hand prototypes over cleanly to developers.

Can investors tell a pitch deck was written by AI?

Generic copy stands out. What matters is that the storyline, numbers and insights come from your own work. AI helps you structure, sharpen and prepare for tough questions. In the course we practise making your story more compelling with AI without sounding interchangeable.

How much does “ChatGPT for Founders and Startups” cost?

The course costs a flat €949 plus VAT per participant – whether online or on-site. This includes 1 training day(s) with a live trainer, course materials, a lab environment and a certificate of attendance.

Can I suggest my own date?

Yes. Our suggested dates are just a guide. In the request form you can always describe your preferred date or period in free text – we check availability and confirm within one working day.

Is the course online or on-site?

Both are possible: live online in a virtual classroom or on-site in Munich, Salzburg, Berlin, Augsburg, Hanover, Bremen, Stuttgart or Kaiserslautern. We can also run the course exclusively for your team.

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