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Frequently Asked Questions
Do I need a project or business idea before joining the program?
No. One of the main reasons we created Uprise Academy was to help people to find their direction and turn it into a career opportunity. We exist to help people that don’t know how to escape their respectable, corporate careers. Often, people with existing well-formed business ideas will benefit other options instead of joining Uprise Academy.
Who are the other people selected for the program, and how are they selected?
The best way to get a feel for the people we select is to view our Alumni Page . Generally, we’re looking for people that are ready to commit to a big change in their careers. People that are willing to try new things, put themselves into uncomfortable situations, and who want to give as much to the community as they want to receive.
If you’re inspired by solving big problems, doing things that have meaning to you, or just doing work that makes you feel alive – then Uprise Academy is a great place for you.
Our applicants typically have a minimum of three years of professional experience and often come from backgrounds in Law, Management, Finance, Engineering, Marketing, HR, Creative Agencies and more.
All united by the feeling that “there’s got to be more to life than this” and a willingness to take action on it by following their own path.
What's the application process?
First, you'll complete an invite request; where we'll learn more about your motivations and review your Linkedin profile.
If you're application is strong, you'll do an interview with us, online over video-call. This is a good opportunity for you to ask us questions too.
We will make selections for our cohort after the interview. If you're selected, you'll be able to confirm your spot and join a program.
This application process ensures we only select the right people, we ensure an amazing cohort and program for you. It also ensures that we reject those who aren't ready for the difficult, and exciting, journey of making your own path.
Why should I choose Uprise Academy instead of traditional institutions like Harvard/Cambridge?
If you want the same outcomes as everyone else, then you should apply to the same MBAs as everyone else. If you want different results, come to us. We actually think you’re already looking at what we do because you know you don’t want to do the same thing as everyone else.
We only focus on helping you to create an unconventional career, by finding what is meaningful to yourself – and then getting you the best tools and support to make it happen. How?
- A select community from around the world, all highly capable and willing to take action on what makes them come alive
- 1on1 coaching from real entrepreneurs only – all of whom have successfully launched their own startup or personal brand, and have unconventional life stories
- A new direction grounded in something you're passionate about.So you actually motivated by your work and don’t feel like Bill Murray in groundhog day
- The skills and habits to launch a remarkable career.So you never have to take someone else path or work towards someone else’s goals again
Do you only have one curriculum and how do you make it relevant to me?
Yes, each of our programs follows the same curriculum.
The way we make the programs relevant to each person is that - once you’ve defined your direction within the first 10 days of the program - we connect you with a coach that aligns with this.
Our coaches come from a range of professional and educational backgrounds and each of them has first-hand experience in at least one of these areas:
- Founding a company
- Working at successful mission-driven startups
- Launching their personal brand
Many of them have founded multiple companies and can help you to navigate your chosen path. We’re also currently building partnerships with a number of accelerators, recruiters, and investors to help you continue your journey after the program.
What If I don’t want to start my own company?
You don’t have to. Our program has four main outcomes:
- Found your own company
- Join a startup aligned with your direction
- Launch your personal brand
- Begin your side hustle successfully
Founding a company is just one of the ways you can create a remarkable career.Our program and our coaches are set up to help you to achieve the outcome that moves you towards your potential.You can read more about our outcomes on this page.
What kinds of businesses are created?
You can view a selection of our alumni’s companies on our community page.
Because our program is designed to help people to pursue what they see as their potential it means our alumni have gone on to pursue careers in a range of entrepreneurial fields including:
- Mission driven startups
- Freelance creative careers
- Tech Products & Services
- Environmental causes
- Innovation consulting
Our outcomes can be distilled into four areas:
- Working at mission-driven startups
- Launching personal brands
- Launching your own company
- Starting successful side-hustles
What are the outcomes of past alumni?
Each of our alumni have gone on to achieve one of the following outcomes:
- Founded a company
- Joined a startup aligned with their direction
- Launched a personal brand
- Began successful side-hustles
94% of our alumni are in one of these careers within 6 months of their programs ending. You can learn more about our alumni, in their own words, on our Alumni Page.
How will this help me to escape my current career?
Our program is designed to overcome the most common barriers that confront highly capable professionals in conventional careers:
- An uninspiring support network
- A lack of clear vision and direction
- The lack of entrepreneurial skills to create the career you want
- No coaching, mentoring, or guidance from experienced entrepreneurs
- A lot of misinformation about entrepreneurial and mission-driven careers
As well as giving you the skills, support, and mindset to escape your current career we also have partnerships that provide support once you graduate. These include:
- Access to on-going expert mentoring and support
- Opportunities to seek investment in your product/service
- Talent recruitment for startups
- Access to discounts and resources
- Alumni events
What exactly happens post-program, how will I be supported?
You’ll become part of an alumni community that will provide support and opportunities for your ongoing journey. That’s currently 170 highly select professionals from over 25 countries, and growing fast, each of whom have done a program and are on the way to remarkable careers.
The alumni community includes access to team mentoring chats, P2P online events, summits around the world and our directory of remarkable people.
We’re also currently building partnerships with a number of accelerators, recruiters, and investors to support your post-program experience.
What happens in the interview?
The interview itself is a 20 minute online video call , where we’ll ask you screening questions and you’ll have the opportunity to ask us your questions too.
We make decisions on who to select for the programs every 15 interviews we do. We select
5 people from every 15 interviews
as we’ve found this
is the right balance
to let enough people in, while keeping the community high quality.
How do we select people?
We select people based on 4 attributes; ambition, capability, openness and warmth.
AMBITION: we check this through your written application to us. Are you motivated by the right things and do you dare to follow your own path by taking bold action?
CAPABILITY: We use your Linkedin profile to see this. Are you someone who is able to make things happen? Do you have real experience and tangible skills? We aren’t naive – doing things differently is hard, so we only accept people who are highly capable
OPENNESS: We look for this on interview. Are you someone who’s open to being wrong, are you curios and looking to grow fast?
WARMTH: We also use the interview for this. There is no point in building a community of remarkable people if we can’t make friends within that group. So – are you someone who doesn’t take themselves too seriously all the time, and can have good conversations?
What’s the cohort size?
Each cohort is between 20 and 30 people.
We do this size because we’ve seen from running 7 programs on-site that, any bigger, and the quality of interaction tends to decline.
While the cohort size is up to 30, each of our live workshops is limited to 16 people, to ensure an intimate and highly conversational experience with our facilitators and each other.