Workshop &
event programme
The workshop and event programme is a mandatory part of the CivTech process, designed to run alongside your product development to help you build the skills and knowledge needed to develop both your MVP and a scalable product-led business.
It’s a unique and exceptional programme that’s been refined over many CivTech cohorts. Our workshops are delivered by outstanding people with real and current experience in their field — these are not trainers, they are people who’ve been there, done it, and continue to do so.
Exploration Stage | Accelerator Stage
Accelerator Stage
Week 1
📣 Welcome to the Accelerator
An in-person day to welcome you to the CivTech Accelerator Stage, and a briefing on what to expect over the next four months. You’ll meet the rest of your cohort, learn about their Challenges and solutions, and how you can support one another on this shared journey. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
📣 Programme Overview and Briefing
Our Accelerator Lead will talk you through the Accelerator programme, before asking all your team members to set out the skills and experience they bring to the cohort, what you hope to get out of the programme, and identify any gaps that might need to be filled with additional workshops, support and mentoring. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
🎓 Workshop: The Value Proposition
Your value proposition — or how you articulate a differentiated benefit to your customer — should be your guiding light when making every decision about your product. Using lots of real-world examples this workshop helps you create some clarity around that proposition, and explores the different ways value can flow between a product, its customers and users. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
🎓 Workshop: Mission, Vision, Values
Companies with a strong Mission, Vision and Values allied to a clear strategic plan outperform those that do not. In this unique workshop you'll get the chance to find out why this is, and what you can do to develop the kind of Mission, Vision and Value statements that will serve you best — and then act of them. It also forms a key lead-in to the Branding and Company Narrative workshops later in the programme. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
👍 Checkgate 1 meetings
Approximately every four weeks through the Accelerator you’ll meet with your Challenge Sponsors and members of the CivTech team to formally review progress and plans, discuss remedies to any issues or blockers, and agree the next stage payment. During this first Checkgate meeting we’ll review your development plan and the support needed from your Challenge Sponsor, making sure you’re off to the best possible start. Mandatory, delivered online.
💬 Workshop programme one-to-one planning sessions
The majority of our Accelerator workshops are mandatory, and we expect every team to send at least one person along. During this one-to-one planning session we’ll discuss and agree which members of your team are likely to get most value from each workshop, and any areas where additional support could be targeted. We may in some circumstances — and when there is good reason — agree for you to forgo certain workshops (but don’t bank on it, no matter your experience there’s always something you can learn or contribute). Mandatory, delivered online.
Week 2
🎓 Workshop: Agile Methodology, Continuous Delivery and Team Roles
When building products as quickly and flexibly as we expect our CivTech teams to, an agile approach is essential. Delivered by a highly experienced coach, this workshop will show you how agile works in principle and is applied in practice — including a close look at the key roles across an agile team. Mandatory, delivered online.
🎓 Workshop: Cyber Security Intro
Cyber security is vital for growing businesses, for the citizen, and the public sector. All expect and need data protection and security — and legislation demands it. Beyond the basics and the legal requirements, it’s often hard to fully grasp the challenge. This workshop looks at cyber security first principles: how it impacts tech SMEs, the statutory requirements, additional public sector requirements and the citizen’s expectations and awareness. Mandatory, delivered online.
🎓 Workshop: Lean Start-up and Growth Hacking Intro
This workshop kicks off with a look at the Lean Start-up approach and how it can be used to validate your approach as early as possible, with minimum risk and investment. It then moves on to introduce several fundamental building blocks which can be used by a business of any shape or size to rapidly analyse customer behaviour and get a proper, measurable handle on growth: customer acquisition costs, customer lifetime value, cohort analysis and the sales funnel. Mandatory, delivered online.
💬 Cyber Security one-to-ones
Following on from the introductory cyber security workshop, our experts will spend time with each team taking a deep dive into their specific plans, and provide pointers on how to ensure security is baked in at every stage of product development. Some — where cyber security is particularly pertinent — will also be invited to a second one-to-one session in Week 4. Mandatory, delivered online.
Week 3
🎓 Workshop: Health & Wellbeing
Starting a company and building a new product can be hugely exciting and rewarding, but that excitement often comes with a significant amount of pressure and stress. So let’s pause for a moment to consider our own wellbeing and of those working with us, and explore some simple measures that could maintain balance and avoid burnout. Mandatory, delivered online.
👏 Two-minute updates
Every couple of weeks the whole cohort gets together to share a quick update on progress: what’s gone well, what’s keeping you awake at night, and anything you need some help with. This is a great opportunity to draw on the expertise of your fellow teams (and sometimes share your pain!). Mandatory, delivered online.
📣 Information Commissioner’s Office Briefing
This briefing from ICO's Innovation Hub will discuss the data protection regulatory environment and outline the packages of mentoring and support available to CivTech companies. Optional, delivered online.
Week 4
💬 Cyber Security follow-up one-to-ones
Building on prior sessions, additional guidance is provided by our Cyber experts to those companies in most need of support and input. Mandatory for selected teams, delivered online.
Week 5
🎓 Workshop: Public Sector Procurement and Building your Pre-commercial Proposal
The public sector in Scotland spends over £800m a year on digital products and services, and there is an ambition to spend a significant proportion of this with SMEs. But SMEs often have misconceptions and misunderstand how the public sector works. This workshop will map out the landscape, suggest ways you can navigate it, and how you might structure and present your proposal for a Pre-Commercial Agreement with your Challenge Sponsor. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
🎓 Workshop: Brand and the Company Narrative
These days the company story — or narrative — is all-important: your brand and logo are really just a couple of the manifestations of your wider identity. This workshop looks at how you develop your company’s story and deploy it through a coherent set of assets, including your brand. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
👏 Two-minute updates
Another fortnightly check-in with your fellow teams. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
🎓 Workshop: Business Modelling introduction
Business modelling and planning are key elements to successful growth, and the Opportunity Matrix is a highly sophisticated and extremely robust approach to developing these things. It turns received wisdom about how you model and plan on its head, developing a clearly articulated understanding of the proposition, USPs, competition, product possibilities, with hard-numbered outputs in regard to all potential revenues streams. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
🎓 Workshop: Content Marketing and Growth Hacking
Blogging and social media can provide efficient ways to reach your target audiences, and help you become thought leaders in your field. But how do you strategise your approach to inbound marketing? How do you manage it, and what does it take to do it well. How does it fit with a wider sales process? And how do you ensure your brand and personal reputation are as effective as possible — and kept that way? Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
Week 6
💬 Content Marketing and Growth Hacking one-to-ones
Following directly on from the previous workshop, each team will spend an hour one-to-one with our workshop leader exploring how these ideas and techniques can be applied to their products and businesses. Mandatory, delivered online.
💬 Accessibility and User Research one-to-ones
Following on from the Exploration stage workshop, you’ll spend time with the Scottish Government user research and accessibility experts discussing your specific plans and any considerations particular to your product. Mandatory for selected teams, delivered online.
💬 Business Modelling one-to-ones
Following on from the introduction workshop, you’ll spend an hour one-to-one with our workshop leader applying what you’ve learned to your product and business. Mandatory, delivered online.
👍 Checkgate 2 meetings
The second of our formal Checkgate meetings, where we’ll review progress and plans, resolve any outstanding issues, and agree release of the next stage payment. Mandatory, delivered online.
Week 7
📣 Meet the Technical Architects
Towards the end of the Accelerator — and if you move into the Pre-Commercial Stage — your technical development work and future plans will be reviewed by one of our Technical Architects. This short session introduces you to that team and the upcoming process, and provides an opportunity to ask questions. Mandatory, delivered online.
🎓 Workshop: The 360º Bottom Line
Figuring out the benefits of a new product or service is vital when going after new investment and contracts. There are the obvious hits such as economic benefits, cost efficiencies, cost savings. But focussing on only these means people sometimes get hamstrung by pre-determined thinking, and while these things are undoubtedly important, they can obscure other benefits, some of which may be even more important in building business cases for further investment. CivTech has developed a radical but robust system for looking at the benefits in the round – the 360 Bottom Line. Mandatory, delivered online.
👏 Two-minute updates
Another fortnightly check-in with your fellow teams. Mandatory, delivered online.
💬 Brand and the Company Narrative one-to-ones
Following on from the introductory session, you’ll spend an hour one-to-one with our branding experts looking at your business and product. Mandatory, delivered online.
💬 Beyond Demo Day: Your Next 10 Customers one-to-ones
Building on and drawing together the learnings from many of the workshops already delivered, you’ll spend a couple of hours one-to-one with our experts unpacking your business model and exploring how you’ll position and promote your product to customers post-CivTech. These sessions feed into a group in-person workshop which takes place in Week 9. Mandatory, delivered online.
Week 8
🎓 Workshop: Scaling Beyond CivTech
A key lesson from previous CivTech challenges is that success doesn’t end with a great pitch at Demo Day — real impact comes from planning early for what happens after CivTech. Past teams that scaled effectively focused on validating their solution with real users beyond the pilot, understanding the procurement landscape, and building the operational capability needed for growth. This session will set out the key things you should consider during design of your solution. We will also talk about the successes and challenges of previous Challenges to help you prepare for life beyond CivTech. Mandatory, delivered online.
🎓 Workshop: The PCA process — a company perspective
The founders of a company who have successfully completed CivTech will talk about the Pre-Commercial application and development phases, and subsequently taking their product to market. They’ll answer questions about their experience, and offer advice on how, from a Company’s perspective, you can make the most of the post-Accelerator stages. Mandatory, delivered online.
💬 Business Modelling follow-up one-to-ones
Following on from the introductory workshop and first set of one-to-ones, you’ll spend another hour with our workshop leader developing your business model and Opportunity Matrix. Mandatory, delivered online.
🎓 Workshop: Building a Winning Team
A session about building your first board, and a winning team, covering several high-traffic areas for high-tech startups, including considerations for board make-up, IR35 regulations, freelancers and worker status, recruitment and retention strategies. Mandatory, delivered online.
Week 9
🎓 Workshop: Presentations Skills 1
As Demo Day is approaches, you’ll need to be able to deliver a compelling presentation. Through a series of three group workshops and an one-to-one session, you'll start building the skills and knowhow to really nail a great pitch. Teams will be split into groups so they can collaborate, exchange ideas, and push and encourage each other. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
👏 Two-minute updates
Another fortnightly check-in with your fellow teams. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
🔥 Fireside Chat
Details will be announced closer to the time. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
🎓 Workshop: Beyond Demo Day: Your Next 10 Customers
Building on the one-to-one sessions in week 7, you’ll come together and work as a group to reassess your business model, explore new markets, and develop a compelling value proposition for future growth. This is more than just a workshop; it’s an opportunity to pause, reflect, and pivot towards a commercially viable future. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
Week 10
🎓 Workshop: Investment 101 — The Founder’s Perspective
Investment from the founders’ point-of-view: is it right for you? How does it compare to other potential sources of capital? What are the different kinds of investors? What are the opportunities and potential pitfalls? How should you expect to your company to change after investment? Mandatory, delivered online.
🎓 Workshop: Alternative Fundraising Models
This workshop explores how founders who wish to pursue a different path — or are building companies with an ethos that doesn’t naturally lend itself to traditional investment approaches — can raise the required capital. Mandatory, delivered online.
🎓 Workshop: Financial Planning, Fundraising and Tax
Getting your finances in order before considering investment is crucial, as is planning properly for what happens after you’ve raised — and the tax angle can be just as important. This workshop with our finance experts will give you insight into everything you need to consider. Mandatory, delivered online.
Week 11
🎓 Workshop: Intro to Intellectual Property
The workshop will outline the main types of intellectual property and the practical steps companies can take to protect them. It will highlight what early‑stage businesses should keep in mind when negotiating contracts that involve IP, and dealing with IP in practice. It will also cover the common pitfalls companies face in managing their IP, such as failing to document ownership, overlooking third‑party rights, or disclosing ideas too early. Mandatory, delivered online.
🎓 Workshop: Health & Wellbeing Follow-up
Starting a company and building a new product can be hugely exciting and rewarding, but that excitement often comes with a significant amount of pressure and stress. So let’s pause for a moment to consider our own wellbeing and of those working with us, and explore some simple measures that could maintain balance and avoid burnout. Mandatory, delivered online.
🎓 Workshop: Slide Deck Development introduction
You’re rapidly heading towards Demo Day, with an audience of public sector buyers and private sector investors. You need to be able to present, but you’ll also need a great slide deck. This workshop will help you support your pitch with a set of visuals that strengthen — not detract from — your key messages. Mandatory, delivered online.
👏 Two-minute updates
Another fortnightly check-in with your fellow teams. Mandatory, delivered online.
👍 Checkgate 3 meetings
The third of our formal Checkgate meetings, where we’ll review progress and plans, resolve any outstanding issues, and agree release of the next stage payment. Mandatory, delivered online.
Week 12
🎓 Workshops: Presentations Skills 2
The second set of presentation workshops, preparing you to pitch at Demo Day Mandatory, delivered online.
Week 13
💬 Slide Deck Development one-to-ones
Following on from the intro workshop, each team spends time with our workshop leader developing their Demo Day slide deck. Mandatory, delivered online.
🕹️ MVP Demos
As we’re nearing the end of the Accelerator, this session brings the cohort together in-person and gives each team the opportunity to show off what they’ve achieved so far. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
🎓 Workshop: Networking 101
Throughout the CivTech process, there are many opportunities to build new connections. The value you get out of these will to a great extent depend on your willingness to approach strangers and strike up a conversation. This short, informal session provides some invaluable tips to help you step outside your comfort zone. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
🎓 Workshop: Sales Strategy introduction
In a world of surgically-targeted online advertising and meticulously-measured content marketing, well-proven traditional sales techniques can be too easily forgotten. This workshop takes us back to the very basics of selling, negotiating and closing a deal. Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
💬 Legal one-to-ones
Another opportunity to meet with our legal experts, for advice on company law, investment and intellectual property. Optional, delivered online.
Week 14
💬 Slide Deck Development one-to-ones
Following on from the previous workshop and one-to-one session, each team will spend time with our workshop leader finalising their Demo Day slide deck. Mandatory, delivered online.
🎓 Workshops: Presentations Skills 3
The second set of presentation workshops, preparing you to pitch at Demo Day. Mandatory, delivered online.
💬 Sales Strategy one-to-ones
Building on the introductory workshop the previous week, our workshop leaders will spend an hour with each team helping you refine your sales approach and techniques. Mandatory, delivered online.
👍 Checkgate 4 meetings
The fourth of our formal Checkgate meetings, where we’ll review progress and plans, resolve any outstanding issues, and agree release of the next stage payment. Mandatory, delivered online.
Week 15
💬 Slide Deck Development one-to-ones
Following on from the previous workshop and one-to-one session, each team will spend time with our workshop leader finalising their Demo Day slide deck. Mandatory, delivered online.
💬 Presentation Skills one-to-ones
Following the group workshops, our presentation coach will spend an hour one-on-one with each presenter refining your script and providing some final guidance on delivery. Mandatory, delivered online.
👏 Two-minute updates
The last fortnightly check-in with your fellow teams. Mandatory, delivered online.
Demo Day
🎤 Rehearsals
The week before the event you’ll be asked to join an online session to run through your pitch and receive some final feedback. Then, on the the day before the event itself, you’ll have the opportunity to practice your pitch on stage in front of the cohort. Mandatory, first session delivered online, second session in-person in Edinburgh.
🎉 Demo Day
It’s arrived. You're ready. Let's do this! Mandatory, delivered in-person in Edinburgh.
Post-Accelerator
The Accelerator’s over but the support continues..
During the final weeks of the Accelerator most teams will have focussed on delivery of their MVP and preparations for Demo Day. Now that’s over, many could benefit from a bit of additional support or coaching from our workshop leaders. So, during this period we can arrange additional one-on-one support, including in the following areas:
Business planning
Selling
Brand and the Company Narrative
Growth Hacking and Content Marketing
Investment
Also, as a team that’s successfully completed the CivTech programme we’ll connect you with the rest of our Alumni where you can keep sharing ideas and providing mutual support.