Training in entrepreneurial culture: Inria Startup Studio reinvents its F101 session in 2025

At Inria Startup Studio, supporting the creation of digital deeptech startups also means preparing project leaders to become entrepreneurs in their own right. The program’s training component was designed with this in mind: a concrete introduction to entrepreneurial culture, adapted to the specific challenges of technological innovation.
Since 2019, the training component of the Inria Startup Studio has enabled numerous entrepreneurs to familiarize themselves with the key concepts of technological entrepreneurship.
Thanks to the first version of F101 sessions entrusted to Euratechnologies Lille and EM Lyon, ISS project holders were able to acquire essential skills in innovation marketing, business design, business development, company management and much more.

In 2025, this training component is evolving to incorporate feedback from ISS entrepreneurs and offer a format better suited to the expectations of entrepreneurs and the challenges of the program.
F101 training, the central pillar of the program, will now be divided into two separate sessions: F101.1 and F101.2.

F101: actionable training, designed in two stages to suit each phase of the project

The new training version is based in particular on the F101 sessions, a basic training course in technological entrepreneurship now delivered in two parts: F101.1 and F101.2, each structured over 3 intensive days.

➤ F101.1 – Getting started (1st half of program)

This session covers the fundamentals:

• Entrepreneurial posture: moving from researcher to entrepreneur, knowing how to lead under uncertainty.
• Team building: key roles, governance, managing the first recruitments.
• Leadership & corporate culture: laying the foundations for vision, mission and collective dynamics.
• Networking: mapping and structuring your ecosystem.
• Innovation marketing: define your value proposition and target your market.
• MVP & business model: build a minimum viable product, structure your business model.
• Go to Market: design and execute your market entry strategy.

➤ F101.2 – To structure and accelerate (2nd half of program)

This second session is aimed at projects that are more advanced in their program year:

• Product & Software Development: product vision, technical management, prototyping, technological choices.
• Business Development: first sales, POC, structuring sales action plan.
• Financing: understanding financing options and steering an appropriate financial strategy.

Each session is offered twice a year, in March/April and September/October, and is now taught mainly in English to suit the program’s international profiles, while alternating with French to ensure good comprehension.

A pedagogy focused on action and exchange

In addition to theoretical content, F101 training sessions include practical case studies, testimonials from deeptech entrepreneurs and networking time between Inria Startup Studio project holders from the 9 Inria centers. These moments of sharing are essential for developing entrepreneurial reflexes and strengthening the feeling of belonging to a community.

A promising 1st edition

This new version of F101 has been entrusted to EM Lyon Venture Labs, a recognized player in training and entrepreneurial culture.
The first F101.1 and F101.2 sessions took place in April 2025 on the brand-new campus of EM Lyon, a long-standing partner of Inria Startup Studio. 54 entrepreneurs with 34 projects benefited from this new format of enriching, interactive training.

A digital resource center for continuous learning

Another new feature of the ISS program’s new training component is the gradual development of an online resource center, a veritable teaching library available to project holders. Accessible at any time, this digital space will provide ISS entrepreneurs with access to a wealth of content on the key concepts of entrepreneurship, enabling them to extend and consolidate their knowledge and progress at their own pace. Complementing the onboarding sessions, workshops, camps and F101 sessions, this resource center will complete this new version of the training component.

By revamping the training component of its program at the end of an initial operational phase, Inria Startup Studio is affirming its determination to offer ever more concrete, accessible and action-oriented support, to enable each project holder to move from his or her initial vision to a solid deeptech startup project.