Gate 9: Sales and Marketing

Gate Overview

You’ve shaped your idea, defined your user, and developed your solution. Now it’s time to take it public. Gate 9 is about making your venture visible and valuable in the real world. It’s where your idea meets your market — through branding, marketing, and sales.

You’ll learn how to communicate your value in a clear, engaging way that gets attention and drives action. From creating your first brand identity and landing page to running marketing experiments and starting your first sales outreach, this Gate gives you the tools to start testing traction and building real customer interest.

This is not about “launching” perfectly — it’s about learning quickly what works and adapting based on data and responses from the field.

Gate Structure 

The Gate is divided into several Keys ( Themes), each focusing on a specific aspect of entrepreneurship. Each Key includes readings, discussions, practical assignments, and business-related deliverables.

Themes you will cover

To achieve this, you’ll explore the following three essential keys:

Key 1: Brand and visual Identity

Key 2 : Devise Marketing Plan

Key 3: Craft a Sales plan

Key 4 : Validate Product-Market Fit

What you will get from the Gate

Learning Objectives:

By the end of this Gate, you will:

  1. Develop a clear and consistent brand and visual identity that reflects your mission and appeals to your target customer.

  2. Create and test a simple marketing plan using real-world experiments to discover what channels and messages work best.

  3. Design and launch a sales plan that includes outreach, lead generation, and closing your first paying customers.

  4. Begin gathering real data to evaluate whether your product is getting traction and if you’re on the path to product-market fit.

You will have made your venture visible to the outside world — through a brand identity, online presence, or direct outreach. You’ll have begun experimenting with marketing messages and sales tactics to see what attracts and converts users. You will have early data on what is resonating with your audience, and possibly even your first paying customers. You’ll start to build confidence, not just in the idea — but in your ability to reach and serve real users.

Delivery System

  • Concept Notes

  • Applications Exercises of each Theme

  • Videos Explaining Each Concept by Experts and Entrepreneurs

  • Webinars to discuss the themes with students

  • Thematic Interactive Discussion with the Learners

  • Peer Evaluation

  • Mentorship Session

  • Virtual Class

  • Assessments

Your New Venture After this Gate 

Certificate and Badges

You are awarded a certificate upon completion of the gates. You’ll also receive badges upon completing an application related to a specific skill set. 

Badge 1: Brand Builder

SKILLS

  • Defining brand personality and tone

  • Creating a visual identity

  • Building a landing page or social profile

  • Producing visual and video content

  • Testing brand perception

Badge 2: Growth Experimenter

SKILLS

  • Designing a marketing hypothesis

  • Launching low-budget campaigns

  • Creating "mousetrap" landing pages

  • Interpreting campaign metrics

  • Pivoting based on campaign data

Badge 3: Sales Explorer

  • Building a lead list

  • Writing outbound emails and scripts

  • Managing a multi-touch cadence

  • Tracking sales pipeline metrics

  • A/B testing sales messages

SKILLS

Badge 4: PMF Seeker (Product-Market Fit)

SKILLS

  • Identifying signs of PMF

  • Using sales and marketing data for validation

  • Running pricing and conversion experiments

  • Building feedback loops

  • Presenting traction milestones

USE CASE

  • Shaping how your startup is seen and remembered

  • Making your venture look credible through logo, colour, and font choices

  • Launching your online presence with minimal tools

  • Communicating value using Canva, Invideo, RunwayML, etc.

  • Using feedback to refine design and messaging

  • Running focused A/B tests on message, audience, or visuals

  • Using Meta, LinkedIn, or TikTok with $20–100 to test ideas

  • Measuring real interest before full development

  • Using CTR, CPC, COCA, and conversion rates to refine approach

  • Updating messaging, offer, or audience when tests fail

USE CASE

  • Using tools like Clearbit or LinkedIn to target actual decision-makers

  • Communicating value clearly and personally

  • Sequencing outreach across email, LinkedIn, calls

  • Measuring open rates, call bookings, deal conversions

  • Finding which versions resonate with each persona

USE CASE

USE CASE

  • Knowing when you’re getting pull, not push

  • Showing real-world proof of demand and repeatability

  • Learning what customers are truly willing to pay for

  • Adapting product, pitch, and targeting based on traction

  • Preparing for pitch, fundraising, or growth phase

Real-World Applications

The skills from Gate 9 prepare learners to:

  • Generate real leads and customers — even before having a finished product

  • Build a brand presence and marketing funnel from scratch

  • Design and present a data-driven narrative around early traction

  • Join teams as sales, marketing, or growth interns

  • Present investor-credible signs of market validation

What is Required of You 

The Gate is divided into several sections, each focusing on a specific aspect of entrepreneurship. Each module includes readings, discussions, practical assignments, and assessments. 

Delivery Platform

The Gate is delivered through our online platform, Entreprenerds Space. Delegates can access the platform online or via their mobile app, allowing them to participate in the programme on the go, even offline.

How we support you 

We will provide support throughout your learning experience. Your learning Success manager will be available to support you if you have any questions or need any help. You can also schedule one session with a mentor to discuss entrepreneurship questions related to this gate.