About SVBS
We teach how business in the tech sector actually works.
Silicon Valley Business School helps ambitious professionals and founders go from idea to exit — with self-paced courses, a deep entrepreneurial knowledgebase, and AI guides built on the proven Zero-to-IPO methodology. Open to everyone, everywhere, all the time.
Meet the founder
A few minutes with David Smith
SVBS founder and author of Zero to IPO, David explains how the school came to be — and how its courses, knowledgebase and AI guides work together to get you where you’re going.
David Smith, Founder & author of “Zero to IPO”
What you get
One ecosystem, three ways we help
Tech Professional
Courses & Knowledgebase
Fourteen detailed, self-paced courses plus a reference knowledgebase covering every step of a tech startup. They go deep — the legal courses, for instance, cover enough to pass the bar exam on that topic. Prof, your AI tutor, walks you through it all, and you finish with a downloadable Certificate of Completion (PDF) you can print.
Entrepreneur
Sherpa, your startup guide
An AI guide for founders that sets your destination, maps your milestones, and tracks your momentum in real time through the Milestone Progress system.
The SVBS VR campus
Our virtual-reality campus hosts live webinars and meetings, bringing members together in a shared space to learn and connect — wherever they are in the world.
How it works
Your startup, mapped as a journey
Most startups fail. The Sherpa methodology — drawn from the Zero-to-IPO book — treats the path to a successful exit like an expedition: pick a destination, plot a route, build a team, and keep your momentum as you climb through each stage.
Seed → Early → Expansion → Mezzanine → IPO or acquisition
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1
Target your destination
Define the exit you’re aiming for — IPO, acquisition or a revenue goal.
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2
Pick your team
Assemble a lean, committed team aligned on reaching the destination.
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3
Plot your course
Map the key milestones and identify the obstacles in your way.
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4
Gather your provisions
Line up the funding, people and resources each stage requires.
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5
Maintain momentum
Keep moving and keep stakeholders engaged with steady, visible progress.
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6
Take your bearings
Check your position and progress before the cash runs low.
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7
Prepare for contingencies
Have a backup plan ready for the challenges you can see coming.
Our story
From a Silicon Valley seminar room to the world
SVBS began as a series of seminars and panels in the heart of Silicon Valley, gathering the entrepreneurs, investors and advisors who actually build and fund companies. Demand took the programs on the road — to Seattle, Mexico City, Barcelona, Montreal, Hong Kong and Auckland — revealing a worldwide thirst for practical, real-world business education.
We moved the curriculum online, recorded lectures, and built one of the most comprehensive learning systems of its kind. The “Silicon Valley Business School” trademark was granted by the USPTO in 2011, and in 2012 SVBS Co. was established as a Delaware corporation, spun out of Cambridge Manhattan Group, LLC.
Along the way, SVBS spawned Silicon Valley High School, an accredited online school now serving more than 115,000 students — and still growing.