For many student founders, the jump from classroom ambition to building a real company can feel like a leap into the unknown. What starts as a great idea often runs headlong into messy realities: customer discovery, product validation, team dynamics, and relentless execution.

How to Start a Company, a SWEAT side event on 13 February, aims to strip away the myth of the overnight startup success and replace it with practical guidance, honest insight, and a dose of humour. Taking place at the Bertha Retreat from 5:30pm to 7:00pm, this session is designed both to inspire and to equip student founders with steps they can action before they ever write a pitch deck.

Hosted by LaunchLab, the incubation programme of Stellenbosch University, the clinic showcases the robust ecosystem that supports entrepreneurial minds in Stellenbosch and Cape Town – and beyond. LaunchLab helps ambitious students and early-stage ventures go from idea to impact, offering incubation support, business development services, access to funding networks, and mentoring opportunities across sectors. It has helped incubate numerous ventures, raised capital for startups, and contributed to sustainable, high-impact business creation in South Africa’s innovation landscape.

“We see so many brilliant ideas from students,” says Brandon Paschal, Deputy Director: Spin-out Companies and Funds, at LaunchLab. “But great ideas are only the beginning. What matters is turning that idea into something sustainable and real – something that customers care about and are willing to pay for.”

Sweat Equity: Not Just a Phrase

The theme of the session – why it’s called ‘sweat equity’ – is both literal and symbolic. Launching a venture takes effort: hours of customer research, endless iterations, uncomfortable conversations with sceptics, and resilience in the face of setbacks. To make that point with impact, the event includes a playful “BS Bingo” – a tongue-in-cheek exercise to help founders spot jargon, hollow promises, and empty hype that often cloaks real challenges.

“If you can’t explain your idea simply, you probably don’t understand it well enough yet,” says Paschal. “BS Bingo is about recognising buzzwords and replacing them with clear thinking –because your future customers won’t buy into fluff.”

And there’s a twist: completing the clinic and surviving the reality check earns access to the SWEAT after-party – because entrepreneurship does, after all, merit its celebrations.

Skills Before Swag

The session goes beyond motivation and buzzwords, focusing instead on practical steps for founders. Topics include validating your idea with real users, building a minimum viable product, understanding early finances, and cultivating a community that can support your growth.

“Sweat equity isn’t about glamour,” says Paschal. “It’s about the hours you put in before anyone notices – and the work you do when no one’s watching.”

This emphasis reflects LaunchLab’s broader work: helping students and early-stage founders build ventures that aren’t just investable, but truly valuable in the market and society. From workshops and bootcamps to bespoke incubation programmes and curated mentor networks, LaunchLab supports founders at every step of the “0-1” journey – moving ideas from concept to commercial reality.

EVENT DETAILS

Location: Bertha Retreat, SWEAT venue

Date: Friday, 13 February 2026

Time: 5:30 pm – 7:00 pm

Whether you’re a next-gen entrepreneur just starting out or a senior student wrestling with your first venture, How to Start a Company promises insight, inspiration, and a grounded perspective on what it takes to build something real.