Building a Successful Business
Accelerate Your Growth. Expand Your Impact.
Program Overview
This one-week program delivered on campus at Dartmouth is designed for emerging entrepreneurs who want to strengthen their business skills, accelerate growth, and better serve their customers.
During this program, participants work closely with Tuck’s accomplished faculty on the essential building blocks that entrepreneurs need for success, including strategy, marketing, financial analysis, operations, management, and leadership. Participants sharpen their skills to:
- Market effectively to the right customers and clearly showcase their value
- Read, assess, and interpret financial statements to improve cash flow and increase profitability
- Increase leadership skills to attract, motivate, and retain their most talented employees
- Design operations and logistics to effectively support the organization’s strategy
Whether participants are early in their journey or preparing to scale, this program provides the tools and confidence to drive the business forward.
Program Benefits
- Sessions are geared toward real-world application and immediate impact. Participants leave with the confidence to drive strategy and frameworks that they can carry with them throughout their lives.
- Intimate cohort sizes ensure opportunities for building meaningful connections with peers and faculty.
- Participants spend time working on the business instead of in the business, allowing them to make strategic plans without the pressures of daily life.
- For participants that join with their business partners or key direct reports, Tuck Executive Education programs create a common language and shared framework to help tackle challenges and drive action.
Sponsorships
The full price of a one-week Tuck Executive Education program is $14,000. For the Tuck Advancing Entrepreneurship Programs, more than half of this cost is charitably underwritten by Tuck. To cover the rest of the fee ($6,800), many participants receive sponsorships from the corporations that they supply or the non-profits through which they are certified. Learn more about approaching potential sponsors or obtaining a scholarship on our Sponsorships page.
Who Should Attend
For business owners looking to build a strong foundation for future high-performance.
Building a Successful Business is designed for entrepreneurs, founders, and small business owners who want to sharpen their core business skills and position their companies for long-term success. This program is for those who seek to:
- Reflect and gain a clearer perspective of their company’s strengths and improvement opportunities
- Develop a clear action plan for growth
- Gain a stronger toolkit to be an effective leader
- Join a supportive and engaged network of entrepreneurs
This program is tailored to meet the needs of small business owners and we encourage participation from entrepreneurs from underrepresented communities who traditionally have not had access to executive programming or executive training. Eligible participants should have:
- At least three years of business ownership experience
- Annual revenue of $250,000 or more
Other senior team members are also encouraged to enroll, as many companies have found that sending teams of leaders help craft a shared vision, understanding and language that heightens the immediate and long-term impact.
Cohorts by the Numbers
Participant Stories Read More Alumni Stories
Building a Successful Business was a transformative experience, not just for my business lens but for my personal growth as a leader. The depth of insight, emotional intelligence, and peer connections have reignited my sense of purpose and expanded how I think about strategy, people, and impact. It is a space where you are challenged, supported, and deeply inspired.
Nazeera Dawood
CEO at Vendorship
I have done a few executive programs, and Building a Successful Business was the best one so far. The opportunity to be on the beautiful Tuck campus and connect with the rest of these highly successful participants over an intense week of learning and bonding was life changing.
Tony Selvaggio
Founder of eSmart Recycling
As a healthcare provider, I questioned application of Building a Successful Business to what I do. I was completely surprised and overwhelmed at all I learned! It opened my eyes to how my business could be so much more than just a dental practice. The things I learned helped me be a better leader and leverage what I have to expand and grow.
Tiky Swain, DDS
Owner of Dasling Dentistry
Building a Successful Business truly transformed the way I view and run my business. I gained valuable insights, formed meaningful connections, and made friends with inspiring, successful individuals who continue to motivate me.
Arnie Pethjan
Owner of Artiste Hair Studio
Building a Successful Business had a profound impact on me—sharpening my strategic thinking, enhancing my leadership skills, and fueling my passion to continue growing my business with purpose and confidence.
Hilda Mera
Co-founder and CEO of S&A Auto Center
Program Curriculum
Your business is your case study.
Participants learn from faculty thought-leaders with deep expertise in their specialties, and share their own experiences. All learning is designed to be implemented immediately. Participants tell us they make real changes in their business within just a few weeks of attending.
The Building a Successful Business experience includes sessions on:
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Strategy
Competitive Strategy (Ramon Lacuona)
This session helps participants identify the right strategic questions, strengthen market positioning, and uncover sources of competitive advantage along the value chain.Managing Change (Alva Taylor)
This session teaches participants to lead through uncertainty and use disruption to their advantage, making opportunity for their businesses where previously they may have seen only challenges. -
Leadership
Leadership (Ella Bell Smith)
This session encourages participants to reflect on their personal leadership journeys, extract insights from formative experiences, and evaluate how their management style impacts team and business outcomes.Managing Teams (Aram Donigian)
This session teaches participants the key principles of recruiting and managing employees for success. -
Marketing
Marketing Strategy (Gail Ayala Taylor)
Taught over three sessions, Marketing Strategy builds participants’ ability to craft customer-driven marketing strategies by defining a compelling value proposition, optimizing customer mix, and leveraging satisfaction and loyalty for performance gains. -
Operations
Operations Strategy (Joseph Hall)
This session teaches participants to develop operations strategies that translate business goals into action, emphasizing process efficiency across both manufacturing and service environments.Doing Business With … (Tiffany Jones, Ladda Marshall, and Tammy Moffat)
This session gives participants insight into doing business with major corporations, as well as with Dartmouth and other higher education institutions, as a valued supplier. -
Finance
Overview of Financial Statements (Phil Stocken )
This optional session introduces the key financial statements, helping participants understand core accounting principles related to recognition, valuation, and performance measurement, as well as how to apply cost and revenue data to business decisions.Statement of Cash Flows (Phil Stocken)
This session helps participants interpret the statement of cash flows and translate income data into insights about liquidity and operating strength.Financial Statement Analysis (Phil Stocken)
This session trains participants to analyze business performance using return on assets, shareholder return, liquidity, and solvency measures, with attention to working capital and financial leverage.Financing Your Business – Preparing Pro Forma Financial Statements (Phil Stocken)
In this experiential session, participants develop projected financial statements to support planning and funding, especially in loan application contexts.Financing Your Business – Obtaining a Loan (Phil Stocken)
This session provides insight into the lender’s perspective, including how creditworthiness is assessed and what steps are required to secure business financing.
Business Action Plan
Come with a challenge. Leave with a plan.
With input and feedback from Tuck's renowned faculty and program peers, participants develop their own business action plan, applying program concepts to the strategic challenge they regard as their highest priority.
Building a Successful Business Faculty
FACULTY DIRECTOR
Gail Ayala Taylor
Clinical Professor Of Business Administration
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All of our faculty understand the daily challenges that entrepreneurs face and we translate them into plans to drive results, establish a supply-chain role, grow strategically, and increase profits.
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Ella L.J. Bell Smith
Professor of Business Administration
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Aram M. Donigian T’08
Tuck Executive Education Faculty
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Lauren S. Grewal
Assistant Professor of Business Administration
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Joseph M. Hall
Senior Associate Dean for Teaching and Learning
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Phil Stocken
Professor of Accounting
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Alva Taylor
Senior Associate Dean for Executive Learning and Associate Professor of Business Administration
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Gail Ayala Taylor
Clinical Professor Of Business Administration
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Linzie Venegas
Tuck Executive Education Faculty
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The Tuck Experience
A setting unlike any other.
Thanks to its location in the heart of northern New England, in Hanover, New Hampshire, the immersive Tuck environment offers rich opportunities to refresh yourself mentally and physically as you're learning transformative new skills.
For decades, our staff has offered every participant the personal, connected, and transformative experience for which Tuck is renowned. Our executives return to work ready to apply their new frameworks.
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Travel & Accommodations
Part of what makes our programs so transformational is our secluded location in the Still North. Tuck is located less than three hours from Boston and less than five hours from New York City. Participants stay at the iconic Hanover Inn, a historic hotel with comfortable, modern rooms, located in the center of Hanover within easy walking distance of Tuck.
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Dining
Tuck provides delicious and healthy meals, including lunch and some dinners, for participants, offering a wide variety for all tastes. Coffee, tea, and light snacks are made available each day outside of the classroom. For the meals that are not provided as part of the program, participants often gather in small groups at one of Hanover’s many in-town coffee shops and restaurants, which serve up cuisines ranging from farm-to-table American and pub fare to Cuban and Nepali dishes.
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Recreation
Participants can keep up their fitness routines with complimentary access to the Lewinstein Athletic Center or by taking advantage of our rich natural resources with a hike through one of Dartmouth’s two on-campus parks. Participants may also enjoy visiting some of the College’s most iconic sites, including Baker Library, the Hood Museum of Art, and the Hopkins Center for the Arts.
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Next Program: October 28 and November 4, 2025
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Location: Virtual Experience
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AI and Data for Strategic Advantage
Make the strategic connections you need to harness data, transform products, and implement change in your organization with this live online program.
Next Program: December 2 and 9, 2025
Tuition: $975
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Growing an Established Business
Learn to overcome the challenges that business owners often see after several years of successful growth, and gain the frameworks you need to expand your scale and scope.
Next Program: Jun 21-26, 2026
Tuition: $7,000
Location: Hanover, NH
