PRACTICAL CYBERSECURITY SKILLS

The Cybersecurity Launchpad

Designed for busy professionals establishing their company's defences—structured, practical, and accountability-driven.

Choose your path

Choosing Your Path: Fundamentals or Functionality

Start with the essentials, or choose a stream designed to address your specific cybersecurity challenges.

Foundations 01

One session, 3-hours, all essentials. The starting point for each tailored stream. You’ll leave the session with the ability to create a draft risk heatmap and start establishing your security roadmap.

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Tailored Streams

Three specialized streams, each made up of six hands-on sessions, totalling 18 hours of live instruction. For professionals launching or leading their organization’s internal security program.

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Address your Specific Security Challenges

Which Pathway is Best for Your Business?

Secure Dev Basics Stream

What it is:

Focused on developers and QA, this stream weaves security into your software development lifecycle.
You’ll learn lightweight threat modeling, how to address the most common vulnerabilities, and how to add automated security checks to CI/CD pipelines.

Why take it:

If you want your dev team to ship fast without shipping risk, this is the toolkit.
If you want to avoid embarrassing vulnerabilities, improve code quality, and build confidence with both leadership and customers that security is “built-in, not bolted-on.”
Eligible for 50% reimbursement through CAPG funding support

Learn more about streams by clicking here.

Supply Chain Guardrails Stream

This Stream:

Will lock down your software supply chain.
Combines secure SDLC practices with CI/CD hardening, evidence collection, and runbooks for repeatable workflows.

Why take it:

Modern attacks often hit through dependencies, pipelines, or vendors. This stream gives you the guardrails to catch issues early, prove hygiene to auditors/customers, and prevent supply-chain risk from becoming a single point of failure.
Eligible for 50% reimbursement through CAPG funding support

Learn more about streams by clicking here.

Compliance Kickstart Stream

What it is:

The Compliance Kickstart Stream gives you the foundations to tackle compliance requirements head-on.
You’ll walk away with draft policies, a vendor risk approach, and a gap snapshot against SOC2/ISO, all supported by evidence collection practices.

Why take it:

If you’re getting hit with security questionnaires from customers or starting to think about SOC2/ISO certification, this gets you moving quickly without drowning in complexity.
It’s a pragmatic on-ramp that turns compliance from a blocker into a business enabler.
Eligible for 50% reimbursement through CAPG funding support

Learn more about streams by clicking here.

Foundations 01 Introductory Session

What it is:

The Foundations 01 Session is the mandatory starting point for all our tailored streams, but it's also a powerful standalone session.
It introduces the essential building blocks of security: Why it matters, the CIA Triad (Confidentiality, Integrity, Availability), common threats, and the basics of risk.
You’ll leave the session with the ability to create a draft risk heatmap and start establishing your security roadmap.

Why take it?

If you’re new to security or building a program from scratch, this session gives you the shared vocabulary and mindset to understand risks and talk about them with your team. It’s the foundation for everything else.
Consider it your chance to sample the learning style and ensure you have the mindset and language to get the most out of a specialized 6-session stream.

Learn more about the Foundations 01 Session by clicking here.

What will I get out of this program? 

Final outcomes for The Cybersecurity Launchpad, by path:

Secure Dev Basics: Threat‑aware user stories, practical vuln fixes, CI gates + checklists.
Supply Chain Guardrails: Evidence-rich CI and runbooks for repeatable, auditable supply-chain hygiene.
Compliance Kickstart: Clear policy set, vendor approach nailed, gap snapshot, and evidence engine.

The Foundations 01 Session: Vocabulary and mindset to understand risks and talk about them, and the ability to create a draft risk heatmap to start establishing your security roadmap.

Regardless of which stream you choose, you can be confident that all of them are:

Blending real-world action with foundational knowledge
Rooted in critical thinking, systems thinking, and adaptive security practices
Built around the OPAR model (Orientation, Provocation, Action, Reflection) striking a balance between theoretical and practical application
Designed for busy professionals—structured, practical, and accountability-driven

Greg Hart

Greg is a super-connected entrepreneur, visionary and essential part of The InceptionU founding and facilitation team. He is also the Founder and CEO of Future Fit Cities. His expertise in design and critical thinking is a core component of the experiences he designs for both organizations.

Greg is a sessional lecturer at the University of Calgary and has personally assessed nearly 200 design solutions for companies in various industries ranging from software development to tech manufacturing and heavy industry.

InceptionU Programming Testimonials

Where did InceptionU help me? I mean, where did they not help me. But I think the biggest thing is learning to be able to adapt to everchanging requirements that we'll encounter in any future project. They helped me rewire my entire way of thinking. You may not know that answers now, but you can find out. And that makes me feel like I am ready for basically anything the world can throw at me.

Henry Ha

Developer

What really impressed me with the InceptionU learners is that they are presented with real-world problems and challenges. The students are then tasked with addressing these problems and present their solutions. That's someone who I want to put in front of a client.

Kahled Elbitar

CEO, Solution Stack

I decided to seek some more formal training, and that was at InceptionU. And I was blown away with how fast I was able to learn the basics that I had been struggling over for two years that I was trying to do it on my own; how succinctly they were able to teach it, and then go way past that and blow your expectations out for how much you can learn in a short period of time.

Aric Crosson-Bouwers

Developer, Collegium

My experience at InceptionU has blown me away. I had high expectations to learn the technical skills, and what I found at InceptionU is that they bring all the right people, not only for techinical skills, but for what tech can be. The diversity in the cohort, and the diversity in the facilitators has been great. InceptionU has been a game-changer and a life changer for me.

Vince Iannelli

Social Innovation Hub, Innovate Calgary

Companies who’ve hired our Alumni

FAQs

Your questions, answered.

What is InceptionU’s philosophy on learning?

At InceptionU, we believe that humans learn by doing. We've built experiential programs that are active, discovery driven, immersive, to build core competencies (both technical and non-technical) and challenging all in a supportive environment.

Will I get a certification?

No. InceptionU emphasizes genuine learning over certification. We can confidently
tell you that our programs will lead to meaningful skill development. InceptionU
will provide you with the technical skills and MetaSkills, like critical thinking and
design thinking, that you need to succeed in your career. Read more on our perspectives around credentialing and accreditation in this blog post.

What do you mean when you mention MetaSkills? What are they and how will they help me?

Tools don't solve problems. People do. Innovation and building better is a people-
centric activity. This means that our ability to use our MetaSkills--critical thinking, systems thinking, creative thinking, computational thinking, scientific thinking, discovery and design, and collaboration--are timeless competencies that are central to our future
success. And to be clear, this is not just your career; these cognitive and
interpersonal skills have impacts across all aspects of your life.

Will I be required to do any preparation prior to the start of the program?

Depending on your level of technical experience coming into the program, some online preparation may be required. During the registration process we will provide additional information on how to prepare.

Is InceptionU an accredited education institution?

Fortunately, we are not! This allows us to be agile and adaptable with our curriculum as technology evolves. We consult with industry partners to design and develop curriculum that aligns with industry trends and workforce needs. Read more on our perspectives around credentialing in this blog post.

PRACTICAL CYBERSECURITY SKILLS

The Cybersecurity Launchpad

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