teams is asymmetrical: marketers know things engineering & design doesn't. .... Contact your customers directly - ei
Extreme Acceleration Playbook European Innovation Academy July 2016, Nice, France and Turin, Italy
©2015 by European Innovation Academy.
Contents Prelude 3 Who is who 4 I Week plan 5 Day 1: July 6 6 Day 2: July 7 8 Day 3: July 8 12 Day 4: July 9 14 Day 5: July 10 15 Weekend 17 II Week Plan 18 Day 6: July 13 19 Day 7: July 14 21 Day 8: July 15 24 Day 9: July 16 25 Day 10: July 17 26 Weekend 27 III Week Plan 28 Day 11: July 20 29 Day 12: July 21 31 Day 13: July 22 32 Day 14: July 23 33 Day 15: July 24 34 Epilogue 35 Thank you 36
Prelude You need to choose a big problem. Build your story! Design a unique experience users never dreamt of. Discover a customer & addictive solution that is scalable! You will survive only if you act as a team! Find shortcuts, copy, use existing resources to be agile. Act like a guerrilla warrior, resources are scarce. Engage mentors to solve the big problem. Goals are dreams with deadlines.
Who is who? CEO
I am a leadership ninja!
CMO
I am the growth hacker!
Chief Mentor
IT Mentor
CDO
My design is a marriage of UI and UX!
Design Mentor
CBO
CTO
My innovative business model turns idea into value!
Marketing Mentor
I develop apps like Instagram in just 1 day!
IP Lawyer
Investor
Week I Team Formation Day 1
CEO
Problem-Solution Fit Day 2
Product-Market Fit Day 3
Prototype Day 4
Hackathon Plan Day 5
CMO CDO CBO CTO Team members roles, names, daily tasks
Lead question to mentors To Chief Mentors:
How to organize the teamwork to achieve our goals?
To Design Mentors:
How to get the prototype ready and validate with customers? What are shortcuts?
To IT Mentors:
How to develop and deliver our MVP by next Friday?
Day 1: Monday
I WEEK
Daily Goal: Team Formation You’ll need to choose a big problem, gather your team, clear your calendars, and gather some essential supplies. And you’ll need deadlines. Use the Trello app to plan your work. • Your design team needs a war room; here’s how to set one up Fast Company On the first day your team will “unpack” everything they know. Expertise in most teams is asymmetrical: marketers know things engineering & design doesn’t. All team members can contribute to each function even though one may be the lead. Start by creating a simple user story, and set the scope for the week. • The first step in a design challenge: build team understanding Fast Company • “How might we”: The secret phrase top innovators use Harvard Business Review • Google Ventures’ secret mantra for super-productive meetings Fast Company
Tasks & tools: • • • •
The Trello app to organize TO DO lists (free mobile & web app) EIA Platform (find and confirm your team, meet your mentor) Test your team with LEGO bricks (next page) First week plan template (previous page)
6
Da y
Test Your Team with LEGO Bricks Objective:
LEGO Game Instructions
• Learn that each team member has different competences and different behaviors • Test your team communication
Time: • • • • •
1
15.00 – 15.15: game kick off and intructions 15.15 – 15.45: write the instructions to build Lego models 15.45 – 16.15: build the Lego models 16.15 – 16.45: Chief Mentor comments and feedback 17.00 – 18.00: debrief and discussion
Rooms: Teamwork Rooms • Find the list of the teams and rooms by cohorts in EIA Platform (Info) • You will meet your mentor in the room specified in EIA Platform (Info)
1. Split your team into 2 groups (2-3 people per group). Both groups, choose your place in the room so that you would be as far from each other as possible. Da y 2. Once you receive the LEGO model picture from your Mentors - KEEP IT HIDDEN from anybody else!
2
3. With your group, write instructions for your team members for building the LEGO model that you see in the picture. No drawing, taking a photo etc is allowed! 4. After your Mentors have notified you, give your instructions to your team members in the other group, and receive their instructions from them. 5. Build the LEGO model, following the instructions from your team members.’ 6. After finalizing your model, present and explain your work process and choices to the Mentors for their feedback and debrief comments. Da y
3
Da y
Day 1: Experiments, Tests & Learning
4
I WEEK
I WEEK
Day 2: Tuesday
Daily Goal: Problem-Solution Fit Problem-solution fit takes place when you have: • Evidence (data) that customers care about certain problems (pains) • Designed a solution that addresses those problems (pains) Customer problems & pains are anything that annoy your customers before, during, or after trying to get a job done or simply prevents them from getting a job done.
“Good” customer problems are: • problems/pains/passions many others have • problems that occur often • problems or pains that are serious enough so customers are willing to pay to get rid of them
Tools: • • • • •
In Team Mentoring Session: • Design your solution and value proposition which kills the customer problem • Validate the problem, solution & value proposition with customer (problemsolution fit) • Describe the final version of your customer, their problem & solution on EIA platform tonight!
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS
PROBLEM
List your customers’ top 3 problems, select the strongest
3
List your customers (big market)
SOLUTION
1
Lean Canvas on EIA Platform Lean Canvas print out version and post-it notes EIA Idea Cards print-outs Problem Templates printouts Test & Learn Cards
Tasks: In Ideation Session: • Use Post-it Notes to describe your Customer Persona (template next page) • Use Post-it Notes with your team to describe your customers’ problems & your solutions (Lean Canvas)! • Alternatively, to get all key elements of the Lean Canvas on paper quickly and assess them fast, use EIA Idea Cards • Prioritize problems of your customers (template next page) • Select the problem with the highest score to build your solution on top of it (template next page)
List how these problems are solved today
4
List the characteristics of your early adopters (first customers)
2
8
I WEEK Design Your Customer Persona Persona Overview Key characteristics
Role or job title
Age
Gender
Goals
Needs
Frustrations and points
Key influencers
Other applications
Feature requests
9
Prioritize problems & pains to build your solution on top of the high score problems
Customer segment
Customer problems, pains
Does failing the job lead to extreme problems?
Can you feel or see the pain?
Are there unresolved problems, jobs?
Important
Tangible
Unsatisfied
Are there Focus on the many with highest value that problem jobs & related & ready to problems. pay? Lucrative
Da y
2
Da y
3
Da y
4
Total score
1.
2.
3.
4.
Scoring scale: 1 (low) to 5 (high) Adopted from Alex Osterwalder, Value Proposition Design
Day 2: Tuesday
Da y
5 I WEEK
Da y
2
Da y
3
Da y
4
Experiments, Tests & Learning Problems & Pains You strive to identify the problems & pains that are most relevant to customers. Your next step is to provide evidence that customers care about your solution (products & services). If you don’t find the evidence you need to design a new solution.
Test & Learning Card Test No:
Test Name:
1. We believe that... (hypotheses)
To provide the evidence you run the tests: • Google Trends to understand what people search for in your business domain • Google Adwords Keyword Planner gives you information on how companies promote their solutions (discover their value propositions) in your business area • Contact your customers directly - either face-to-face, by email, phone or social media channels • Build trackable landing page (Instapage) for your products & services to collect leads of future users
Tools: • Google Trend • Google Adwords Keyword Planner • Instapage
2. To validate that we will... (action)
3. Our belief is right if... (metric)
4. From the test we found out & learned that… (results)
Experiment workflow: • Design Test & Learning Cards (each test separately) • Run the tests (e.g. customer contacts, Google Trends, Keywords Planner, Ads, etc.) • Update the Lean Canvas & landing page on EIA Platform NB! You are free to organize the experiments on any other social media (LinkedIn, Twitter) and ad platform (Facebook, etc) that you are familiar with or that is more suitable for your solution. Download the Test & Learning card here
5. Therefore, we will... (conclusion)
Da y
5
Adopted from Alex Osterwalder, Value Proposition Design
Day 2: Tuesday
I WEEK
I WEEK
Day 3: Wednesday
Daily Goal: Product-Market Fit Product & Market Product-market fit takes place when you: • Have evidence (data) that your solution (product, service) is actually creating customer value • Your product scales in the market.
Tasks: Find the strongest fit between different markets & your solution (products): • List 3 different customer segments (markets) for your solution. • Use Post-it Notes to describe the markets on the Lean Canvas! • Analyze the business opportunity of each market (scalability) & prioritize the markets • Find the market where the fit with your solution is the strongest • If you find a weak fit or no scalability consider to pivot, change your solution
Tools:
PROBLEM
SOLUTION
UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION
UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
CUSTEMER SEGMENTS
List your top 1-3 problems
Outline a possible solution for each problem
Single, clear, compelling message that turns an unaware visitor into an interested prospect
Something that can’t be easily copied or bought
List your target customers and users
MARKET KEY METRICS
EXISTING ALTERNATIVES
List the key numbers that tell you how your business is doing
List how these problems are solved today
CHANNELS
List your path to customers
MARKET
HIGH-LEVEL CONCEPT
List your X for Y analogy (e.g. YouTube= Flickr for videos)
COST STRUCTURE
REVENUE STREAMS
List your fixed and variable costs
List your sources of revenue
MARKET
• Lean Canvas printouts • Post-it Notes for each team member & mentor • Subscribe yourself on Watson Analytics and visualize the data to find the fit market • Describe the final version of your customer segment (market) and your solution on EIA platform tonight
Source: Lean Canvas, Ash Maurya
12
Da y
3
Da y
4
Da y
5
Experiments, Tests & Learning Experiments: • Identify different possible market segments for your solution • Validate users who make the market
Test & Learning Card Test No:
Test Name:
1. We believe that... (hypotheses)
Tests: • Google Trends to collect data about what people search for • Design a Test & Learning card • Watson Analytics to analyze different markets • Design a Test & Learning card
2. To validate that we will... (action)
Learning: • Different markets have different scalability opportunities • Finding out which users make the fit market By the end of Wednesday, you still might have alternative solutions to choose from. That’s great, but it’s also a problem, because you can’t prototype many solutions on Thursday. You have to narrow down and make tough decisions. To prepare for Thursday, choose one Customer Persona and think of possible user scenarios for the prototyping.
3. Our belief is right if... (metric)
4. From the test we found out & learned that… (results)
• How to decide what ideas to prototype Fast Company • Research: Schedule participants and draft interview guide GV.com
5. Therefore, we will... (conclusion) Download the Test & Learning card here
Adopted from Alex Osterwalder, Value Proposition Design
Day 3: Wednesday
I WEEK
Day 4: Thursday
I WEEK
Daily Goal: Paper & digital prototype ready Build a Prototype in just 8h Plan for doing the impossible: build an entire realistic-looking prototype in just eight hours. Like George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven, you’ll gather a team of experts, assign roles, and put your plan into motion. And just like in the movie, you’ll get the job done and still have time to enjoy your evening. It’s a great story! • The 8 steps to creating a great storyboard Fast Company
Tasks: 1. Paper Prototype: • Draw a storyboard – a scenario of when and how your customer is using your product (use Postit-it Notes) • Choose max 1-2 features that you want to test with your prototype • Use paper UI elements to design your solution (based on your storyboard and chosen features) • Start testing your prototype with customers immediately, continue over the coming weekend
2. Digital Prototype: Select tools based on your needs & skills: • POP for mobile apps – super easy mobile app to scan paper screens and make first clickable prototype in your mobile • Proto.io - simple but more serious solution for web and mobile prototypes. Click here for EIA participant access. • Appery.io - start designing apps with some code attached, build mobile back-ends later • Google Material Design – professional source for designers
Source: Adopted from Google Venture Sprint Methodology
14
Day 5: Friday
I WEEK
Daily Goal: Test your prototype Test Your Prototype On Friday, you’ll show your prototype to real customers in 1-on-1 interviews. By the end of the day, all your ideas will have been exposed to oxygen — some will be smash hits, while others will meet an early end. When a prototype flops, it means you have spotted critical flaws after only five days of work. There are ca 26,000 new product introductions each year. 70% of success is how meaningful and unique is the product for the customer. The key to success is rapid cycles. • Got a bright idea? Test it with a rapid-fire user study Fast Company • Research: Interview participants and summarize findings GV.com • How Cluster uses live user testing Medium
15
I WEEK
Day 5: Friday
Daily Goal: Your hackathon plan is ready Task: Create a Hackathon Plan to survive and launch your application with your team members - divide your daily work and tasks, allocate timing, set goals and KPIs. Follow the weekly work plan in the table below. • Getting Started with Hackathon - Click here for your hackathon materials
Goal
Expected result
Survivable result
Friday Our X app Reference app & sources Development roadmap features, priorities, path/ technology Split responsibilities Project management set up
Team has a Trello board, everyone knows what one is supposed to do. Team internal reporting procedures, rules for decision-making, chosen technologies to build upon. Clear daily milestones and deadlines defined. Defined end result for “big Friday”.
Team has a plan where to start, with help of mentors the tools they are capable of working with are chosen.
Weekend Validate prototype
Test your prototype with users – adjust MVP
Being able to explain the MVP launch goal in 1 min to mentors and to random bypassers
Monday MVP 1.1 concept (after customer development)
Iteration done over the weekend, launch feature goals & contingencies in place, launch criteria too. Development environment set up and progress is getting steam. Back-end/mBaas set-up
Clear single launch feature! Single development environment set-up
Tuesday 50% functionality Last chance to pivot
Back-end working Logo sketches Landing page in progress
30% functionality
Wednesday 70% functionality
According to team’s plan
Landing page up Clickable mock-up 50% functionality
Thursday App ready to upload by evening, bug testing
According to team’s plan Latest time to upload iOS app*
80% functionality
Friday Preparing for final demo
Ready to present live demo. Morning is the latest time to upload your Web/ Android app*
Landing page + product demo App uploaded / app running on local device
* Make your decision together with mentors when to upload and launch your app
16
Test your prototype with users & find patterns Why worry about usability testing so early in the process when prototyping already has a big enough to-do list? Because unless your prototype is usable, all your testing will tell you that people don’t like terrible products. The best way to understand your users is to simply ask!
Weekend
I WEEK
Week II CEO
Business Model Fit Day 6
Customer Engagement Day 7
Revenue Model Day 8
Marketing Campaign Day 9
Launch Day Day 10
CMO CDO CBO CTO Team members roles, names, daily tasks
Lead question to mentors To Chief Mentors:
How to develop & validate our business model?
To Design Mentors: How we design a unique UI/UX?
To IT Mentors:
How to launch our minimum viable product (MVP) by Friday?
To Marketing Mentors: How to get first 1000 customers?
II WEEK
Day 6: Monday
Daily Goal: Profitable & Scalable Business Business model fit takes place when a value proposition can be embedded in a profitable and scalable business. Your job is to get both the business model and the value proposition right. It is a process of back and forth until you nail it. You need to answer the following questions: • Can you profitably create & deliver value around this particular customer value proposition? • Is your value proposition in your business model really creating value for your customer?
Tasks & Tools: • Lean Canvas printouts to create 3 alternative business models. • Post-it Notes for each team member & mentor to design the business models jointly in a superman speed. • Describe the final version of your business model on EIA platform tonight! Upload also pictures of the alternative models. • Discuss the business model with your all team members how to develop your solution on top of the business model. • Design your marketing strategy to visit your marketing mentor tomorrow. Upload a short description on EIA platform today.
MENTS
ER SEG
UNIQUE
ON
OPOSITI
VALUE PR
UNFAIR
CUSTEM
E
G ADVANTA
can’t be t ing that Someth pied or bough easily co
mers
custo r target List you rs and use
ENTS
SEGM CUSTEMER pelling stomers ar, com gle, cle at turns an target cu in VANTAGE ur S N AD yo O IR TI st FA Li UN n e th SOLU ti an ag lu to ss s N be so e in t IO er m le n’ us tor E PROPOSIT UNFAIR ADVANTAGE siPROPOSITION and e viUE CUSTEMER SEGMENTS PROBLEM SOLUTION UNIQUE VALUE a possib ng that ca VALUect unawar Somethi ed or bought Outline problem M UNeIQ d prosp s pi ng PROBLE h ly cocan’t interest easithat compelli Something problem for eac a possible solution r, List your top 1-3 problems Outline Single, clear, compelling be List your target customers 3 ea 1cl , p le ON r to Sing LUTI SOproblem turns an easily copied or bought for each message that turns and users List you thetan sage le solutin mes r into an e a possib sito unaware visitor into an M vi lin e LE ut ar O OB PR unaw problem prospect oblems interested prospect for each top 1-3 pr interested ELS List your CHANN omers to cust ur path yo st Li
RICS at KEY MET bers th key num r business KEY METRICS u List the
LS
CHANNE NCEPT omers EVEL CO th to cust HIGH-L ogy CHANNELS List your pa al an yo Y r how fo u X r r yo u fo ll r te key numbers List yo Tube= Flick List the that List your path to customers u Y METRICS oin KEgyour is d tell you how businessmbers that (e.g. Yo IVES s) -LEVEL CONCEPT HIGH-LEVEL EXISTING ALTERNATIVES key nu ssvideoCONCEPT e TERNAT th is doing ne AL si GH st G N HI Li bu s are EXISTI w your alogy roblem tell you ho X for Y an for List your X forst Y analogy List how these problems these p are kr Li your st how ay is doing ube= Flic (e.g. YouTube= .g Flickr for solvedLi today uT d Yo . ES to IV d (e AT MS solve ISTING ALTERN videos) E STREA EX e videos) nue REVENU oblems ar of reve these pr sources r u List how yo y List da to ed solv
E COST STRUCTURE RUCTUR COST ST
sts
le co d variab List your fixedyo andr variable fixed an costs List u
STREAMS REVENUE venue REVENUE STREAMS ces of re
sour List your List your sources of revenue
CTURE COST STRU
List your
costs variable fixed and
Assess the Business Models Some business models are better than others by design and will produce better financial results, will be more difficult to copy, and will outperform competitors. Assess the weaknesses of your business model prototype (next page). Ask yourself how could you improve or change your initial value proposition? When assessing your business model, focus on Death Threats - the risks which might cause the idea to fail. No more Death Threats = usually a business that can work. Focus on the biggest Death Threats first.
Source: Lean Canvas, Ash Maurya
19
II WEEK
Day 6: Monday
Seven Questions to Test Your Business Model Assess your business model design. Circle how you perform on a scale from 0 to 10.
1. Switching Costs 1
Nothing holds my customers back from leaving me
10
My customers are locked in for several years
2. Recurring Revenues 1
100% of my sales are transactional
10
100% of my sales lead to automatically recurring revenues
3. Earning vs. Spending 1
I incur 100% of my costs of COGs before earning revenues
10
I earn 100% of my revenues before incurring costs of goods &services sold (COGs)
4. Game-changing Cost Structure 1
10
My cost structure is at least 30% higher than my competitors
My cost structure is at least 30% lower than my competitors
5. Others Who Do the Work 1
I incur costs for all the value created in my business model
10
All the value created in my business model is created for free by external parties
6. Scalability 1
10
Growing my business model requires substantial resources and effort
My business model has virtually no limits to growth
7. Protection from Competition
1
My business model has no moats, and I’m vulnerable to competition.
Make picture of the assessments and upload it on EIA platform.
10
My business model provides substantial moats that are hard to overcome Source: Alex Osterwalder, Value Proposition Design
20
II WEEK
Day 7: Tuesday
Daily Goal: Customer Engagement Build your customer engagement and Go-To-Market Plan. • What are you selling? (Solution & unique value proposition) • Who are you selling to? (Customer segment) • How will you reach your target market? (Channels, partners, etc) • Where will you promote your product? (Ads, blogs, games, emails, etc)
Tasks: • Build you digital marketing strategy • Design your strategy before you visit your marketing mentor • Visit your marketing mentor to discuss your startegy • Upload the picture of the strategy on EIA platform tonight
What are you selling?
Who are you selling to?
WHAT
WHO Go-TO-Market
HOW How will you reach your target market?
WHERE Where will you promote your product?
• Build landing page first • Use Instapage to design your landing page
• Content Marketing • Design & run your campaign (see template next page)
• Social media marketing • Download the materials here to design & run your campaign
• Email marketing • Download the templates here to design & run your campaign
• B2B marketing materials • Download the materials here to design & run your campaign
21
Day 7: Tuesday
II WEEK
Daily Goal: Customer Engagement Which digital marketing tactics to pursue: Email marketing Social media marketing Search engine marketing Content marketing Display advertising Referral marketing Paid search Mobile advertising Digital video advertising Affiliate marketing Other
To find more materials how to build up B2B funnel click here
22
II WEEK
Day 7: Tuesday
Daily Goal: Customer Engagement
Adopted from Chris Lake
23
II WEEK
Day 8: Wednesday
Daily Goal: Revenue Model Designed A revenue model describes how a business generates revenue streams from its products and services. A strong revenue model is most important for early stage startups; their investors are usually very conscious of monetization. Lets put it simply – revenue model gives you money!
PROBLEM
SOLUTION
UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION
UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
CUSTEMER SEGMENTS
Tasks: • Design unique revenue model which will give you high growth • Test your customers how easily are they ready to pay for the product • Ask about the price during your customer interviews
Tools: • Download revenue model template here from the daily lecture • Update revenue model in your Lean Canvas on EIA Platform
KEY METRICS
CHANNELS
EXISTING ALTERNATIVES
HIGH-LEVEL CONCEPT
COST STRUCTURE
REVENUE STREAMS
Mobile and Gaming Revenue Models Paid App Downloads – e.g. WhatsApp In-app purchases – e.g. Candy Crush Saga, Temple Run In-app subscriptions – e.g. NY Times app Advertising – e.g. Flurry Transactions – e.g. Airtel Money Freemium – e.g. Zynga, Skype Premium – e.g. xBox games
• The ultimate master list of revenue models BMNOW
O TO SIVE N PE
Ad-supported
EX
Downloadable Content – e.g. Call of Duty
AIN EXPEN SIVE
G BAR
TOO CHE AP
Subscription — e.g. World of Warcraft
Price of your application
24
Day 9: Thursday
II WEEK
Daily Goal: Marketing Campaign is Ready A marketing campaign isn’t something that comes to you while you’re taking a shower. Successful campaigns tend to be carefully researched, well thought-out and focused on details and execution, rather than resting on a single, grand idea. · A Step-by-Step Guide to Running Successful Marketing Campaigns Unbounce
Tasks: • Design a Google Adwords campaign for your application* • You can apply financing for your campaign here • Upload the final version of your video if it is recommended by your marketing mentor. • Finalize & upload your marketing campaign on EIA Platform tonight
Tools: • • • •
Use tools recommended by your marketing mentor Google Adwords Youtube Admob
* You are free to use any other digital marketing platform more suitable for your marketing campaign.
25
II WEEK
Day 10: Friday
Daily Goal: Launch your application in a market place The Start Your first iteration of a product is highly unlikely to be the final version. There’s a lot of testing and re-engineering that goes into making a successful product, and it’s important to work at it and get it right. However, that doesn’t mean it must be perfect. Elon Musk: Tesla Must ‘Not Be Too Perfectionist’ Your Product Launch Feels Like the Super Final But It’s Really the Start of the Season. The end of your product launch is only the beginning of building a successful, sales strategy. Even before the launch, startups should be thinking ahead toward their next move.
Tasks: • Use all your resources, shortcuts to launch your application • Start your marketing campaign to find your first 1000 customers
Tools: • Google Analytics • IBM Message Resonance
Tips: • 6 Must-Have Tools For Your Web or Mobile App Launch Yottaa • 6 ways to get your first 1000 customers Medium • 10 steps for successful launch Fast Company
Start your marketing campaign after application launch immediately 26
All focus on finding customers!!!
Weekend
II WEEK
Week III CEO
Market Traction Day 11
IP & Finance Day 12
Startup Funding Day 13
Pitch & Story Day 14
Demo Day Day 15
CMO CDO CBO CTO Team members roles, names, daily tasks
Lead question to mentors To Chief Mentors:
To Marketing Mentors:
How to pitch your business?
How to get 1000 customers?
To IP Lawyers:
How to protect our solution & business from competitors?
To Investor:
How to ask advice from VC and get funding?
Day 11: Monday
III WEEK
Daily Goal: Market Traction Market traction is quantitative evidence of market demand. This is usually the first and the most important indicator that the investors want to see as it is proof that somebody really wants your product. Traction can be demonstrated by different indicators, depending on the type of your start-up: profitability, revenue, active users, registered users, engagement, partnerships/clients, traffic etc. It shows momentum in market adoption. Use specific numbers (ex: 10,000 registered users) or growth numbers (ex: 20% weekly growth in users) to communicate the traction. To really excel, include a graph of your accelerating growth!
Tasks: 1. Customer engagement • Adjust your customer engagement campaign • Discuss the campaign with your Marketing Mentor • How 23 Web & Mobile Startups Got Their First Users Autosend
2. Pitch like a boss • Start preparing the final pitch slide deck When you are able to pitch like a boss, it means that you are able to talk and sell your ideas - to anyone anytime, and anywhere, be it Warren Buffett himself. Often, how you pitch may become even more important than what you pitch. There are very clear do’s and dont’s for pitching, and a concrete checklist of content that you are expected to address. • The ultimate pitch deck Forbes
29
III WEEK
Day 11: Monday
Daily Goal: Protect Your IP Tasks: 3. Start-up IP • Visit Start-up IP clinic between 12.00 – 18.00 (Mon – Wed) • Search trademarks, copyrights and patents. Conduct a patentability search - examine published patents that relate to your own invention to figure out whether your idea has already been patented. You can also see similar inventions, allowing you to improve and refine your own invention without infringing on someone else’s patent. Search also for the trademarks.
Check from the databases: • US Patent Office: Patent & Trademark • EU Patent Office: Patents & Tradmarks • Patent search from Google Patent • Does your mobile app need a patent? TNW
Overview of Intellectual Property Patents
Trade Marks
Registered Design rights
Copyright
What is Protected?
Inventions
Brand Identity, icluding words & logos
What the product looks like
Music, art, film, literary works & broadcasts
How long?
Up to 20 years (subject to annual renewal)
Forever (renewals every 10 years)
Up to 25 years
Life plus 70 years (sound broadcasts are 50 years)
What does it protect against?
Your idea being used, sold or manufactured
The use of your trademarks by others without your permission
Your product being manufactured, sold or imported
Your work being copied or reproduced
30
III WEEK
Day 12: Tuesday
Daily Goal: Financial Metrics Traditional finance focuses on planning and budgeting, startup finance is focused on monitoring and validating. Therefore, you as a startup need metrics to evaluate whether the business model you designed is worth scaling into a company. You need to monitor six Mission Critical Metrics, or key performance indicators, in addition to standard monthly financial reports: • Cash: Burn/Runway/Run rate • Marketing: Efficiency/Cost to Acquire/ROI • Sales: Productivity/Efficiency/ROI • Product: Customer Satisfaction • Operations: Efficiency/Effectiveness • Team: Commitment/Enthusiasm
2. IP Protection Strategy Why and how to protect the critical aspects of your IP in the early stages of your company development? All startups need to think not only about patenting their solution, but of their employees, contractors and suppliers, customers, and possible partners as part of their IP strategy. • Define the strategy to protect your solution (max 1 page) & upload it on EIA platform tonight • Integrate your IP strategy into your pitch to secure funding • IP Strategy for Startups Ipstrategy • Startup Intellectual Property Tips Forbes
Tasks: 1.Define Financial Metrics • Identify the most relevant financial metrics for your startup • Calculate the chosen financial metrics and integrate them into your pitch deck • No Accounting for Startups Steve Blank
31
III WEEK
Day 13: Wednesday
Daily Goal: Funding Strategy Every startup needs access to capital, whether for funding product development, for initial rollout efforts, acquiring inventory, or paying that first employee. The most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think creatively, not only about their offering, but also about how to acquire cash. They have to sell themselves, more than their product, to close on every alternative source of funding. Check out all the alternatives: Bootstrapping Friends and family Small business grants Loans or lines of credit from a bank Incubators or accelerators Angel investors Venture capital Bartering Form a partnership Customer funding
2. Prepare for VCC: • Review and study all the VCC materials to be well prepared for tomorrow. Click here. • The VC Term Sheet Decoded
3. Pitch deck: • Finalise your pitch deck • Upload your pitch deck on EIA platform tonight! The 5 P-s are the content of any good pitch! Problem - is there a real problem Promise - is there a real solution Proof - why would I believe you Profit - I will make money by... Passion - I’ll do whatever it takes! • The Ultimate Pitch Deck Forbes
Leases Start a crowdfunding campaign online
Tasks: 1. Funding • Define the plan to acquire funding for your business on max 1 page • Explain how you will finance the growth of your business, • Upload the plan on EIA platform tonight • 7 ways to fund your startup
32
III WEEK
Day 14: Thursday
Daily Goal: Become a VC Venture Capital Competition (VCC) enables you to step into the shoes of a VC and think like one. You will practice your pitch and act as a VC investor in the two roles within the day. Listening to pitches and assessing them from the VC point of view will help you better understand how investors compare and select their preferred projects. This in turn will help you better prepare and finetune your own pitch accordingly. Making an impression to the investors within the first seconds of your appearance and pitch will be crucial and can mean everything for your future business success - or failure! Therefore, before stepping in front of the Investor Panel tomorrow, check out here what secret ingredients and magic it takes to get the investors competing for partnering with you and letting you walk away as the winner.
Customers count: • Make the final count of your customers (users, downloads, subscriptions, agreements, etc) • Upload today the final proof document of the number of customers (screenshot, tracking log, email, etc) on EIA Platform no later than 23.59! • Proven market traction will be considered a criterion in the Top 10 finalists selection
Tasks - VCC: • Upload your pitch deck in PDF format to the EIA Platform before 9:00 am • Pitch to other teams based on your time slot • Evaluate other pitches from a VC investor perspective • Select one team you want to invest in • Prepare a term sheet from the draft and upload to the EIA Platform • Negotiate terms with the selected team at your time slot • Participate in negotiations as an entrepreneur, if selected
Tools · Download all documents you need for VCC here
33
Day 15: Friday
III WEEK
Daily Goal: Funding acquired!!! Bringing a product or service to market requires an intense amount of capital. No matter which route you choose, all funding decisions involve complex tradeoffs between short-term and long-term costs and benefits. Your best bet: Check out all the alternatives.
Tasks: • Pitch like a Boss & raise the money!
Keep in mind when going to pitch at the Demo Day: The objective of the pitch is to get a meeting Slides support the story that YOU are telling - YOU have to be the star, not your slides For the most effective pitch, focus 80% on the problem, 20% on the solution Practice your pitch - over and over again! Be ready to answer questions - but be careful and precise with numbers and facts Show energy and passion - you have to make the investors love what you love Don’t lose your sense of humour - especially if something goes wrong • 65 Questions Investors Will Ask Startups Forbes
34
Epilogue Now go and make it all happen! Use the start-up capital wisely for scaling and leveling up your business. It still remains mainly about the team! Leverage your early customers to move from MVP to the next level. Keep and grow your network of mentors, advisors and supporters. Use the expertise of your investors. You dreamt big - now dream even bigger!
Thank You!
In Partnership With
Visit us at www.inacademy.eu
