SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 1 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Instructors/Lean Startup Coaches Eric Steege, David Linz, Todd Strother Program Manager Idella Yamben Days and Times Group kick-off workshop: Week of September 1 (2 hour GoToMeeting video conference; All

teams and all team members required to participate) Individual team kick-off meeting: Week of September 8 (Company meets 1:1 with Instructors to

outline specific project goals/milestones) Biweekly “Lessons Learned” meetings: Week of September 8 (Begin presenting group learning updates

on virtual GoToMeeting conferences. Every 2 weeks, companies are expected to participate on these conference calls to present learning updates.)

Software LaunchPad Central: https://launchpadcentral.com Equipment Computer microphone and/or webcam Recommended (but optional) Texts The Startup Owner’s Manual (SOM), Steve Blank and Bob Dorf

Business Model Generation (BMG), Alexander Osterwalder The SBIR Advance program requires in-depth preparation and significant effort

Description This course will play a critical role in helping you learn about the Lean Startup framework that will allow you to successfully test/advance/improve your business idea and meet SBIR Advance payment milestones. Your goal should be to "learn by doing" as much as possible. Use the resources on this syllabus and Launchpad Central to learn the basic Lean Startup process "just in time" and then immediately apply your learning to advance your business idea. This is not an exercise on how smart you are in a classroom, how good a clinician or researcher you are, what your patent is, how well you write code or how well you use the research library to size markets. The end result is not a PowerPoint pitch deck for an investor “demo day.” And it is most definitely not an incubator where you come to build the “hot-idea” that you have in mind. You will be getting your hands dirty talking to customers, partners and competitors. You’ll learn how to use a business model to brainstorm each part of a company and customer development to get out of the classroom to learn if and how others would want/use your product. Finally depending on the business idea, based on the customer and market feedback you gathered, you will use agile development to rapidly iterate your product or concept to build/design something customers would actually buy and use. Each block will be a new adventure outside the office/lab as you test each part of your business model and then share the hard earned knowledge with the rest of the group.

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 2 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Course Goals 1. Give the SBIR Advance Team an experiential learning opportunity to help determine the commercial

readiness (product market fit) of their product/service. 2. Enable the Team to address only the most critical learning questions and devise tests allowing the

team to make clear go/no go decision regarding commercial viability of the effort. 3. Develop a transition plan to move product/service forward to market.

Course Expectations Each Team member should expect to commit 10 hours per week completing course learning and

Customer Discovery (This should translate into each team conducting at least 10 in person interviews focused on the business model canvas area of emphasis for that two week period).

Identify a business mentor, if not already part of the team.

Test and validate customer and market potential of business idea NOT the technical potential.

Work closely with Lean Startup commercialization consultant and business mentor to develop and execute an individualized plan based on Lean Startup best practices.

Complete bi-weekly Lean Startup learning objectives. This includes completing all watching/reading tasks outlined in this syllabus.

Participate in mandatory bi-weekly video conference calls to update all SBIR Advance teams’ recent learning and next steps including a brief presentation of business model canvas.

Consistently document learning and progress in LaunchPad Central. Subscribe to the following Lean Startup Manifesto to the best of your ability:

There are no facts inside your building, so get outside and talk to customers.

Failure is an integral part of the search and expedites my learning.

Focus on the most critical learning objectives to move my idea to market quickly.

Make continuous iterations and pivots.

Design experiments and test to validate your guesses.

Course Culture Startups often communicate in a dramatically different more direct and urgent style. At times it can feel brusque and impersonal, but in reality is focused and oriented to create immediate action in time- and cash-constrained environments. You have limited time and we push, challenge, and question you in the hope you will quickly learn the most critical elements of your business model. We will be direct, open, and tough to help you identify clear, next-step questions to address. This approach may seem intense, but it is all intended to help you challenge yourselves quickly and objectively, and to appreciate that as entrepreneurs you need to learn and evolve faster than you ever imagined possible. We also expect you to question us, challenge our point of view if you disagree, and engage in a real dialogue with the Teaching Team.

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 3 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Course Roadmap Each class (held every two weeks) is organized around:

1. Learning about one of the 9 building blocks of a business model as described in Business Model Generation.

2. Team presentations on your “Lessons Learned” from getting out of the building and iterating or pivoting your business model.

3. Using LaunchPad Central to log your Customer Discovery process. Team Deliverables

1. A record of your customer discovery progress using LaunchPad Central to capture the narrative, contact information, learning and insight. (It’s how we measure your progress towards payment milestones and it is required that you maintain and update it at least once per week. Best practices suggest you update after every customer insight.)

2. A biweekly, 10-minute “Lessons Learned” presentation on your progress. Your weekly and final slide decks should not contain any proprietary information. They should focus on your business model and customer discovery.

During each Team’s presentation, the Teaching Team will offer observations and guidance. When not presenting, you will be offering input to your peers using a real-time feedback in LaunchPad Central.

3. Minimum Viable Product (MVP): An MVP is a prototype that captures the minimum functionality. The Customer Discovery Process, a central element of the Lean LaunchPad approach to technology commercialization, requires development of a MVP so the Team can clearly communicate the product capability and value proposition. This process also helps focus the Team on what is and is not essential.

Teams building a physical product should build a prototype.

Teams building a web-based/software application must attempt to build the site, create demand, and have customers using it.

Course Overview Group kick-off workshop: Week of September 1 2 hour GoToMeeting video conference; All teams and all team members required to participate Individual team kick-off meeting: Sometime the week of September 8 Each team is required to have a 1 on 1 conference call with the Lean Startup Coach(es) outlining specific project goals/milestones Bi-weekly online “Lessons Learned” classes will convene on GoToMeeting During each two week period, your Team is required to get out of the building and test your business model assumptions, meeting with about 10-15 customer contacts (with the objective of conducting at least 60-80 total contacts in three months). Record your progress on LaunchPad Central. Update your first slide each week to include the total number of customers you talked to. Each GoToMeeting “Lesson Learned” class will be 2.5 hours long and have two parts:

Team “Lessons Learned” presentations (1.5 hour) – Each Team will present a 10-minute weekly progress report to members of the Teaching Team and your peers. This is how we monitor your progress and give you guidance. o During each Team’s presentation, the Teaching Team will offer observations and guidance. o When not presenting, you will be expected to offer input to your peers using a real-time feedback

in LaunchPad Central. See how to do this here.

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 4 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Class discussion of the weekly lecture (1 hour). You are expected to complete videos/readings (found on syllabus) in advance of this discussion. o Learning engagement and watching/reading of Lean Startup resources will be tracked in

LaunchPad Central to help us identify what you’ve been doing each week. How to use your business mentor

The expectation is that you touch base with your mentor at least once per week.

Utilize your business mentor’s network of contacts to ensure quality and relevant customer interviews

Utilize your mentor’s experience to develop and prioritize key business model assumptions to test

Get feedback about interpreting customer insights and developing weekly learning goals and next steps for de-risking and validating your business model

Guidelines for 10 minute “Lessons Learned” Team Presentations Every two weeks you are expected to have an updated version of your entire business model canvas, but your customer discovery should focus especially on the topic discussed in the previous class. This is true even if you’ve pivoted and are re-exploring topics from earlier lectures. In the case of a pivot (which can be indicative of successful customer discovery), you will have to work doubly hard to cover earlier class topics and touch on current class topics in your weekly presentation.

Slide 1 Cover slide: team name, team members/roles

Number of customers spoken to this week

Total number spoken to since the start of this course

Three sentence description what the team does and why I should care o Note: We don’t want a rundown of your technology. Focus on what pain you are

solving and for who are you solving this (this will change as your idea evolves/pivots)

Market Size (TAM,SAM,TM, and did it change this week) – Exported from LPC o This will change as your customer segment changes as your idea evolves/pivots

Slide 2 Updated business model canvas – week-to-week changes shown in red (Exported from LPC) *Multi-sided markets shown in different colors

Slide 3-n What did you learn about “topic of the day” (Canvas block x)?

Hypothesis: Here is what we thought

Experiments: So here’s what we did

Results: So here’s what we found

Iterate: So here’s what we are going to do next Slide 4 Diagram (if appropriate) of what you learned this week (e.g., customer workflow, payment flows,

distribution channel diagram)

Due to the pace and tempo of the course, all teams will be held accountable to have completed the reading and video materials detailed in the syllabus prior to class.

Pre kick-off workshop assignments (complete before Sept. 1 meeting) What is Lean Startup?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=WAdikBfKeD8

http://entrepreneurship.org/Founders-School/The-Lean-Approach/The-Lean-Method.aspx What is a Business Model?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=2FumwkBMhLo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LEq5Yx42fEE

Using the Business Model Canvas to communicate your evolving idea

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 5 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mQv9qiB-AKM

Customer Interviews: “How To” Resources

Pre-Planning

Pre-Planning Pt. 1 (4:55)

Pre-Planning Pt. 2 (3:25)

Pre-Planning Pt. 3 (1:29)

http://giffconstable.com/2010/07/12-tips-for-early-customer-development-interviews/

How to conduct interviews

Interviews Pt. 1 (5:40)

Interviews Pt. 2 (3:49)

Asking the Right Question (2:37)

Read:

12 Tips for Early Customer Development Interviews

Bad Customer Development Questions and How to Avoid these Mistakes Supplemental (but optional) customer interview “how to” resources to utilize throughout course:

Outside the Building Death by Demo 1 (2:18) Death by Demo 2 (1:45) Assuming You Know what the customer wants (1:56) Understanding the Customer Problem (the wrong way) or Death by PowerPoint (1:42) Understanding the Problem (the right way) (3:22) Customers Lie (2:37) The Distracted Customer (3:12) Engaging the Customer (3:37) Customer Empathy (2:25) The User, the Buyer & the Saboteur (2:24) Multi-Person Interview (2:03) B-to-B to C (2:15) Existing vs. New Markets (5:29) Public Interviews (2:11)

Back in the Building

Extracting Insight from Data (2:59) Getting the MVP Right (3:34) Pay Attention to Outliers (2:16) The “Other 85%” (2:32)

Accessing Lessons Learned Bi-weekly Group Meetings: 1. Please join my meeting. https://global.gotomeeting.com/meeting/join/759350445

2. Use your microphone and speakers (VoIP) - Or, call in using your telephone.

United States: +1 (786) 358-5420

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 6 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Access Code: 759-350-445 Audio PIN: Shown after joining the meeting - Meeting ID:759-350-445

Detailed Course Schedule Week of September 1- Kick-off Workshop Location: GoToMeeting (https://global.gotomeeting.com/meeting/join/759350445) Time Session

30 min Introduction Introductions, Class Goals, Teaching Philosophy, Expectations of You

30 min Business Model/Customer Development What’s a business model? What are the 9 parts of a business model? What are hypotheses? What is the Minimum Feature Set? What experiments are needed to run to test business model hypotheses? What’s “getting out of the building?” What is market size? How to determine whether a business model is worth doing?

30 min Best Practices for Customer Discovery How to call on people you don’t know. How to get the most out of people you do. Expectations, speed, tempo, logistics, commitments. How do I protect my IP when I speak to partners? Does Lean work for non-software efforts? How do I interview? How is an interview different than a sales call?

30 min Q & A

Assignment to complete BEFORE Class 1 – Week of September 8

READ/WATCH: LOCATION

Watch Video Lectures 1, 1.5a, 1.5b, and 2: What We Now Know and Business Models and Customer Development & Value Proposition

LaunchPad Central/Resource Hub/LaunchPad Video Lectures

Skim prior team presentations: http://www.slideshare.net/sblank

Read Class 1 Discussion Questions – Be prepared to answer Dropbox

LaunchPad Central Training Welcome to LaunchPad Central video series

o Watch and Practice Business Model Canvas video o Watch and Practice Customer Development video o Watch and Practice Messages video o Watch and Practice Team Presentations video o Watch and Practice Team Profile video

Getting Started as a Team Member in LaunchPad Central Complete “First Best Guess Business Model Canvas” in LPC *see tips below

Optional:

Read: Business Model Generation (BGM) pp. 14-49 Read: Startup Owner’s Manual (SOM) pp. 1-75, pgs 472 market size, pgs 112-122 & 457-458 market type, pp. 123-124 competitors

“LESSONS LEARNED” PRESENTATION FORMAT: Slide 1: *See tips below Slide 2: Current business model canvas with any changes marked (exported from LPC) *see tips below Slide 3: Tell us about your Market size (TAM/SAM/Target) – how to guide Slide 4: What type of business are you building?: IP, licensing, startup, unknown Slide 5: What are your proposed experiments to test customer segment, value proposition, channel and revenue model of the hypotheses: What constitutes a pass/fail signal for each test (e.g. at what point would you say that your hypotheses wasn’t even close to correct)? Upload your presentation to Dropbox by 7:00 am day of class (naming convention: Groupx_TeamName_Date

e.g., GroupA_DataComm_05062013)

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 7 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Tips for Class 1 Assignments “Lessons Learned” Presentation : Slide 1: Title Slide

Team name, University logo

Product picture/product description (1 sentence)

Pictures/names of your Team members **Save your presentations to Dropbox/SBIR Advance Cohort1/TeamPresentations using this naming convention: Groupax_ TeamName_Date (e.g., GroupA_DataComm_05062013)

Complete first “Best-Guess” Business Model Canvas Guide

*Create in LaunchPad Central and export to Slide 2 of your PowerPoint slide

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 8 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Class 1 – Week of September 8 Location: GoToMeeting (https://global.gotomeeting.com/meeting/join/759350445) Time Session

60 min “Lessons Learned” Team Presentations Teams present their business model canvas. Each Team is allotted 10 minutes total to include 7 minutes for presentation, 3 minutes for Teaching Team comments.

30 min Lecture: Value Proposition/Product-Market Fit What is your product or service? How does it differ from an idea? Why will people want it? Who’s the competition and how does your customer view these competitive offerings? Where’s the market? What’s the minimum feature set? What’s the Market Type? What was your inspiration or impetus? What assumptions drove you to this? What unique insight do you have into the market dynamics or into a technical shift that makes this a fresh opportunity?

30 min Q & A

Assignment to complete BEFORE Class 2 – Week of September 22

READ/WATCH: LOCATION

Watch Video Lecture 3: Customer Segments LaunchPad Central/Resource Hub/LaunchPad Video Lectures

Read Class 2 Discussion Questions – Be prepared to answer Dropbox

Read/watch Minimum Viable Product explained Optional:

Read: Business Model Generation pgs 146–150, 161–168 and 200–211

Read: The Startup Owner’s Manual, pgs 85-97

How to find customers to interview

Getting Customer Interviews with Cold Emails

“LESSONS LEARNED” PRESENTATION FORMAT: Slide 1: Cover slide (Team member names, Team name, 1 to 2 sentence description of your product, number of total customer contacts AND number of customer contacts since last class) Slide 2: Current business model canvas with any changes marked in red Slide 3 -n: What did you learn about your value proposition from talking to your first customers?

Hypothesis: Here’s What We Thought Experiments: So Here’s What We Did Results: So Here’s What We Found Iterate: So Here’s What We Are Going to Do Next

Upload your presentation to Dropbox by 7:00 am day of class (naming convention: Groupx_TeamName_Date e.g., GroupA_DataComm_05062013)

ASSIGNMENT:

Get out of the building and talk to as many customers as you can (no less than 10)

Generate a value proposition hypothesis

Review customer interview “How to” resources

Ask potential customers what they think about your value proposition. You may consider online survey tools* as a secondary means by which to generate more data.

Update your business model canvas based on your findings in LPC

Start to populate customer discovery tool (your customer discovery narrative on LaunchPad Central) Identify your type of business (IP/licensing/startup/unknown)

* Survey tools are not means to conduct customer interviews, and survey responses may not be counted as unique customer contacts. Surveys are most useful for collecting quantitative data on subjects for which responses are finite and follow-up minimal. Surveys cannot, however, compare with live interviews, wherein respondents’ answers to open-ended questions can drive follow up that digs deeper and ascertains a deeper understanding of respondent pain-points, needs, priorities, etc.

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 9 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Class 2 – Week of September 22 Location: GoToMeeting (https://global.gotomeeting.com/meeting/join/759350445) Time Session

60 min “Lessons Learned” Team Presentations Teams present their business model canvas. Each Team is allotted 10 minutes total to include 7 minutes for presentation, 3 minutes for Teaching Team comments.

30 min Lecture: Customers/Users/Payers Who’s the customer? User? Payer? How are they different? Why do they buy? How can you reach them? How is a business customer different from a consumer? What’s a multi-side market? What’s segmentation? What’s an archetype?

30 min Q & A on Customers and MVP

Assignment to complete BEFORE Class 3 – Week of October 6

READ/WATCH: LOCATION

Watch Video Lecture 4 – Distribution Channels LaunchPad Central/Resource Hub/LaunchPad Video Lectures

Read Class 3 Discussion Questions – Be prepared to answer Dropbox

Optional:

Read: Business Model Generation pgs 127-133

Read: The Startup Owner’s Manual, pgs 98-111, 189-255, and 406-412

“LESSONS LEARNED” PRESENTATION FORMAT: Slide 1: Cover slide (Team member names, Team name, 1 to 2 sentence description of your product, number of total customer contacts AND number of customer contacts since last class) Slide 2: Current business model canvas with any changes marked in red Slide 3 -n: What did you learn about your customer segment from talking to your customers?

Hypothesis: Here’s What We Thought Experiments: So Here’s What We Did Results: So Here’s What We Found Iterate: So Here’s What We Are Going to Do Next

Upload your presentation to Dropbox by 7:00 am day of class (naming convention: Groupx_TeamName_Date e.g., GroupA_DataComm_05062013)

ASSIGNMENT:

Talk to 10-15 customers face to face. Draw a customer diagram

Describe your customer archetypes. What were your hypotheses about who your users and customers were? Did you learn anything different?

Create a petal diagram of your ecosystem

Did anything change about your Value Proposition?

What do customers say their problems/needs are? How do they solve this problem(s) today? Does your value proposition solve it? How?

What was it about your product that made customers interested? Excited?

If your customer is part of a company, who is the decision maker, how large is their budget, what are they spending it on today, and how are they individually evaluated within that organization, and how will this buying decision be made?

Update your canvas in LPC

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 10 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Class 3 – Week of October 6 Location: GoToMeeting (https://global.gotomeeting.com/meeting/join/759350445) Time Session

60 min “Lessons Learned” Team Presentations Teams present their business model canvas. Each Team is allotted 10 minutes total to include 7 minutes for presentation, 3 minutes for Teaching Team comments.

30 min Lecture: Distribution Channels What’s a channel? Physical versus virtual channels. Direct channels, indirect channels, OEM. Multi-sided markets. B-to-B versus B-to-C channels and sales (business to business versus business to consumer).

30 min Q & A

Assignment to complete BEFORE Class 4 – Week of October 20

READ/WATCH: LOCATION

Watch Video Lecture 5 – Customer Relationships LaunchPad Central/Resource Hub/LaunchPad Video Lectures

Read Class 4 Discussion Questions – Be prepared to answer Dropbox

Optional:

Read: Business Model Generation pgs 227-256, 332-342

Read: The Startup Owner’s Manual, pgs 211-217

“LESSONS LEARNED” PRESENTATION FORMAT: Slide 1: Cover slide (Team member names, Team name, 1 to 2 sentence description of your product, number of total customer contacts AND number of customer contacts since last class) Slide 2: Current business model canvas with any changes marked in red Slide 3 -n: What did you learn about your channel from talking to potential channel partners?

Hypothesis: Here’s What We Thought Experiments: So Here’s What We Did Results: So Here’s What We Found Iterate: So Here’s What We Are Going to Do Next

Upload your presentation to Dropbox by 7:00 am day of class (naming convention: Groupx_TeamName_Date e.g., GroupA_DataComm_05062013)

ASSIGNMENT:

Get out of the building and talk to 10-15 potential channel partners face-to-face (Salesmen, OEM’s distributors, etc.)

Draw channel diagrams.

What were your hypotheses about who/what your channel would be? Did you learn anything different?

Did anything change about Value Proposition?

Update your canvas in LPC

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 11 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Class 4 – Week of October 20 Location: GoToMeeting (https://global.gotomeeting.com/meeting/join/759350445) Time Session

60 min “Lessons Learned” Team Presentations Teams present their business model canvas. Each Team is allotted 10 minutes total to include 7 minutes for presentation, 3 minutes for Teaching Team comments.

30 min Lecture Discussion: Customer Relationships: Get/Keep/Grow How do you create end user demand? How does it differ on the web versus other channels? Evangelism vs. existing need or category? General Marketing, Sales Funnel, etc. How does demand creation differ in a multi-sided market?

30 min Q & A

Assignment to complete BEFORE Class 5 – Week of November 3

READ/WATCH: LOCATION

Watch Video Lecture 6 – Revenue Model LaunchPad Central/Resource Hub/LaunchPad Video Lectures

Pricing Strategies - Wikipedia

Pricing Experiments you might know...

Read Class 5 Discussion Questions – Be prepared to answer Dropbox

Optional:

Read: The Startup Owner’s Manual, pgs 277-331

“LESSONS LEARNED” PRESENTATION FORMAT: Slide 1: Cover slide (Team member names, Team name, 1 to 2 sentence description of your product, number of total customer contacts AND number of customer contacts since last class) Slide 2: Current business model canvas with any changes marked in red Slide 3 -n: What did you learn about how to Get, Keep, and Grow your customers?

Hypothesis: Here’s What We Thought Experiments: So Here’s What We Did Results: So Here’s What We Found Iterate: So Here’s What We Are Going to Do Next

Upload your presentation to Dropbox by 7:00 am day of class (naming convention: Groupx_TeamName_Date e.g., GroupA_DataComm_05062013)

ASSIGNMENT:

Talk to 10-15 customers face to face.

Build ways to communicate strategy and cost to Get-Keep-Grow customers (see examples)

Build demand creation budget and forecast.

What is your customer acquisition cost?

What is your customer lifetime value? Channel incentives – does your product or proposition extend or replace existing revenue for the channel?

What is the “cost” of your channel, and its efficiency vs. your selling price?

Update your canvas in LPC

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 12 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Class 5 – Week of November 3 Location: GoToMeeting (https://global.gotomeeting.com/meeting/join/759350445) Time Session

60 min “Lessons Learned” Team Presentations Teams present their business model canvas. Each Team is allotted 10 minutes total to include 7 minutes for presentation, 3 minutes for Teaching Team comments.

30 min Lecture Discussion: Revenue Model What’s a revenue model? What types of revenue streams are there? How does it differ on the web versus other channels? How does this differ in a multi-sided market?

30 min Q & A

Assignment to complete BEFORE Class 6 – Week of November 17

READ/WATCH: LOCATION

Watch Video Lecture 7 – Partners LaunchPad Central/Resource Hub/LaunchPad Video Lectures

Read Class 6 Discussion Questions – Be prepared to answer Dropbox

Optional:

Read: The Startup Owner’s Manual, pgs 257-270 and 429-459

Read: Business Model Generation, pgs 212-225

“LESSONS LEARNED” PRESENTATION FORMAT: Slide 1: Cover slide (Team member names, Team name, 1 to 2 sentence description of your product, number of total customer contacts AND number of customer contacts since last class) Slide 2: Current business model canvas with any changes marked in red Slide 3 -n: What did you learn about your revenue model?

Hypothesis: Here’s What We Thought Experiments: So Here’s What We Did Results: So Here’s What We Found Iterate: So Here’s What We Are Going to Do Next

Upload your presentation to Dropbox by 7:00 am day of class (naming convention: Groupx_TeamName_Date e.g., GroupA_DataComm_05062013)

ASSIGNMENT:

Talk to 10-15 customers face to face.

What’s the revenue model strategy?

What are the pricing tactics?

Draw the diagram of payment flows

What are the metrics that matter for your business model?

Test pricing in front of 100 customers on the web, 10–15 customers non-web

Update your canvas in LPC

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 13 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Class 6 – Week of November 17 Location: GoToMeeting (https://global.gotomeeting.com/meeting/join/759350445) Time Session

60 min “Lessons Learned” Team Presentations Teams present their business model canvas. Each Team is allotted 10 minutes total to include 7 minutes for presentation, 3 minutes for Teaching Team comments.

30 min Lecture Discussion: Partners Who are partners? Strategic alliances, competition, joint ventures, buyer supplier, licensees. Instructors will also address Q&A regarding the final lessons learned video and presentation assignments.

30 min Q & A

Assignment to complete BEFORE Class 7 – Week of December 1

READ/WATCH: LOCATION

Watch Video Lecture 8 – Resources, Activities & Costs LaunchPad Central/Resource Hub/LaunchPad Video Lectures

Read Class 7 Discussion Questions – Be prepared to answer Dropbox

Optional:

Read: The Startup Owner’s Manual, pgs 406-214

Read: Business Model Generation, pgs 200-211

“LESSONS LEARNED” PRESENTATION FORMAT: Slide 1: Cover slide (Team member names, Team name, 1 to 2 sentence description of your product, number of total customer contacts AND number of customer contacts since last class) Slide 2: Current business model canvas with any changes marked in red Slide 3 -n: What did you learn about your partners?

Hypothesis: Here’s What We Thought Experiments: So Here’s What We Did Results: So Here’s What We Found Iterate: So Here’s What We Are Going to Do Next

Upload your presentation to Dropbox by 7:00 am day of class (naming convention: Groupx_TeamName_Date e.g., GroupA_DataComm_05062013)

ASSIGNMENT:

Talk to 10-15 customers face to face.

What partners will you need?

Why do you need them and what are the risks?

Why will they partner with you?

What’s the cost of the partnership?

Talk to actual partners/potential partners.

What are the benefits for an exclusive partnership?

Did anything change about Value Proposition or Customers/Users, Channel, Demand Creation?

What are the incentives and impediments for the partners?

Update your canvas in LPC

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 14 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Class 7 – Week of December 1 Location: GoToMeeting (https://global.gotomeeting.com/meeting/join/759350445) Time Session

60 min “Lessons Learned” Team Presentations Teams present their business model canvas. Each Team is allotted 10 minutes total to include 7 minutes for presentation, 3 minutes for Teaching Team comments.

30 min Lecture Discussion: Key Resources and Costs What resources do you need to build this business? How many people? What kind? Any hardware or software you need to buy? Any IP you need to license? How much money do you need to raise? When? Why? Importance of cash flows? When do you get paid vs. when do you pay others? How does these translate to commercial readiness and “go or no go”?

30 min Q & A

Assignment to complete BEFORE Class 8 – Week of December 15

READ/WATCH: LOCATION

Optional:

Read: The Startup Owner’s Manual, pgs 169-175

“LESSONS LEARNED” PRESENTATION FORMAT: A 10-minute Lessons Learned Presentation (see more details on page 15 below) Upload your presentation to Dropbox by 7:00 am day of class (naming convention: Groupx_TeamName_Date e.g., GroupA_DataComm_05062013)

ASSIGNMENT:

Talk to 10-15 customers face to face.

Assemble a resources assumptions spreadsheet: people, hardware, software, prototypes, financing, etc.

When will you need these resources?

Where is your cash flow break-even point?

What are the key financials metrics for costs in your business model?

Roll up all the costs from partners, resources and activities in a spreadsheet by time.

Class 8 – Week of Dec 15 Location: GoToMeeting (https://global.gotomeeting.com/meeting/join/759350445) Time Session

2 hours Final “Lessons Learned” Team presentations Teams present to the entire class. Each Team is allotted 15 minutes total to include the 2-minute Lessons Learned Video followed by the10-minute Lesson Learned Presentation and 3 minutes of Teaching Team comments.

30 min Closing Session

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 15 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

10-minute Lessons Learned Presentation Guideline This will be different from your previous presentations as the objective is to tell the story of your journey through the Customer Discovery process. This presentation should:

• Tell a story of what you did (e.g. customer discovery, mistakes, etc) and what you learned • Focus on insights rather than data points • Highlight your “a-ha!” moment(s) • Include images and graphics that support your story • Text should be brief and legible (i.e., large enough to be read)

The slides require some standard content for documentation for SBIR Advance. Your slides must:

• Begin with an introduction of your Team (Team name and number, member names and roles, total interviews completed, and total in-person interviews).

• Include multiple iterations of the Business Model Canvas (including first, last, and points of critical pivots) and diagrams. Make sure these slides are legible, in a large enough font to be read and understood.

• End with a slide including your Go/No-Go decision and links to your videos (Lessons Learned and Technical) on YouTube.

Your slide deck should support your story telling: don’t present a narration of your slides. Your presentation should be a dynamic and engaging delivery of your Team’s story. The following is a sample of an appropriate set of slides for this presentation: Slide 1: Team Name, total number of interviews, total number of in-person interviews& a couple lines

about what your initial idea was and the size of the opportunity Slide 2: Team members –name, background, expertise and your role for the Team Slide 3: Business Model Canvas, Version 1. (Verbally address, “Here was our original idea...”, make

sure this is legible, use a large font) Slide 4: “Here’s what we did…”(explain how you got out of the building, who you met, etc, eg: display

logos and photos of customers, or a map of the territory covered) Slide 5: “What we found was…” (reality); Include illustration of customer archetype or market size

diagram to show what was learned from this new information Slide 6: Business Model Canvas, Version 2, illustrating iteration or pivot… Explain why and what you

found. We then advanced this hypothesis… Slide 7: So here’s what we did (explain how you got out of the building); Perhaps include photos of the

countryside or the factory you visited. Slide 8: And here’s what we found (what was reality); including a photo and great quote the

summarizes a key lesson learned; So then… Slide 9: Your distribution channel diagram may illustrate what you learned. Slide 9: Business Model Canvas Version 3. We iterated or pivoted… explain why &what you found. Slide 10: Etc., etc., etc. Final Slide: Clearly states “Go” or “No Go” and includes links to your videos on YouTube. Sample presentations from previous cohorts are available for your reference at nciia.org/i-corps.

SBIR Advance: Lean Startup Program Syllabus Page 16 Not to be distributed. ©2014 Center for Technology Commercialization

Glossary of common terms and acronyms: Agile development: Iterative and incremental development, where solutions evolve through collaboration Business Model Canvas: template for developing and documenting new business models, made up of 9 key building blocks Customer archetype: fictional character created to represent the different user types within a targeted demographic, attitude and/or behavior set that might use a site, brand or product in a similar way. Customer discovery: Process of asking questions to understand needs and pain points of potential customers IP: Intellectual Property such as discoveries and inventions, often protected by patents and trademarks LPC: LaunchPad Central; Online platform for tracking your progress through the SBIR Advance program MVP: Minimum Viable Product; the basic product (or service) you can take to market NDA: Non-Disclosure Agreement; confidentiality agreement OEM: Original Equipment Manufacturer SAM: Served Available Market TAM: Total Available Market Teaching Team: The class instructors; usually entrepreneurs, entrepreneurial educators and Technologists Udacity: Online learning platform; videos of Steve Blank’s lectures Value Proposition: What value do we deliver to the customer? What customer needs are we satisfying? VC: Venture Capitalist; a person (or organization) who provides capital to startup ventures