Yesterday I met with a group of entrepreneurs and held Startup Clinic workshop at HUBBA for the whole day. It was a crash course of JFDI’s 100 days. We had great time. I really enjoyed the topics of conversation, and shared some of the oft discussed ideas at JFDI.Asia, writes Ray Wu
Want JFDI Startup Clinic to come to your city? Read the rest of blog to see the curriculum and content.
The guys were extremely smart and passionate about the verticals they worked in, and before the morning was over, the group was helping each other out in constructing one-liner pitch of their businesses.
We started with a round of introductions, and I asked the group to pitch us who they were and what they were working on. We then spent the whole day working on breaking down how to articulate their businesses, and the problem & customers they were targeting. All of these were things I did everyday with the JFDI teams.
Some of the entrepreneurs started with product pitches or mission statements instead of explaining what their businesses did. They confused the “customer pitch” with the “investor pitch”.
I saw the same mistakes while on the panel the day before at Thumbs Up’s conference. We were listening to a lot of product features as opposed to what the businesses did. I pointed this out at the conference then, and yesterday again at the workshop. We worked hard to change that.
I also shared with the guys how we constructed 6 minutes investor pitches. I used examples from current JFDI teams: the flow of explaining the business through Problem (Customer), Solution, Traction, Market, Business Model, and Vision. This helped with understanding how to construct the one-liner.
In the afternoon, we helped each entrepreneur fill out Lean Canvases as a group. I loved the energy and bond in that room. Everyone was asking each other hard questions and giving great constructive advices.
Through all of our conversations, and answering questions, we ended up with an amazing list of blog posts, videos, and tools (see below) to help the guys carry on the momentum from the workshop. I was very proud of how much ground we covered; it was also very gratifying to see the progress the guys made just in one day.
Most of our discussions surrounded Lean and Customer Development. We focused on: how to ask customer development questions, what kind of hypotheses to come up with, customer segmentations, identifying early adopters, unfair advantage, theories on innovations, behavior models, metrics, etc.
Thanks to Mimee (Thumbs Up) and Amarit (HUBBA) for making this workshop possible. It was extremely cool. I’d love to lead another workshop in Bangkok!
Here is the entire curriculum and notes from our session:
Our goal of the day – Start Now, by Derek Sivers
Agenda
- My company, ______, is a __(what)___, that helps ___(who)____ to solve __(problem)__ with __(secret sauce)__
- Lean Canvas
- How to estimate the market: bottom up
- Apply lean Startup to a foreign market: example student application US/India
- Simon Sinek: why, how, what
- Interviewing customers: how to come up with questions
Introductions:
Ray @raywu
- Minimalist traveler: four pairs of boxers
- “Tourious: online platform to connect tourists to locals based on personal interests”
Link @jomzup
- MBA Resident Advisor: hustler
- “User Experience to technology”
Pound @teeravee
- Self starter that shares
- “Cloud services to business to change the world”
- “Tabshier: cash register + integrated eCommerce that help micro businesses sell products both online and in store seamlessly”
- “Tabshier povides cashers in micro-enterprises to record the sales transaction with reward loyalty programs”
Seth @gnosisadvisory
- Could have sold your Excel skills for 1bn dollars
- “Corporate advisory and training: the next success start here”
Numfone @bongboeaw
- Natural Leader: started a tech community without knowing anything about tech
- “Blueberries Creation: beyond expectation”
Of @ojazzy
- Punkster in Singapore
- “MemoryBox: Pintrest for your precious memory”
Lim @csengathubba
- Risky 17 year old: biked 500km didn’t tell mom
- “Startup coaching that builds ecosystem”
Py @pmuenpra
- Self-fulfilling masochist: take pain into your own hands
- “IndieCampfire.com: online platform that is free to connect fans, venues, and music entrepreneurs for Indie in SE Asia”
Aim @aimamarit
- Stopped talking and start something
- “Creating startup ecosystem: scale co-working space”
- “Quests: mobile app to help entrepreneurs find face to face professional help”
Who are you pitching to?
- Investor pitch
- Customer pitch
- Word of mouth pitch (mom pitch)
- PR pitch
Notes:
- Madlibs
- Metrics to focus on: retention, cohort, etc.
- Steve Blank: a startup is an organization formed to search for a repeatable and scalable business mode
- Early adopter assumption: the hypothesis needs to be measurable
- Early Adopters:
A. Have the problem
B. Know they have the problem
C. Searched for a solution
D. Hacked their own solution
E. Have budget for a solution
What is obvious to you by Derek Sivers
Homework:
- Write 10 one sentence pitches of your business this week
- Try to explain to a person
- Vanity Metrics
- Paul Graham’s 10% OKM
- Bullshit Metrics, and definition of OKM
- Cohort Analysis
- Read about CPC, LTV, CAC, MRR
- Capture existing behaviors: here and here
- Disruptive Technology
- First Mover Disadvantage with Disruptive Innovation
- Prioritizing customer segment
- KickStarter Campaign case study
- Systematic customer development
- Viral Coefficient
- GitHub Bootstrapped story
- Instagram’s Money Shot
- Constructing a better pitch
- Slideshare from Tom Frazier on pitch deck
- Please let me know what you think
Blogs to check out:
This post appeared first on Ray’s personal blog.
