This kick off post was written by startup mentor Marcel Ekkel and was first published on Medium.
RISE @ CoCoon, a five-day program powered by the lean startup materials used by Startup Weekend, is looking to add 2-3 more teams. If interested, please fill in this registration form ASAP.
As this is a pilot edition we are happy to get going with (just) four teams. Compared to a Startup Weekend the format and the dynamics are very different. SWNEXT has a focus on a team that has started already. The mentorship will be exploring more width and more depth and in line with that be able to spend more time with teams.
This is possible as the program is spread out over 5 weeks, with 1 contact evening every week. During the evening we start with covering work to be done from last week, followed by a mentor introduction into the new topic and ending with some FaceTime with respective mentors.
The topic of the first session was CUSTOMER DISCOVERY and we found 2 mentors willing to share their experiences and insights into the matter. Though before getting to that, the evening was kicked off with a first attempt to a 1 minute pitch followed by their discussion of the preparatory work for this week.
Some comments that came out of the sessions were:
- Let your passion shine through in your pitch
- Use repetition wisely
- Watch the time
- Be Prepared
The introduction sessions were followed by a session lead by Alexander Wayenberg who talked the teams through the Value Proposition design and the Business Model Canvas. A critical set of exercises to bring focus in the way of working. It sets the team up to start validating their assumptions.
If you are interested in learning more check out this course at udacity, lead by Steve Blank.
The next session was run by Andy Ann, founder of the NDN group. He described his story of startups. A long list of matching (hidden) needs in the markets. Andy talked the teams through a number of examples dating back to when he started where ideas were literally on the street. Critical succes element was the engagement with the potential customer/market.
An interesting twist he brought in was some insights on how he set up deals to make it happen. Creative negotiation with suppliers, partners and clients allowed him to bring products to market without the need for major investor involvement. He finished off with some personal insights on what happens with you when your business(es) scale up. All together, a very insight full chat!
Simon explaining Google Consumer Surveys
Next up was Simon Newstead who conquers the gaming world with Frenzoo. After he launched Frenzoo, Simon picked up a few more initiatives with the latest being polljoy.com. This is a tool to insert polls in games to test certain parameters. In house developed as there was a need that could not be fulfilled. Simon explained different ways of testing hypothesis and where to find people. Very pragmatic stuff. Some tools he highlighted were for example Google Consumer Surveys and Google Keyword Tool. The first one assists targeted surveying and the latter in understanding what people look for. Lots of handy tools when doing your customer validation.
The evening then continued with individual team sessions and discussions on the topic of the evening.
