July 2001.
10 years ago this time in July I was an out of work, recently fried (possibly fired), roasted and burned out technology company ex-CEO. While the designation was anything but flattering its financial impact had burned a crispy and still smoking radioactive hole through my supposedly secure financial future.
When I looked outside at the brilliantly painted California sky, rather than be grateful for being in Orange County on a mild summer afternoon, I kept on asking myself – Whoa, what just happened here. Six years later, the questions lead to a book (no publishing contract) and an opportunity to start teaching executive MBA students about starting and failing with their dream businesses. And so for half a decade now I have helped my students work through ideas and dreams so that they can sift them via the reality lens of startup school.
If you want to skip the class, skip the book, skip the history lessons, skip the school and the hard work here is the short and sweet version for you.
Startup School – Core Milestones
Startup School – Balance Faith
Startup School – Balancing Faith
Startup School – The blue screen of death
Startup School – Startup roulette: A framework for failure
Startup School – The search for gods and generals – Leadership and Greco-Roman tragedies
Startup School – The paradox of large customers
Startup School – Why diversification is a four-letter word: Lessons learned
Startup School – Why diversification is a four-letter word
Startup School – Opportunity cost of perfection
Startup School – Evolutionary product development and “solving the wrong problem”, problem
Startup School – Technology as a competitive advantage: Lessons learned
Startup School – Technology as a competitive advantage
If you survived, are still here with me and would like to learn more, welcome to Startup school. Sample lesson number one talks about innovation and entrepreneurship and sets the context for the full course.
Startup School |
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If you like what you see, follow through to the lesson plan below and sign up for the distribution list that gets a first shot at registration for the live rendering (UAE, Singapore, Kula Lumpur and Karachi) or the online version of the course.
It started off with a seminar participant asking me if I teach outside of the executive MBA program I am associated with. Coupled with four years of mentoring companies participating in the Asia Pacific ICT Awards, it was obvious that there had to be a better way of teaching people real time rather than at the last minute in a foreign hotel in an alien city surrounded by unfamiliar conference ware.
The lesson plan grew out of the evolving course work in my classes and mentoring and reviewing over two hundred business plan. A rough outline follows.
The first online week long version of the course will run in mid August. The live versions are planned between October and November in the four cities. For advance notice registrations please drop me a line at jawwad at the rate alchemya dot com or subscribe to this site or our facebook fan page.
Startup School – Course Plan
Lessons |
Outline |
One – Foundations | Testing your idea |
Testing yourself | |
The Roadmap to Failure | |
The Roadmap to credibility | |
Two – Pitching basics | Tell a great story |
The voice of a customer | |
What is he buying | |
What are you selling | |
How much does it cost | |
Why you – why not someone else | |
Why should I care | |
Three – The voice of the customer | Behavior |
Demographics | |
Profile | |
Linking customer pain with product features | |
Four – Selling your product | Monetizing the pain |
Pricing | |
Services | |
Products | |
Five – Roadmap to Credibility | 10 conversations |
10 customers | |
10 proposals | |
10 pitches | |
The 3 month build out, deliver, collect cycle | |
Six – Revisiting the pitch | Logistics |
Visuals | |
Focus | |
Seven – Wrap up | Core lessons |
Deliverables | |
Roadmap to revenues |
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