Slides from part 2 of the transferable skills workshop held by The Innovation Agency at the University of Cambridge

1. Cambridge University
Transferable Skill Workshop
Commercialising R&D

2. Welcome & Content

Recap of the first session

Where are we trying to get to?

Asking the right questions

Business modelling – introducing the business model
canvas
 An example business model
 The Workshop

The Investment deck

Marketing your business

The Innovation Agency
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

3. Recap
Push – Pull
What - WHY

Technology Push

Market Pull

Understanding the WHY of what you are doing

Have you tested your pitch?
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

4. Where are we trying to get to?
To develop an appreciation of the
fundamentals of planning and
communicating a business

5. Building a believable story
Communicating the story
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

6. Introducing the
Business Model Canvas
Developed as by Alex Osterwalder
www.businessmodelgeneration.com

7. Business Model Canvas
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

8. Intro Video
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

9. Cambridge University Transferable Skills

10. Cambridge University Transferable Skills

11. Guesstimates / Assumptions

Users/Customers 
Resources
 Number of monthly  Number of employees: 2k
active FB users: 500M (source: FB factsheet)
(source: FB factsheet)  Number of servers: ???
 Number of daily active 
Costs
FB users: 250M (source:  Average salary
FB factsheet) (guesstimate): 150k
 Average time users (source: glassdoor.com
spend on FB per FB salaries)
month: 1′400 minutes  HR costs: 300M
-> 46 min/day (deduction)
(guesstimate source:  IT costs (guess):????
FB factsheet)
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

12. Guesstimates / Assumptions

Revenue Streams 
How could its advertising
 Advertising – Average revenues (e.g. banners and
CPM: $0.625 (source: text advertising breakdown)
Blogpost) really be?
 Annual page views: 3.12 
What budgets are Fortune
Trillion (source: Blogpost) 500 companies putting into
 Facebook Credits: 30% Facebook advertising?
revenue cut (source: 
How many SMEs and micro-
TechCrunch) enterprises are using

OPEN QUESTIONS Facebook for advertising?

How high could Facebook’s 
How much could Facebook
costs for its IT infrastructure already be earning from
(capital expenditure and Facebook Credits, even if
operating costs be? this virtual currency is still in
BETA?
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

13. The Workshop
Develop a canvas.....

14. Get ready to pivot

Key insights come from talking to people

15 minutes with a customer beats 10 hours
hypothesising

Be flexible and willing to be wrong

Encourage criticism and use the feedback

Be aware of the limits of theoretical models

Talk to people – all the time

Be Humble
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

15. The ways the canvas gets used...
Different levels of mastery

16. Levels of Mastery

Level 0 Strategy – The Oblivious: Focus on products/value
propositions alone rather than the value proposition AND
the business model.

Level 1 Strategy – The Beginners: Use the Business Model
Canvas as a checklist.

Level 2 Strategy – The Masters: Outcompete others with
a superior business model where every one of the
business model building blocks reinforce each other (e.g.
Nintendo Wii, Nespresso, Dell).

Level 3 Strategy – The Invincible: Continuously disrupt
themselves while their business models are still
successful (e.g. Apple, Amazon.com).
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

17. The Investment Deck
Getting the message across in an
engaging way

18. Hockey Sticks!
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19. Why, How, What

Engagement is best gained when the WHY is
explained first........ if you nail the WHY, the
How and What is straightforward

Investors are no different
 Why – what is the motivation, societal need,
benefit that your business brings
 How are you going to deliver the Why?
 What, in detail, are you going to do?
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

20. What the Investors say they want
to see in an investment deck

21. The Investment Deck
'The Perfect Pitch' using x7 slides:
Bindi Karia, VC Emerging Business lead for
Microsoft

22. The Investment Deck
1) Your Value Proposition
2) The Problem
3) Your Solution
4) The Marketplace
5) Your Team
6) Business Execution
7) Business Model
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

23. The Investment Deck
'The Perfect Pitch' using X10 slides:
Guy Kawasaki, former chief evangelist
Apple Inc

24. The Investment Deck
1) Problem
2) Your Solution
3) Business Model
4) Underlying magic technology
5) Marketing and Sales
6) Competition
7) Team
8) Projections and milestones
9) Status and timeline
10)Summary and call to action
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

25. The Investment Deck
'The Perfect Pitch' using X13 Slides:
Mark Suster, Entreprenuer turned VC

26. The Investment Deck
1) Team Bio
2) 100 Meter view of your company
3) Problem definition
4) How do you solve the problem: Demo?
5) Market Sizing
6) Warning: Market sizing pitfalls
7) Competition
8) Customer Adoption – Traction
9) Team
10) Financial Projections
11) Use of Proceeds
12) Fundraising process – next steps
13) Appenix Slides: Back up slides
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27. The Investment Deck
'Top ten lies' of Entreprenuers

28. The Investment Deck
'Top ten lies' of Entreprenuers
1) “Our projections are conservative.”
2) “Jupiter says our market will be 50 billion in ten years.”
3) “Several Fortune 500 companies are set to do business with us.”
4) “No one else can do what we are doing.”
5) “Hurry up because other investors are about to do a deal.”
6) “The large companies in our market are too slow and too dumb to compete.”
7) “Our management team is proven.”
8) “We filed patents so our intellectual property is protected.”
9) “Our product will go viral.”
10)“All we have to do is get 1% of the market.”
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

29. The Investment Deck
'Top ten lies' of Investors

30. The Investment Deck
'Top ten lies' of Investors
1) “I liked your company, but my partners didn't.”
2) “We are patient investors who want to help you build a great company.”
3) “If you get a lead, we'll invest too.”
4) “There are no companies in our portfolio that conflict with what you're
doing.”
5) “Show us some traction, and we'll invest.”
6) “We love to co-invest with other firms.”
7) “We're investing in your team.”
8) “We have lots of bandwidth to dedicate to your company.”
9) “This is a plain, vanilla termsheet.”
10)“We will get other companies in our portfolio to work with you.”
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

31. The Investment Deck
Question:
Do you know the difference between the lies
of entrepreneurs and the lies of investors
?

32. The Investment Desk
Answer:
The Investors have money

33. Marketing your Business
#1 – know who you are marketing to

34. Marketing Your Business

Creating a burning platform:Three essential elements

Why buy anything?
Avoid building a 'feature' not a company (FNAC)

Why buy Mine?
Understand what your customer pain point solves
and why your business is more cost effective
than others

Why buy now?
This question kills most sales cycles including raising
venture capital
Cambridge University Transferable Skills

35. The Innovation Agency
......taking Research to Market

36. Individual follow ups
Contact us if you would like to
investigate how to take your research
to market

37. Thank you
Talk to us about commercialising your
research
henry.gomersall@theinnovationagency.org
Ian.sharp@theinnovationagency.org