Opening presentation for the 14-week accelerator program for startup entrepreneurs -- offered by the Founder Institute. https://fi.co/overview

1. Alex Gault
Small World Ventures
alex@smallworldventures.com
September 8, 2021

2. “If you have to ask whether you have
Product/Market Fit, the answer is simple:
you don’t.”
– Eric Ries, The Lean Startup
“If you are not embarrassed by the first
version of your product, you’ve launched
too late.”
– Reid Hoffman, Co-Founder of LinkedIn

3. Qualify Your Vision
1. Problem/Solution Fit
❑ Articulate the Problem/Solution Fit.
2. Market Opportunity
❑ Identify potential market and size.
3. Path to Exponential Growth
❑ Is your business an IDE or SME?
4. Business Model Canvas
❑ Represent your model by means of a
single graphic.
5. Match your Narrative with Industry Trends
❑ Identify industry-wide pain points &
emerging opportunities.
6. Platform Distribution
❑ If your solution isn’t a platform, design it
such that it integrates with others that
have global reach.
7. Innovation Ecosystem & Innovation Loops
❑ Join an i-ecosystem, & execute Innovation
Loops with target stakeholders.

4. Problem/Solution Fit
1. Articulate the Problem
❑ Identify the pain points.
❑ Identify competition offering existing alternatives.
2. Your Solution
❑ Articulate your value proposition.
3. Validate Qualitatively
❑ Summarize a plan for building a Minimal Viable Product (MVP).

6. Market Opportunity
Frame and measure the opportunity according to the following 4 metrics

7. Must be an IDE (innovation-driven enterprise)
- not a SME (small or medium-sized enterprise)
Path to Exponential Growth
SME IDE
Market Focus SMEs typically addressing regional
markets only.
IDEs are built on innovative models that can scale
globally or across regions.
Tradable vs
non-tradable
Jobs
Non-tradable jobs must be performed
locally (e.g., in restaurants, dry
cleaners, and service industries).
Tradable jobs don’t have to be performed locally
(ex. manufacturing, consulting and engineering).
Ownership MEs are started by people who seek
to sustain control, not to create high
growth.
IDEs have a more diverse ownership base, as the
founders’ focus is on high growth and increasing
wealth.
Company
Growth
SMEs grows at a linear rate. When a
stakeholder puts money into an SME,
revenue, cash flow and jobs increase
very soon thereafter.
IDEs typically start by losing money, but
eventually achieve exponential growth. Following
investment into an IDE, revenue, cash flow or job
numbers don’t respond quickly.

8. Business Model Canvas
Potential investors and other possible stakeholders are much more
likely to pay attention to a single infographic or diagram which
represents your vision, rather than a business plan.
EXAMPLE
The “Business Model Canvas” is a widely used template for
visually representing a business model, and incorporates the 9
building blocks highlighted in the following infographic:

10. Match Your Narrative with Industry Trends
Thought Leaders
❑ Create lists (Twitter, Medium, YouTube, Linkedin, etc) as
sources of intelligence regarding target markets &
competition.
❑ Share with team members.
Common Online Narratives
❑ Examine narratives shared via social media & content
marketing by leading industry brands.
❑ Identify common value propositions, pain points & stories.

11. Platform Distribution
Platforms are reshaping industry ecosystems
❑ If you’re not building a platform, design and optimize your service to integrate
with leading platforms and leverage associated network effects.
Industries based on sharing information – which can be digitized with
lower production and distribution costs – are prime for platform
transformation
Examples:
❑ A high proportion of value from information – Media.
❑ Precise, modular output – Retail.
❑ Spare capacity – Empty passenger seats enabled Uber;
spare rooms created Airbnb.

14. Join An Innovation Ecosystem
An innovation ecosystem, ideally local,
can facilitate and accelerate innovation
Stakeholder status
Securing stakeholders in your start-up from any
of these 5 categories will accelerate growth.
Becoming a stakeholder in organizations in any
of these categories will give you access to
financing, market intelligence, partnerships &
customers.

15. Innovation Loops
Entrepreneurial start-ups are highly effective
at iterating quickly
Seek relationships within your ecosystem to determine if
your innovation might solve a problem they’re currently
trying to address.
If you can solve such a problem expeditiously, that will
❑ Provide valuable feedback.
❑ Identify what works and what doesn’t.
❑ Validate your technology and/or business model.
❑ Secure that stakeholder as a stakeholder in your business
❑ Empower you with metrics and intelligence (including
market metrics and intelligence) with which your can
iterate, upgrade or pivot if necessary.

16. Innovation Loops

17. Artificial Intelligence
Factor AI & Associated Vernacular into Your Plan

18. Resources
Zero to One. Peter Thiel
❑ Notes on Startups, or How to Build the Future
Startup Tools for Entrepreneurs. Steve Blank
❑ https://steveblank.com/tools-and-blogs-for-entrepreneurs/
The Third Wave. Steve Case
❑ An Entrepreneur’s Vision of the Future
The Lean Startup. Eric Reis
❑ http://theleanstartup.com/
Machine, Platform, Crowd. Andrew McAfee & Erik Brynjolfsson
❑ Harnessing Our Digital Future
Angel. Jason Calacanis
❑ How to Invest in Technology Startups