This a program I helped create in 2016. In this program, I was the lead mentor responsible for training and support 62 mentors.

1. Extreme Acceleration Playbook
European Innovation Academy
July 2016, Nice, France and Turin, Italy
©2015 by European Innovation Academy.

2. Prelude 3
Who is who 4
I Week plan 5
Day 1: July 6 6
Day 2: July 7 8
Day 3: July 8 12
Day 4: July 9 14
Day 5: July 10 15
Weekend 17
II Week Plan 18
Day 6: July 13 19
Day 7: July 14 21
Day 8: July 15 24
Day 9: July 16 25
Day 10: July 17 26
Weekend 27
III Week Plan 28
Day 11: July 20 29
Day 12: July 21 31
Day 13: July 22 32
Day 14: July 23 33
Day 15: July 24 34
Epilogue 35
Thank you 36
Contents

3. You need to choose a big problem.
Build your story!
Design a unique experience users never dreamt of.
Discover a customer & addictive solution that is scalable!
You will survive only if you act as a team!
Find shortcuts, copy, use existing resources to be agile.
Act like a guerrilla warrior, resources are scarce.
Engage mentors to solve the big problem.
Goals are dreams with deadlines.
Prelude

4. Who is who?
CEO
Chief Mentor
CMO CDO CBO CTO
I am
a leadership
ninja!
I am the
growth hacker!
My design is
a marriage
of UI and UX!
My innovative
business
model turns
idea into
value!
I develop apps
like Instagram
in just 1 day!
Design MentorIT Mentor Marketing Mentor InvestorIP Lawyer

5. Week I
Lead question to mentors
CEO
CMO
CDO
CBO
CTO
Team members roles, names, daily tasks
Team Formation
Day 1
Problem-Solution Fit
Day 2
Product-Market Fit
Day 3
Prototype
Day 4
Hackathon Plan
Day 5
To Chief Mentors: To Design Mentors: To IT Mentors:
How to organize the teamwork
to achieve our goals?
How to get the prototype ready and validate with customers?
What are shortcuts?
How to develop and deliver our MVP
by next Friday?

6. I WEEK
6
Daily Goal: Team Formation
Day 1: Monday
You’ll need to choose a big problem, gather your team, clear your calendars, and
gather some essential supplies. And you’ll need deadlines. Use the Trello app to
plan your work.
• Your design team needs a war room; here’s how to set one up Fast Company
On the first day your team will “unpack” everything they know. Expertise in most
teams is asymmetrical: marketers know things engineering & design doesn’t. All
team members can contribute to each function even though one may be the lead.
Start by creating a simple user story, and set the scope for the week.
• The first step in a design challenge: build team understanding Fast Company
• “How might we”: The secret phrase top innovators use Harvard Business Review
• Google Ventures’ secret mantra for super-productive meetings Fast Company
Tasks & tools:
• The Trello app to organize TO DO lists (free mobile & web app)
• EIA Platform (find and confirm your team, meet your mentor)
• Test your team with LEGO bricks (next page)
• First week plan template (previous page)

7. I WEEK
2
Day
1
Day
4
Day
3
Day
Day 1: Experiments, Tests & Learning
Test Your Team with LEGO Bricks
Objective:
• Learn that each team member has different competences and
different behaviors
• Test your team communication
Time:
• 15.00 – 15.15: game kick off and intructions
• 15.15 – 15.45: write the instructions to build Lego models
• 15.45 – 16.15: build the Lego models
• 16.15 – 16.45: Chief Mentor comments and feedback
• 17.00 – 18.00: debrief and discussion
Rooms: Teamwork Rooms
• Find the list of the teams and rooms by cohorts in EIA Platform (Info)
• You will meet your mentor in the room specified in EIA Platform (Info)
LEGO Game Instructions
1. Split your team into 2 groups (2-3 people per group). Both groups, choose
your place in the room so that you would be as far from each other as
possible.
2. Once you receive the LEGO model picture from your Mentors - KEEP IT
HIDDEN from anybody else!
3. With your group, write instructions for your team members for building
the LEGO model that you see in the picture. No drawing, taking a photo
etc is allowed!
4. After your Mentors have notified you, give your instructions to your team
members in the other group, and receive their instructions from them.
5. Build the LEGO model, following the instructions from your team
members.’
6. After finalizing your model, present and explain your work process and
choices to the Mentors for their feedback and debrief comments.

8. I WEEK
8
Daily Goal: Problem-Solution Fit
Problem-solution fit takes place when you have:
• Evidence (data) that customers care about certain problems
(pains)
• Designed a solution that addresses those problems (pains)
Customer problems & pains are anything that annoy your customers
before, during, or after trying to get a job done or simply prevents
them from getting a job done.
“Good” customer problems are:
• problems/pains/passions many others have
• problems that occur often
• problems or pains that are serious enough so customers are
willing to pay to get rid of them
Tools:
• Lean Canvas on EIA Platform
• Lean Canvas print out version and post-it notes
• EIA Idea Cards print-outs
• Problem Templates printouts
• Test & Learn Cards
Tasks:
In Ideation Session:
• Use Post-it Notes to describe your Customer Persona (template
next page)
• Use Post-it Notes with your team to describe your customers’
problems & your solutions (Lean Canvas)!
• Alternatively, to get all key elements of the Lean Canvas on paper
quickly and assess them fast, use EIA Idea Cards
• Prioritize problems of your customers (template next page)
• Select the problem with the highest score to build your solution
on top of it (template next page)
PROBLEM
List your customers’
top 3 problems, select
the strongest
List how these problems
are solved today
List the characteristics of
your early adopters (first
customers)
1
2
3
4
SOLUTION
CUSTOMER SEGMENTS
List your customers
(big market)
Day 2: Tuesday
In Team Mentoring Session:
• Design your solution and value proposition which kills the customer
problem
• Validate the problem, solution & value proposition with customer (problem-
solution fit)
• Describe the final version of your customer, their problem & solution on EIA
platform tonight!

9. Role or job title
Age
Goals
Key influencers
Needs
Other applications
Frustrations and points
Feature requests
Gender
Key characteristics
Persona Overview
I WEEK
9
Design Your Customer Persona

10. I WEEKDay 2: Tuesday
2
Day
4
Day
5
Day
3
Day
Prioritize problems & pains to build your solution
on top of the high score problems
Customer segment
Can you feel
or see the
pain?
Are there
many with
that problem
& ready to
pay?
Focus on the
highest value
jobs & related
problems.
Does failing
the job lead
to extreme
problems?
ImportantCustomer
problems, pains
1.
2.
3.
4.
Tangible Unsatisfied Lucrative Total score
Are there
unresolved
problems,
jobs?
Scoring scale: 1 (low) to 5 (high)
Adopted from Alex Osterwalder, Value Proposition Design

11. I WEEKDay 2: Tuesday
2
Day
4
Day
5
Day
3
Day
Experiments, Tests & Learning
Problems & Pains
You strive to identify the problems & pains that are most relevant to customers.
Your next step is to provide evidence that customers care about your solution
(products & services). If you don’t find the evidence you need to design a new
solution.
To provide the evidence you run the tests:
• Google Trends to understand what people search for in your business domain
• Google Adwords Keyword Planner gives you information on how companies
promote their solutions (discover their value propositions) in your business area
• Contact your customers directly - either face-to-face, by email, phone or social
media channels
• Build trackable landing page (Instapage) for your products & services to collect
leads of future users
Tools:
• Google Trend
• Google Adwords Keyword Planner
• Instapage
Experiment workflow:
• Design Test & Learning Cards (each test separately)
• Run the tests (e.g. customer contacts, Google Trends, Keywords Planner, Ads, etc.)
• Update the Lean Canvas & landing page on EIA Platform
NB! You are free to organize the experiments on any other social media (LinkedIn,
Twitter) and ad platform (Facebook, etc) that you are familiar with or that is more
suitable for your solution.
Download the Test & Learning card here
Test & Learning Card
1. We believe that... (hypotheses)
Test No:
Test Name:
2. To validate that we will... (action)
3. Our belief is right if... (metric)
4. From the test we found out & learned that…
(results)
5. Therefore, we will... (conclusion)
Adopted from Alex Osterwalder, Value Proposition Design

12. I WEEK
12
Day 3: Wednesday
Daily Goal: Product-Market Fit
Product & Market
Product-market fit takes place when you:
• Have evidence (data) that your solution (product, service) is
actually creating customer value
• Your product scales in the market.
Tasks:
Find the strongest fit between different markets & your solution
(products):
• List 3 different customer segments (markets) for your solution.
• Use Post-it Notes to describe the markets on the Lean Canvas!
• Analyze the business opportunity of each market (scalability)
& prioritize the markets
• Find the market where the fit with your solution is the
strongest
• If you find a weak fit or no scalability consider to pivot, change
your solution
Tools:
• Lean Canvas printouts
• Post-it Notes for each team member & mentor
• Subscribe yourself on Watson Analytics and visualize the data
to find the fit market
• Describe the final version of your customer segment (market)
and your solution on EIA platform tonight
PROBLEM
List your top 1-3 problems Outline a possible solution
for each problem
Single, clear, compelling
message that turns an
unaware visitor into an
interested prospect
Something that can’t be
easily copied or bought
List your target customers
and users
SOLUTION UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION
EXISTING ALTERNATIVES
List how these problems are
solved today
COST STRUCTURE
List your fixed and variable costs
REVENUE STREAMS
List your sources of revenue
List your X for Y analogy
(e.g. YouTube= Flickr for
videos)
HIGH-LEVEL CONCEPT
UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
List the key numbers that
tell you how your business
is doing
List your path to customers
KEY METRICS CHANNELS
CUSTEMER SEGMENTS
MARKET
MARKET
MARKET
Source: Lean Canvas, Ash Maurya

13. I WEEKDay 3: Wednesday
4
Day
5
Day
3
Day
Experiments, Tests & Learning
Experiments:
• Identify different possible market segments for your solution
• Validate users who make the market
Tests:
• Google Trends to collect data about what people search for
• Design a Test & Learning card
• Watson Analytics to analyze different markets
• Design a Test & Learning card
Learning:
• Different markets have different scalability opportunities
• Finding out which users make the fit market
By the end of Wednesday, you still might have alternative solutions
to choose from. That’s great, but it’s also a problem, because you can’t
prototype many solutions on Thursday. You have to narrow down and make
tough decisions. To prepare for Thursday, choose one Customer Persona
and think of possible user scenarios for the prototyping.
• How to decide what ideas to prototype Fast Company
• Research: Schedule participants and draft interview guide GV.com
Download the Test & Learning card here
Test & Learning Card
1. We believe that... (hypotheses)
Test No:
Test Name:
2. To validate that we will... (action)
3. Our belief is right if... (metric)
4. From the test we found out & learned that…
(results)
5. Therefore, we will... (conclusion)
Adopted from Alex Osterwalder, Value Proposition Design

14. I WEEK
14
Daily Goal: Paper & digital prototype ready
Day 4: Thursday
Build a Prototype in just 8h
Plan for doing the impossible: build an entire realistic-looking prototype
in just eight hours. Like George Clooney in Ocean’s Eleven, you’ll gather
a team of experts, assign roles, and put your plan into motion. And just
like in the movie, you’ll get the job done and still have time to enjoy your
evening. It’s a great story!
• The 8 steps to creating a great storyboard Fast Company
Tasks:
1. Paper Prototype:
• Draw a storyboard – a scenario of when and how your customer is
using your product (use Postit-it Notes)
• Choose max 1-2 features that you want to test with your prototype
• Use paper UI elements to design your solution (based on your
storyboard and chosen features)
• Start testing your prototype with customers immediately, continue
over the coming weekend
2. Digital Prototype:
Select tools based on your needs & skills:
• POP for mobile apps – super easy mobile app to scan paper screens
and make first clickable prototype in your mobile
• Proto.io - simple but more serious solution for web and mobile
prototypes. Click here for EIA participant access.
• Appery.io - start designing apps with some code attached, build
mobile back-ends later
• Google Material Design – professional source for designers
Source: Adopted from Google Venture Sprint Methodology

15. I WEEK
15
Daily Goal: Test your prototype
Day 5: Friday
Test Your Prototype
On Friday, you’ll show your prototype to real customers in 1-on-1 interviews.
By the end of the day, all your ideas will have been exposed to oxygen
— some will be smash hits, while others will meet an early end. When a
prototype flops, it means you have spotted critical flaws after only five days
of work. There are ca 26,000 new product introductions each year. 70% of
success is how meaningful and unique is the product for the customer. The
key to success is rapid cycles.
• Got a bright idea? Test it with a rapid-fire user study Fast Company
• Research: Interview participants and summarize findings GV.com
• How Cluster uses live user testing Medium

16. I WEEK
16
Daily Goal: Your hackathon plan is ready
Day 5: Friday
Goal Expected result Survivable result
Friday
Our X app
Reference app & sources
Development roadmap -
features, priorities, path/ technology
Split responsibilities
Project management set up
Team has a Trello board, everyone knows what one
is supposed to do.
Team internal reporting procedures, rules for decision-making,
chosen technologies to build upon.
Clear daily milestones and deadlines defined.
Defined end result for “big Friday”.
Team has a plan where to start, with help of men-
tors the tools they are capable of working with are
chosen.
Weekend
Validate prototype
Test your prototype with users – adjust MVP
Being able to explain the MVP launch goal in 1 min
to mentors and to random bypassers
Monday
MVP 1.1 concept
(after customer development)
Iteration done over the weekend, launch feature goals &
contingencies in place, launch criteria too. Development
environment set up and progress is getting steam.
Back-end/mBaas set-up
Clear single launch feature!
Single development environment
set-up
Tuesday
50% functionality
Last chance to pivot
Back-end working
Logo sketches
Landing page in progress
30% functionality
Wednesday
70% functionality
According to team’s plan
Landing page up
Clickable mock-up
50% functionality
Thursday
App ready to upload by evening,
bug testing
According to team’s plan
Latest time to upload iOS app*
80% functionality
Friday
Preparing for final demo
Ready to present live demo.
Morning is the latest time to upload your Web/ Android app*
Landing page + product demo
App uploaded / app running on local device
Task: Create a Hackathon Plan to survive and launch your application with your team members - divide your daily
work and tasks, allocate timing, set goals and KPIs. Follow the weekly work plan in the table below.
• Getting Started with Hackathon - Click here for your hackathon materials
* Make your decision together with mentors when to upload and launch your app

17. I WEEK
Why worry about usability testing so early in the process when
prototyping already has a big enough to-do list?
Because unless your prototype is usable, all your testing will tell you
that people don’t like terrible products.
The best way to understand your users is to simply ask!
Test your prototype with users & find patterns
Weekend

18. Week II
Lead question to mentors
CEO
CMO
CDO
CBO
CTO
Team members roles, names, daily tasks
Business Model Fit
Day 6
Customer Engagement
Day 7
Revenue Model
Day 8
Marketing Campaign
Day 9
Launch Day
Day 10
To Chief Mentors: To Design Mentors: To IT Mentors: To Marketing Mentors:
How to develop & validate our
business model?
How we design a unique UI/UX?
How to launch our minimum viable
product (MVP) by Friday?
How to get first 1000 customers?

19. II WEEK
19
Business model fit takes place when a value proposition can
be embedded in a profitable and scalable business. Your job is
to get both the business model and the value proposition right.
It is a process of back and forth until you nail it. You need to
answer the following questions:
• Can you profitably create & deliver value around this
particular customer value proposition?
• Is your value proposition in your business model really
creating value for your customer?
Tasks & Tools:
• Lean Canvas printouts to create 3 alternative business
models.
• Post-it Notes for each team member & mentor to design
the business models jointly in a superman speed.
• Describe the final version of your business model on EIA
platform tonight! Upload also pictures of the alternative
models.
• Discuss the business model with your all team members -
how to develop your solution on top of the business model.
• Design your marketing strategy to visit your marketing
mentor tomorrow. Upload a short description on EIA
platform today.
Assess the Business Models
Some business models are better than others by design and will
produce better financial results, will be more difficult to copy,
and will outperform competitors. Assess the weaknesses of
your business model prototype (next page). Ask yourself how
could you improve or change your initial value proposition?
When assessing your business model, focus on Death Threats
- the risks which might cause the idea to fail. No more Death
Threats = usually a business that can work. Focus on the big-
gest Death Threats first.
Day 6: Monday
Daily Goal: Profitable & Scalable Business
PROBLEM
List your top 1-3 problems Outline a possible solutin
for each problem
Single, clear, compelling
message that turns an
unaware visitor into an
interested prospect
Something that can’t be
easily copied or bought
List your target customers
and users
SOLUTION
UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION
EXISTING ALTERNATIVES
List how these problems are
solved today
COST STRUCTURE
List your fixed and variable costs
REVENUE STREAMS
List your sources of revenue
List your X for Y analogy
(e.g. YouTube= Flickr for
videos)
HIGH-LEVEL CONCEPT
UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
List the key numbers that
tell you how your business
is doing
List your path to customers
KEY METRICS
CHANNELS
CUSTEMER SEGMENTS
PROBLEM
List your top 1-3 problems Outline a possible solutin
for each problem
Single, clear, compelling
message thet turns an
unaware visitor into an
interested prospect
Something that can’t be
easily copied or bought
List your target customers
and users
SOLUTION
UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION
EXISTING ALTERNATIVES
List how these problems are
solved today
COST STRUCTURE
List your fixed and variable costs
REVENUE STREAMS
List your sources of revenue
List your X for Y analogy
(e.g. YouTube= Flickr for
videos)
HIGH-LEVEL CONCEPT
UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
List the key numbers that
tell you how your business
is doing
List your path to customers
KEY METRICS
CHANNELS
CUSTEMER SEGMENTS
PROBLEM
List your top 1-3 problems Something that can’t be
easily copied or bought
List your target customers
and users
SOLUTION UNIQUE VALUE PROPOSITION
EXISTING ALTERNATIVES
List how these problems are
solved today
COST STRUCTURE
List your fixed and variable costs
REVENUE STREAMS
List your sources of revenue
List your X for Y analogy
(e.g. YouTube= Flickr for
videos)
HIGH-LEVEL CONCEPT
UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
List the key numbers that
tell you how your business
is doing
List your path to customers
KEY METRICS CHANNELS
CUSTEMER SEGMENTS
Outline a possible solution
for each problem
Single, clear, compelling
message that turns an
unaware visitor into an
interested prospect
Source: Lean Canvas, Ash Maurya

20. II WEEK
20
Day 6: Monday
Seven Questions to Test Your Business Model
Assess your business model design. Circle how you perform on a scale from 0 to 10.
1. Switching Costs
Nothing holds my customers back from leaving me My customers are locked in for several years
2. Recurring Revenues
100% of my sales are transactional 100% of my sales lead to automatically recurring revenues
3. Earning vs. Spending
I incur 100% of my costs of COGs before earning revenues I earn 100% of my revenues before incurring costs of goods &services sold (COGs)
4. Game-changing Cost Structure
My cost structure is at least 30% higher than my competitors Mycoststructureisatleast30%lowerthanmycompetitors
5. Others Who Do the Work
I incur costs for all the value created in my business model All the value created in my business model is created for free by external parties
6. Scalability
Growing my business model requires substantial resources and effort My business model has virtually no limits to growth
7. Protection from Competition
My business model has no moats, and I’m vulnerable to competition. My business model provides substantial moats that are hard to overcome
Make picture of the assessments and upload it on EIA platform.
1 10
1 10
1 10
1 10
1 10
1 10
1 10
Source: Alex Osterwalder, Value Proposition Design

21. II WEEK
21
Build your customer engagement and Go-To-Market Plan.
• What are you selling? (Solution & unique value proposition)
• Who are you selling to? (Customer segment)
• How will you reach your target market? (Channels, partners, etc)
• Where will you promote your product? (Ads, blogs, games, emails, etc)
Tasks:
• Build you digital marketing strategy
• Design your strategy before you visit your marketing mentor
• Visit your marketing mentor to discuss your startegy
• Upload the picture of the strategy on EIA platform tonight
• Build landing page first
• Use Instapage to design your landing page
• Content Marketing
• Design & run your campaign (see template next page)
• Social media marketing
• Download the materials here to design & run your campaign
• Email marketing
• Download the templates here to design & run your campaign
• B2B marketing materials
• Download the materials here to design & run your campaign
Day 7: Tuesday
Daily Goal: Customer Engagement
WHAT
Go-TO-Market
WHO
HOW WHERE
What are you selling?
How will you reach your
target market?
Who are you selling to?
Where will you promote your
product?

22. II WEEK
22
Day 7: Tuesday
Daily Goal: Customer Engagement
Which digital marketing tactics to pursue:
Email marketing
Social media marketing
Search engine marketing
Content marketing
Display advertising
Referral marketing
Paid search
Mobile advertising
Digital video advertising
Affiliate marketing
Other
To find more materials how to build up B2B
funnel click here

23. II WEEK
23
Day 7: Tuesday
Daily Goal: Customer Engagement
Adopted from Chris Lake

24. II WEEK
24
A revenue model describes how a business generates revenue streams
from its products and services. A strong revenue model is most important
for early stage startups; their investors are usually very conscious of
monetization. Lets put it simply – revenue model gives you money!
Tasks:
• Design unique revenue model which will give you high growth
• Test your customers how easily are they ready to pay for the product
• Ask about the price during your customer interviews
Tools:
• Download revenue model template here from the daily lecture
• Update revenue model in your Lean Canvas on EIA Platform
Mobile and Gaming Revenue Models
Paid App Downloads – e.g. WhatsApp
In-app purchases – e.g. Candy Crush Saga, Temple Run
In-app subscriptions – e.g. NY Times app
Advertising – e.g. Flurry
Transactions – e.g. Airtel Money
Freemium – e.g. Zynga, Skype
Subscription — e.g. World of Warcraft
Premium – e.g. xBox games
Downloadable Content – e.g. Call of Duty
Ad-supported
• The ultimate master list of revenue models BMNOW
Day 8: Wednesday
Daily Goal: Revenue Model Designed
PROBLEM SOLUTION UNIQUE VALUE
PROPOSITION
EXISTING
ALTERNATIVES
COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS
HIGH-LEVEL CONCEPT
UNFAIR ADVANTAGE
KEY METRICS CHANNELS
CUSTEMER SEGMENTS
BARGAIN EXPENSIVE
TOO
EXPENSIVE
TOO
CHEAP
Price of your application

25. II WEEK
25
A marketing campaign isn’t something that comes to you while
you’re taking a shower. Successful campaigns tend to be carefully
researched, well thought-out and focused on details and execution,
rather than resting on a single, grand idea.
· A Step-by-Step Guide to Running Successful Marketing Campaigns
Unbounce
Tasks:
• Design a Google Adwords campaign for your application*
• You can apply financing for your campaign here
• Upload the final version of your video if it is recommended by
your marketing mentor.
• Finalize & upload your marketing campaign on EIA Platform
tonight
Tools:
• Use tools recommended by your marketing mentor
• Google Adwords
• Youtube
• Admob
* You are free to use any other digital marketing platform more suitable for your
marketing campaign.
Day 9: Thursday
Daily Goal: Marketing Campaign is Ready

26. II WEEK
26
The Start
Your first iteration of a product is highly unlikely to be the final version.
There’s a lot of testing and re-engineering that goes into making a suc-
cessful product, and it’s important to work at it and get it right. However,
that doesn’t mean it must be perfect. Elon Musk: Tesla Must ‘Not Be Too
Perfectionist’
Your Product Launch Feels Like the Super Final But It’s Really the Start
of the Season. The end of your product launch is only the beginning of
building a successful, sales strategy. Even before the launch, startups
should be thinking ahead toward their next move.
Tasks:
• Use all your resources, shortcuts to launch your application
• Start your marketing campaign to find your first 1000 customers
Tools:
• Google Analytics
• IBM Message Resonance
Tips:
• 6 Must-Have Tools For Your Web or Mobile App Launch Yottaa
• 6 ways to get your first 1000 customers Medium
• 10 steps for successful launch Fast Company
Day 10: Friday
Daily Goal: Launch your application in a market place
Start your marketing
campaign after application
launch immediately

27. II WEEK
All focus on finding customers!!!
Weekend

28. Week III
Lead question to mentors
CEO
CMO
CDO
CBO
CTO
Team members roles, names, daily tasks
Market Traction
Day 11
IP & Finance
Day 12
Startup Funding
Day 13
Pitch & Story
Day 14
Demo Day
Day 15
To Chief Mentors: To Marketing Mentors: To IP Lawyers: To Investor:
How to pitch your business? How to get 1000 customers?
How to protect our solution &
business from competitors?
How to ask advice from VC and get
funding?

29. III WEEK
29
Daily Goal: Market Traction
Day 11: Monday
Market traction is quantitative evidence of market demand. This is usually
the first and the most important indicator that the investors want to see as
it is proof that somebody really wants your product.
Traction can be demonstrated by different indicators, depending on the
type of your start-up: profitability, revenue, active users, registered users,
engagement, partnerships/clients, traffic etc. It shows momentum in market
adoption. Use specific numbers (ex: 10,000 registered users) or growth
numbers (ex: 20% weekly growth in users) to communicate the traction. To
really excel, include a graph of your accelerating growth!
Tasks:
1. Customer engagement
• Adjust your customer engagement campaign
• Discuss the campaign with your Marketing Mentor
• How 23 Web & Mobile Startups Got Their First Users Autosend
2. Pitch like a boss
• Start preparing the final pitch slide deck
When you are able to pitch like a boss, it means that you are able to talk
and sell your ideas - to anyone anytime, and anywhere, be it Warren Buffett
himself. Often, how you pitch may become even more important than what
you pitch. There are very clear do’s and dont’s for pitching, and a concrete
checklist of content that you are expected to address.
• The ultimate pitch deck Forbes

30. III WEEK
30
Daily Goal: Protect Your IP
Day 11: Monday
Tasks:
3. Start-up IP
• Visit Start-up IP clinic between 12.00 – 18.00 (Mon – Wed)
• Search trademarks, copyrights and patents.
Conduct a patentability search - examine published patents
that relate to your own invention to figure out whether your
idea has already been patented. You can also see similar
inventions, allowing you to improve and refine your own
invention without infringing on someone else’s patent. Search
also for the trademarks.
Check from the databases:
• US Patent Office: Patent & Trademark
• EU Patent Office: Patents & Tradmarks
• Patent search from Google Patent
• Does your mobile app need a patent? TNW
Overview of Intellectual Property
Patents
What is
Protected?
Inventions Brand
Identity,
icluding
words
& logos
What the
product
looks like
Music, art,
film, literary
works &
broadcasts
How long?
Up to 20
years
(subject to
annual
renewal)
Forever
(renewals
every
10 years)
Up to
25 years
Life plus 70
years (sound
broadcasts are
50 years)
What does
it protect
against?
Your idea
being used,
sold or
manufactured
The use of your
trademarks
by others
without your
permission
Your product
being
manufactured,
sold or
imported
Your work
being copied
or reproduced
Trade Marks Registered
Design rights
Copyright

31. III WEEK
31
Traditional finance focuses on planning and budgeting, startup finance is
focused on monitoring and validating.
Therefore, you as a startup need metrics to evaluate whether the business
model you designed is worth scaling into a company.
You need to monitor six Mission Critical Metrics, or key performance
indicators, in addition to standard monthly financial reports:
• Cash: Burn/Runway/Run rate
• Marketing: Efficiency/Cost to Acquire/ROI
• Sales: Productivity/Efficiency/ROI
• Product: Customer Satisfaction
• Operations: Efficiency/Effectiveness
• Team: Commitment/Enthusiasm
Tasks:
1.Define Financial Metrics
• Identify the most relevant financial metrics for your startup
• Calculate the chosen financial metrics and integrate them into your
pitch deck
• No Accounting for Startups Steve Blank
Daily Goal: Financial Metrics
Day 12: Tuesday
2. IP Protection Strategy
Why and how to protect the critical aspects of your IP in the early stages of
your company development?
All startups need to think not only about patenting their solution, but
of their employees, contractors and suppliers, customers, and possible
partners as part of their IP strategy.
• Define the strategy to protect your solution (max 1 page) & upload it
on EIA platform tonight
• Integrate your IP strategy into your pitch to secure funding
• IP Strategy for Startups Ipstrategy
• Startup Intellectual Property Tips Forbes

32. III WEEK
32
Day 13: Wednesday
Every startup needs access to capital, whether for funding product devel-
opment, for initial rollout efforts, acquiring inventory, or paying that first
employee. The most successful entrepreneurs are the ones who think
creatively, not only about their offering, but also about how to acquire
cash. They have to sell themselves, more than their product, to close on
every alternative source of funding. Check out all the alternatives:
Bootstrapping
Friends and family
Small business grants
Loans or lines of credit from a bank
Incubators or accelerators
Angel investors
Venture capital
Bartering
Form a partnership
Customer funding
Leases
Start a crowdfunding campaign online
Tasks:
1. Funding
• Define the plan to acquire funding for your business on max 1 page
• Explain how you will finance the growth of your business,
• Upload the plan on EIA platform tonight
• 7 ways to fund your startup
Daily Goal: Funding Strategy
2. Prepare for VCC:
• Review and study all the VCC materials to be well prepared for
tomorrow. Click here.
• The VC Term Sheet Decoded
3. Pitch deck:
• Finalise your pitch deck
• Upload your pitch deck on EIA platform tonight!
The 5 P-s are the content of any good pitch!
Problem - is there a real problem
Promise - is there a real solution
Proof - why would I believe you
Profit - I will make money by...
Passion - I’ll do whatever it takes!
• The Ultimate Pitch Deck Forbes

33. III WEEK
33
Daily Goal: Become a VC
Day 14: Thursday
Venture Capital Competition (VCC) enables you to step into the shoes of a
VC and think like one. You will practice your pitch and act as a VC investor in
the two roles within the day. Listening to pitches and assessing them from
the VC point of view will help you better understand how investors compare
and select their preferred projects. This in turn will help you better prepare
and finetune your own pitch accordingly.
Making an impression to the investors within the first seconds of your
appearance and pitch will be crucial and can mean everything for your
future business success - or failure! Therefore, before stepping in front of
the Investor Panel tomorrow, check out here what secret ingredients and
magic it takes to get the investors competing for partnering with you and
letting you walk away as the winner.
Tasks - VCC:
• Upload your pitch deck in PDF format to the EIA Platform before 9:00
am
• Pitch to other teams based on your time slot
• Evaluate other pitches from a VC investor perspective
• Select one team you want to invest in
• Prepare a term sheet from the draft and upload to the EIA Platform
• Negotiate terms with the selected team at your time slot
• Participate in negotiations as an entrepreneur, if selected
Tools
· Download all documents you need for VCC here
Customers count:
• Make the final count of your customers (users, downloads,
subscriptions, agreements, etc)
• Upload today the final proof document of the number of customers
(screenshot, tracking log, email, etc) on EIA Platform no later than
23.59!
• Proven market traction will be considered a criterion in the Top 10
finalists selection

34. III WEEK
34
Daily Goal: Funding acquired!!!
Day 15: Friday
Bringing a product or service to market requires an intense amount of
capital. No matter which route you choose, all funding decisions involve
complex tradeoffs between short-term and long-term costs and benefits.
Your best bet: Check out all the alternatives.
Tasks:
• Pitch like a Boss & raise the money!
Keep in mind when going to pitch at the Demo Day:
The objective of the pitch is to get a meeting
Slides support the story that YOU are telling - YOU have to be the
star, not your slides
For the most effective pitch, focus 80% on the problem, 20% on the
solution
Practice your pitch - over and over again!
Be ready to answer questions - but be careful and precise with
numbers and facts
Show energy and passion - you have to make the investors love
what you love
Don’t lose your sense of humour - especially if something goes
wrong
• 65 Questions Investors Will Ask Startups Forbes

35. Now go and make it all happen!
Use the start-up capital wisely for scaling and leveling up your business.
It still remains mainly about the team!
Leverage your early customers to move from MVP to the next level.
Keep and grow your network of mentors, advisors and supporters.
Use the expertise of your investors.
You dreamt big - now dream even bigger!
Epilogue

36. Thank You!
In Partnership With
Visit us at www.inacademy.eu
   