Ideation, Markets and Research. Month 1 of 6 Month Startup Seattle covers orientation of the program and the monthly deliverables for month 2. Ideation - not sure what startup idea to pursue? Here are a number of ways to look at your idea(s). Markets - are you going after a large and growing market or a small and niche market? Research - How do you do startup research, especially when

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Dave Parker
@DaveParkerSEA
@6MonthStartup
www.dkparker.com/blog
www.6MonthStartup.com

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Welcome!

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DKParker, LLC
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@6MonthStartup
Introductions

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DKParker, LLC
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@6MonthStartup
Office Hours – Month 3 & Month 6

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DKParker, LLC
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@6MonthStartup
Agenda
¤ About Dave
¤ The next 6 months – what to expect
¤ Mechanics
¤ Scoring your current status
¤ Workshop
¤ Ideation
¤ Markets
¤ Cohort meetup – between sessions for progress check

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
About Dave
¤ 5X founder, Board Member, former SVP Programs at UP
Global (Startup Weekend + Startup America)
¤ Startup Next creator, Start Week creator/Organizer
¤ Soon to be Author “6 Month Startup – Ideation to
Revenue”
¤ 8 transactions – 6 sell side, 2 buy side
¤ VC @SevenPeaksVC – Mountain West, Seed Stage
¤ WTIA Startup Programs Chair
¤ Why? Looking for future founders to invest in…

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
The Next 6 Months
1. Ideation/Research/Markets - tonight
2. Customer Development/Competitive analysis
3. Value Prop/Product/Features/Expense/Specifications
4. Revenue - Monetization, Sales, Marketing and Business
Development
5. Pitch Prep/Fundraising
6. Pitches

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Hard Problems – start at the base

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Hard Problems – start at the base

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Monthly Mechanics
¤ Your work/Mentor Feedback – during dinner (first hour)
¤ 1:Many Meeting with Mentors – starting next month
¤ Deliverables – your company, your work!
¤ Monthly Content - what you need to be venture ready
¤ Meetups are stand alone events – come for what you
need, Mentors are based on homework, not “drop ins”

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Communications
¤ Monthly follow-up email for ticket holders
¤ Morning following event
¤ Slides, deliverables, video
¤ Slack Channel –invite included in tomorrow AM email
https://bit.ly/2CaC4mH
¤ #general channel
¤ #introductions channel
¤ #2019seattle channel
¤ Please ask questions there – we’ll answer for everyone’s
benefit

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Rules of the Road
¤ #GiveFirst
¤ Network – you need to build you network for the future
starting tonight
¤ Don’t Ramble – I’ll interrupt
¤ Mentor access is based on your work
¤ No I won’t do the work for you! Am I checking your
homework?
¤ Two months of no deliverables tells the story

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Overview
¤ @6MonthStartup is designed to get you out of your head
and get you to revenue in six months
¤ Not all ideas can be accomplished in this time. But you’ll
be surprised how far you can get in six months
¤ Can you go faster? Of course, but not all customers will
be available on your timeline
¤ The next six months is about preparing you and your idea
to prove it’s worth your time

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
A Note on Fundraising
¤ Your need for capital does not equal your ability to raise
capital!
¤ Need to prove your idea prior to raising $
¤ Can’t raise on a napkin or Idea (FFF)
¤ More traction means you’ll sell less of your company
¤ Data first – your deliverables will provide the backing

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Venture Ready? Score Your Idea

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Score Yourself 1-4
Team: Why you, balanced team (talents, diversity), domain experts,
serially successful founders, great company experience
Idea: Are you solving a problem? New or existing problem, big category
(vs tool), early/late continuum, technical achievable, pain pill or vitamin
Product: do you have a product, how mature, customer first, solid design,
clear roadmap to scale
Market/Customer: big market (TAM/SOM), cash available, new or nascent
market?
Competition: How many incumbents, funding status, are you incremental
better or 10X better?
Traction: Customer validation, revenue, improving unit economics?
Timing: Why now? Are you late, early, too early?
Revenue Model/Finance: How will you monetize your idea? Do you have
a basic budget on spending, big or small economics
IP/Moat: Is your idea defensible? Can you build a moat over time?
Clear Ask: What do you need help with? Advice, funding, introduction,
help finding staff?
Total out of 40

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
How did you do? Where do you
need to improve?

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Starting with Why!
¤ Doing a startup is difficult, odds of failure are high
¤ Simon Sinek Video
¤ About the $$
¤ Changing the world
¤ Solving a problem
¤ Big or little
¤ Expensive or cheap
¤ A lot of solutions or not many
¤ Unique Intellectual Property – or not

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2015
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Passion is important – but not
sufficient

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DKParker, LLC
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@6MonthStartup
Questions?
Take 5 minutes now and write
down your Why

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Why Startups Fail

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Ideation

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Don’t Fail Fast - Kill Bad Ideas Fast
¤ Unless you have a trust fund writing a big check… don’t
fail fast.
¤ Learn to kill bad ideas fast
¤ A mediocre team in a great market can still have a good
result – a great team in a poor market will fail

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Ideation – Vectors of Idea
¤ What is a Vector
¤ Direction
¤ Magnitude
¤ Type of Vectors (not all inclusive)
¤ Power to the People
¤ Latent Need
¤ Frustration
¤ Market or Industry Trend – when the internet launched, when
Bitcoin launched, space travel
¤ Does the vector get you where you want to go?

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Surfing Analogy
¤ The Wave
¤ The Board
¤ The Surfer
¤ The Trend
¤ The Product
¤ The Leader/Team
Market timing = bad waves
Small waves are bad
Bad product
Wrong person/team for the market
Are all three lined up for you?

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
What problem/opportunity
¤ What’s the problem
¤ Pain Pill
¤ Vitamin
¤ What’s the opportunity
¤ Solving for who?
¤ Can you create and capture value?
¤ Who will pay?

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Your idea changes over time

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DKParker, LLC
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Product & Companies
¤ Products aren’t fundable – Companies are fundable
¤ Lifestyle businesses – won’t funded
¤ Local vs. Scalable businesses
Which one will you be?
¤ Services vs Product
¤ Exit multiples

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Categorizing your Solution
Product Service
B2B Salesforce Consulting
B2C Games For profit school

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Should you build it?

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
And than there’s this ($120M)

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Questions?
Take 5 Minutes now and list your
Ideas as Problem & Solutions

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Markets

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Who is the Market & Customer

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Who is the Market & Customer

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Market Conditions
¤ Nascent market
¤ Large markets - >$100M or $1B
¤ Large market provide “at bat” opportunities
¤ Small markets suck
¤ Headwinds or tailwinds?

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Who is your customer?
¤ Product vs. Services
¤ Product is something you can deliver or ship – can you make
$$ while you sleep
¤ Services require people to deliver on the value and promise
– consulting or a restaurant
¤ Who pays the bill?
¤ A business
¤ The Consumer
¤ The product user and who pays can be different as in
Facebook or Google that make money on advertising

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Why/How do they buy?
¤ Make Money vs. Save Money?
¤ Searching for product
¤ Needs to be sold
¤ More on this in Month 4

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Questions?
How big is the market?
Who Target Customer?
How can you find out?

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
RESEARCH

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Research
¤ You are not the customer
¤ Methods of Research
¤ Blue Ocean
¤ Gartner Magic Quadrant
¤ Documentation and Analysis
¤ Google Search – what are the keywords someone would
type to find your solution
¤ Crunchbase Search – funding, timing, categories
¤ Competitive Product/Service pricing

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Pattern Matching
¤ Stage
¤ Customer Type
¤ Categories

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Who has tried this before?
¤ What about Analyst report?
¤ Why did they fail?
¤ Use Wayback Machine to look back

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
No Competition – really?

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
A Note Regarding Biases

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Questions?
Where to source your data for
your research?

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
BREAK!

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Pitching

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Pitching your Idea
¤ Clearly communicating your idea is critical for recruiting
a co-founder and capital
¤ Starting strong
¤ What questions do you want the audience to ask when
you’re through?
¤ Can I invest
¤ Can I help
¤ WTF?

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Dave’s Madlibs Pitch
Hi, I’m <your name here>, and the problem I’m solving is <insert
problem here>. Our product <insert product info here> is designed
for our target customer of <insert target customer here>. We
make money by <insert method here> and our team is the right
team because <insert why you’re awesome here>

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Write and practice your pitch

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Pitches

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Questions

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Next Session – February 13
Customer Development &
Competitive Analysis
WeWork Labs – 925 4th Ave

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Month 1 Resources
¤ Books
¤ Creative Confidence – Tom Kelley & David Kelley
¤ Crossing the Chasm – Geoffrey Moore
¤ Four Steps of an Epiphany – Steve Blank
¤ A Curious Mind – Brian Grazer and Charles Fishman
¤ Industries of the Future – Alec Ross
¤ Blog
¤ Tom Tunguz, Redpoint http://tomtunguz.com/ SaaS and MRR
¤ Brad Feld, Foundry Group http://www.feld.com/
¤ Fred Wilson, Union Square http://avc.com/

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
¤ Pitch Resources
¤ Startup Weekend
¤ Best Startup Pitch decks
¤ Guy Kawasaki “10 Slides”

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Groups Meetup
¤ Once a month – recommend halfway between the
sessions
¤ Rotating “President” each month
¤ Goals
¤ Report progress
¤ Test Data and Beliefs
¤ Mid point check in

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DKParker, LLC
2015
@6MonthStartup
Monthly Deliverables
¤ What is your Venture Ready Score _____
¤ Write you “Why are you doing a startup” summary
¤ List your problem solutions. Rank based on what you
know today
¤ Market Research: Market size, resources for data
¤ Pitch: Outline and practice your pitch
¤ Bring these deliverables next month