Timeline
Timeline Legend
estimated hours needed
drop deadline
milestone value
#
step / stage
2
lucky
3-4 hrs
week 1
encouraged
REALISTIC EXPECTATIONS: So, is your big idea an Innovation (a tweak to an existing product), or Invention (something brand new)? Also is this a product, service, software, or something else you’re hoping to create? If it’s a product or service you’d love to have. yourself, and you’ve never seen one like it before, that’s a good start. I have my own 3-point checklist that you may find handy for this stage. It will also help you in Stage 3. Take the the Sniff Test and find out. You’ll find other great tips and resources in the Sidebar of SEED’s StartpGenius roadmap.
Getting Lucky. (1) "Luck is what happens when opportunity meets preparedness." (2) "90% of success is just showing up." So, are you feeling luck yet? You should, because you've shown up and opportunity is all around us--and following the next few steps will certainly prepare you. Time to get lucky.
For starters, the leading entrepreneur sherpa in our field at the moment is Steve Blank. Here's a link to Steve's site, packed full of valuable resources, or check out Tony Wright's "Guide to Evaluating Startup Ideas".
3
summarize
2-3 hrs
week 2
hopeful
SUMMARIZE YOUR IDEA: Always start with "WHY": What problem are you solving? Be specific.
If you’re really detail oriented, here’s a 4-point checklist you may appreciate. If you want more, try this 6-pointer here. or if you are really curious if Entrepreneurship is for you, here’s a great one
ESTABLISH RELEVANCE: When seeking advice from anyone, much less from investors, it’s important to know that your idea is relevant to them. Will they buy it for themselves, or for someone else? So...explain in one or two sentences what the problem is for your ideal customer. For example, "17,000 people file slip & fall lawsuits annually. We want to make building lobbies safer so fewer people slip".
How are you certain that this market segment will appear or will grow?
TRENDING: A new market can be expensive and time-consuming to establish, but it is easier to attract investment when technology or market behavior can be observed heading in your direction. If trends aren't clearly moving in your direction, check out these resources to help you determine if you're on the right track: Is your idea worth pursuing?
Business Plans are unnecessarily complex at this stage. A Business "Model" however is what early stage investors demand. You'll paste a link to your completed canvas in this field. See the Genius Guide for how it all works.
BUSINESS MODEL CANVAS. This is pre-formatted Business Model Canvas with all the questions you'll need to fill yours out. This is the free interactive canvas tool your whole team will use.
4
pre-sales
1-3 hrs
week 3
energized
5
universe
1 hr
week 4
relieved
6
forecast
3-6 hrs
week 5
proud
7
canvas
2-3 hrs
4/8/16
satisfied
8
USP
1-2 hrs
4/6/16
happy
Why is your solution better than existing solutions?
PRODUCT DIFFERENTIATION is the process of distinguishing a product or service from others, to make it more attractive to a particular target market. This means contrasting yours from competitors' products, often in one (or more) of three ways: (1) Price - Are you cheaper or more luxurious than your competition? (2) Added Value - Have you designed a better version of an existing product?; (3) Convenience - Is your product just as good, but easier to find or use?
13 min
-
Why should investors care? (i.e., how big a problem is this, and how many people might pay to have it solved?)
ESTIMATE MARKET SIZE: This helps determine whether the payoff from your idea will be worth the time and resources you're about to put into it. Is your problem shared by 100 people or by 10,000,000? Estimate gross revenue figures if possible, so your investors see how big the pie is. If you can't find credible data on market size, one of the best sources for this data is the Carlson Library or downtown--they have pricey subscriptions for such data and are paid to help you! Here is a page that can help you find this data.
SEED and other COcampus tech are products of COventures, a Phabriq Development
The SEED program is designed and administered at COcampus offices located at 119 Louisiana Avenue, Perrysburg, Ohio, 43551 USA
MESSAGE CENTER
elated
...to all our partner institutions for providing state of the art processes, technology, facilities and strategy that guide aspiring entrepreneurs on the trip of a lifetime...in business.
From orientation to celebration, the SEED process is designed to prepare anyone with an idea for the rigors of entrepreneurial discovery.
We look forward to learning about your dreams, and welcome any comments, advice or issues you may have at any time, just email us here.
Onward and upward,
Your COmpatriots at COcampus
You've identified a problem you think needs solving, but is it already out there?
COMPETITION RESEARCH: "3 is the magic number" (e.g., Ford, Chrysler, GM). So long as you are not infringing on an existing patent, it can simply be a matter of improving (innovation) and/or differentiating (features/marketing) what already exists...and plenty of innovators (and most engineers) make a living doing just that. Find companies/products that are similar or same to your idea using simple google queries. Formulate a few different queries using a thesaurus to identify other keywords. Check out this Google search on how to conduct competitive market research using Google.
Another highly useful resource on patent search is here.
Step
Just register! That was easy. Click here to start your journey.
CUSTOMER DISCOVERY: Use this resource to help you prepare for talking with your eventual customers before you spend money on a product they don’t want. Then use Typeform to easily create a killer survey so you can document customer needs for free! And if you want to go deep, here is the granddaddy tip sheet from the masters of LEAN Development themselves.
How will you reach customers and compete? License your invention to a big company? Direct sales via a website? Wholesale to distributors?
CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT: At this point you should know if your idea is an innovation or an invention, so you now need to illustrate how you will reach customers. And if you hadn’t clicked it yet from Step 9, you might want to check out these tips and templates for customer development.
So, you find yourself in an elevator when a potential investor says, "You've got 30 seconds to tell me why I'd give you my money." So, what's the story?
THE ELEVATOR PITCH: "You only get one chance to make a first impression." Everything you've experienced in SEED so far has prepared you for this last exercise. Here is a brilliant guide to make sure you're ready for 30 seconds of fame. Here's an amazing resource from Donna Griffit on how to prep for pitching investors.
THE PITCH DECK: so you’ve got your pitch down to 30 seconds? That’s great. You’ll use that 30 seconds to introduce your project to a panel of judges at the upcoming competition. And then you’ll have another 7 min 30 sec to finish the rest of your presentation...and take questions! Lucky for you, we’ve created a Pitch Deck Template.pptx that covers what judges at most competitions will want to see covered. Can’t be much easier--It’s like getting the test before the exam!
THE PITCH: Just to make sure you are answering the questions that the judges will be asking themselves while you're on stage, here are the exact questions they'll use to grade your presentation. You're welcome! Oh, need some more help? Well, what if you had actual Pitch Decks from successful startups you'd recognize? Well, now you do--just click here to study how the pros did it...including AirBnB and many others.
Thanks for another year helping us help you “learn to earn”.
PITCH YOUR PLAN: PItch competitions are held regularly at participating campuses, or online through StartupGenius.org
survey
1-3 hrs
4/8/16
assured
10
sales
1 hr
4/10/16
confident
11
30 seconds
1-2 hrs
4/12/16
empowered
practice
1-2 hrs
4/15/16
prepared
9
showtime
12
Step
video
Need a break? Sometimes the only difference is a catchy name. Here’s a fun way to brainstorm names for your product or company--mind-mapping by using this visual thesaurus
Each institution, and often, even each department will have its own focus and process, which is why COcampus programs like SEED are designed to be customized to fit any context. The process below, for instance, was originally designed for Freshmen students in engineering. This program was then converted into a SEED roadmap @ StartupGenius for administrators to track progress in realtime, and equally important, to invite mentors, advisors and teammates along for the ride.
Remember, all the steps you’ll see below are just guides and were designed for teams. So, divvy up the workload, folks--nobody gets there alone. We look forward to hearing about your progress shortly.
SEED
