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In working with hundreds of founders, we've tested several different models for company building. You may have heard of the business model canvas or thought about creating a pitch deck. We find the business model canvas to be confusing for early-stage startups. Moreover, pitch decks are a valuable tool for selling your company versus helping you figure out the right business to build. We believe that these ten steps (summarized below), in this order, will allow you to make progress most effectively early on and save you time and money in the long run.
Our 10-step framework is designed to ensure that you've thought through and tested the key components of your foundation. Rather than a static checklist, the platform is intended to take you through a practice of learning, doing, and thinking: learn the key concepts and frameworks; implement these learnings in order to test and develop your idea, and ask yourself key questions before moving on to the next step. Keep in mind that it won't always be a linear process; you'll find yourself going backward and forwards and sideways as you learn from each subsequent Step.
Another key element of our model is a community 👯👯👯 of founders and mentors for support, feedback, and accountability.
Also note that our language and content is intentionally simple and jargon-free. It's very likely you will be familiar with many of the concepts...after all, it's not 🚀 science! The challenge here is applying the concepts and executing them.
When you've successfully completed all of our ten steps, you will have a solid infrastructure and confidence that you're on the right track to future growth. In fact, upon completion, you may very well be at the point where you're working on this product full-time, assembling an initial team, and preparing to raise 👼🏽 funding (if that's the route you want to go).
Below is an overview of the 10 steps we’ll take you through:
Identify your values and mission, ensuring alignment with the problem you're looking to solve and the general type of customers you seek to serve.
Brainstorm customer segments that you think are impacted by the problem you're trying to solve and make a hypothesis around who you think will be most likely to pay for your product.
Talk to these customer segments to understand who specifically has the problem you're targeting and who is willing to pay for a solution.
Research the industry and meet with experts to gain a deeper understanding of the landscape of existing solutions.
Explore different methods for delivering the intended value to discover the simplest way to solve the customer's problem.
Use digital tools, including landing pages and online ads, to determine whether there is broader market interest in your identified solution.
Design your first product by hacking together a solution that can be replicated and sold to multiple customers.
Come up with a sustainable way to bring in revenue, determine pricing, and explore capital raising 💰 strategies to hone in on the best way to make money from the product.
Identify channels to efficiently reach your target customer and establish key metrics to determine if what you're building is working.