eddie

Business School

468 words • 2 min read

bros

Why?

I’ve decided I need some more thoughtfulness around business ideas. Here are some videos that constitute my business schooling:

Finding Value Proposition

2023
Harvard Innovation Lab
Michael Skok (Underscore VC, Startup Secrets)

Additional material: https://startupsecretssandbox.com

Notes:

  • Problem format:
    1. target customer
    2. is dissatisfied with current situation
    3. due to an unmet need
    4. we offer a product
    5. that provides them with amazing benefit
  • MVP must serve a MV segment
    • this allows your product to focus a single thing in the beginning
    • trying to address too big of a market can stretch you too thing
  • “A problem well stated is a problem half-solved”
    • Charles Kettering (1876-1985)
    • 186 patents
  • 4U’s
    • unworkable
    • unavoidable (death, taxes, education, aging)
    • urgent (“I need that now!”)
    • underserved
  • Tech shifts create urgency –> mobile, AI
  • Think about your dependencies
    • Smart phone is not so great without a cellular carrier
  • Don’t pitch with “better, cheaper, faster”, someone with more resources will beat you at that game
  • How do you create a moat?
    • switching costs
  • You want to sell Penicillin, not a vitamin, blatant and critical
  • Think about gain vs pain ratio, 10:1 will give a good push for people to try
  • Founder market fit –> why you for this problem

Business Plan Writing

2015
Wharton School
Lecturer: Patrick FitzGerald (DreamIt Ventures)

Notes:

  • Standard sections
    1. Intro
    2. Team
    3. How does it work?
    4. Market
    5. Competition
    6. Strategy & Roadmap
    7. Financials
    8. What do you need?
  • If you are weak in a certain area, boost it with someone who knows it on your advisory board
  • How it works is the majority of the document
    • opera house graphic
    • front of house, customer view
    • back of house, ops view
    • KISS, 6 steps or less
  • Name 4-5 competitors, project who might be a competitor
  • Clearly ask for money and state what you’re going to do with it
  • Don’t customize plans for each VC

Mud Park Dog Wash

2020
Red Canoe Credit Union
Alex and Jen (animated women)

Notes:

  • I really like how simply this explains business plan writing
  • Dog wash, saves people time, real value creation!
  • Team, advisors, legal and money people come later
  • Define the market, know the market
  • Always think about competitors
  • Costs and pricing
  • What do you need?

Overall these frameworks and systems of thinking are valuable. I am grateful to have access to all this amazing content from top tier universities, and also very glad to not have paid for business school. It seems like business school material is created by VCs to make VCs more money! I guess if you’re writing a business plan you are asking somebody for money because if you weren’t you would be too busy serving customers and running a profitable business :)

I started this MIT series but got a little bored with it and stopped. Might watch more of these lectures and document here for the record.

bros