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2020-09-11

e-ubc

  • First session of the CORE program
  • Mentors
    • Amazing group of people to tap into
    • Paul Needham
      • Social ventures and climate
    • Dave Taylor
      • Engineering
      • People are often the hardest parts to starting businesses (vs software/tech)
        • Hiring the right people
        • Selling to people
    • Freidrich Hedtrich
      • Innovation center for transportation
    • Jacques Farges
      • Math, engineering, robotics
      • Industrial vision systems
      • Startup founder
    • Kyle Cheriton
      • Mentor because of curious mindset; forever learning
      • "I have learned more from my mistakes than my successes."
    • Mariana Konsolos
      • Learned by doing
      • "Talk doesn't cook rice."
      • Real estate, construction, and retail experience
      • "Don't complain, solve it. Everything has a solution."
    • Linda Diano
      • Industry person (biotech)
      • Alliance management (relationships between partners)
      • You'll get far if you work with people, are patient, and kind
  • e-ubc numbers
    • 500+ jobs made
    • $30m+ revenue
    • $221m+ capital raised
  • Most startups fail because there is no market need (42%)
    • This program is all about finding that market need
    • Pivoting is simply moving from no market need --> market need
  • The process
    • Based on the Steve Blank model
        1. Customer discover
        • Dig into the customer problems
        • Determine customer segments
        1. Customer validation
        • A lot is in phase 2
        • Determine the right way to sell
        1. Customer creation
        1. Company building
    • Scientific method
    • Process for finding a viable business model
    • Getting the business model LESS WRONG
      • It will never be perfect
  • Entrepreneur commitment
    • Difficult journey
    • Weather negative feedback and disappointments
    • Learn to fail
    • Cannot do it alone
      • That's why YC doesn't like solo founders
    • Lots of advice but you make decisions
    • No one will do the work for you; show progress and traction
  • General pitch/idea sharing thoughts
    • Always avoid the buzzwords
    • Always target the 6 year old (Keep It Stupid Simple)
      • Aim for everyone to be able to understand
    • Have a one liner that you want everyone to remember
      • Say it first, say it last
      • Most people remember the first/last thing you said
      • "The phrase that pays!"
    • Graphical representations are easier for audiences to assimilate
      • Don't use walls of text
    • Utilize passion and emotion
    • Storytelling
      • Hero's Journey!
      • Problem = villain
      • Solution = hero
    • You don't want to tell every angle
      • You want them to have questions
      • You want them to be able to digest it all
      • You want to get the next meeting
  • Slide feedback
    • Edtech is a buzz word
    • Talk about the 1:1 connection
    • Problem isn't specific enough
      • E.g. A teacher has 20 different students they are responsible for. They don't have enough time in the day for proper education.
      • More story; make it relatable
    • Solution isn't specific enough, too fluffy
      • Students and teachers log in for a centralized place for learning
    • "we all have backgrounds..."
      • What backgrounds?
      • More personal
  • e-ubc aims to help create investable companies
    • Teams will be assessed on investability through the program
    • Lifestyle vs venture scalable
      • Lifestyle
        • $1M in annual revenue
        • Can pay 6-8 employees
      • Venture scalable
        • Ability to generate $10-$100M