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This gives an overview of the Foundry Process.
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Information SessionJason Kuruzovich
LALLY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT & TECHNOLOGYlallyschool.rpi.edu
Today
• Introductions• Background – Validating a business model• The Foundry Process
– MOKR Report– Weekly Meetings/Management Report– Project Review
• Colleen – Using the Foundry Process• Brent – Execution Under Uncertainty• James Spencer – EVE and RPI Hub • Next steps
– Important dates, meeting time– Communication– Onboarding Packet
“Now is the best possible time in the history of the Universe to start a company...”
- Phil Libin, Evernote Founder
Why?
TechnologyProcess
Technology
The cost of testing a business hypothesis has been dramatically reduced
Processes
Incubation Processes
We are focused on creating entrepreneurs for life, and catalyzing economic growth. Our
approach is straightforward: each
Foundry team focuses on building their business;
each Foundry cohort coaches one another;
and Foundry leadership provides teams with
timely, useful resources and training.
Validating a business model
Business schools talk a lot about “business plans…”
What happens if you build a business plan before properly
validating your business concept?
Everyone has a plan until they
get punched in the face.- Mike Tyson
New models of entrepreneurship suggest iterative testing of business
models.
People scale flawed business models because it is easier to grow a
business than it is to discover one.
These ideas are not new..
• Minimum Viable Product
• Customer-Centered Development (4 Steps)
• Nail It/Scale It
• Lean Startup
• Product/Market Fit
A Simple Proposition
Skills &Knowledge Needed to Validate a Business Model
Skills &Knowledge Needed to Launch/Grow a Company
These are very different activities, so let’s teach them as distinct activities
What do you need to build a company?
A great product conceptHow to build itHow to distribute itHow to market itHow to hire peopleHow to manage people
•Real product knowledge•Managerial Experience•Mentors•Access to Capital and so on
Building a company is a craft learned through experience, often with mentors, over time.
What do you need to validate a business
concept?
Stuff Stuff
Stuff
…learn how to deal with the “stuff you don’t know you don’t know” problem
THE FOUNDRY PROCESS
The Foundry: Forging Entrepreneurs for Life
Foundry Processes• Execution and Management
Reporting System–MOKR/Management Report Dashboard
• Group Activities:–One-hour team meeting per week
–Project Review
• Online Instruction available 24/7 via our YouTube Channel
Execution & Management Reporting System
Problem
• Entrepreneurs must know how to execute … but most of our students have no idea how to manage a project or execute.
Solution
• Teach Students how to be effective managers by teaching them (and insisting they use) a simple, lightweight management reporting system developed at Intel, Oracle…still in use today (Google OKR)
• Management reports MUST be filed weekly 72 hours before weekly management meeting. WHY? Because every Foundry mentor and team member reviews one another’s reports (they are the basis for coaching).
MOKR System
Mission
• It captures, in a few succinct sentences, the essence of your business's goals and the philosophies underlying them.
Objectives
• Objectives provides a specific, measurable, realistic, action-oriented and time sensitive statement that, once achieved, propels the organization closer towards its mission.
Key Results
• The results that your company plans to achieve. At the end of the term, each will either be done, or not done (and thus an observer will be able to determine whether they are done, or not done).
Management Tools (Management Report)
DASHBOARD. Create a dashboard that will enable you to clearly track your progress relative to your key results. PROGRESS. What did you actually accomplish. (Not “I worked on”)
PLANS. These are the things you plan to accomplish next week.
PROBLEMS. These are things that are unresolved. Looking for resources. Unsure of a decision? A great place to get feedback.
PRIORITIES. What broad but near term areas of the business are priorities. (This is a great area to drive your plans for each week.)
USING THE TOOLS
MOKR. Helps provide an organizing vision of “where to start.” • Think what are key areas of the
business model with highest uncertainty and how do I test them
MANAGEMENT REPORT. You are your company’s biggest asset. Manage yourself well by executing with precision
Weekly Management MeetingProblem
Entrepreneurs must know how to find answers to questions that are hard to define, difficult to figure out how to find answers, and difficult to ask
Solution
• Use weekly management meeting entirely for problem-solving, where students learn to work, as a community, to help solve each others problems
• Meetings are student-led and peer-driven: Our job is to pour coffee and shut up … it is NOT to answer questions
• Taking risks in front of others generates trust, friendship, support, and provides the emotional supported needed to do what needs to be done
Business Model Canvas
Weekly Management Meeting
• APD (Assumption and Problem Diagnosis) Presentations–We ask that each of you create a 10
minute presentation regarding:• a key assumption/problem for business • how you plan to address it• Results (if available)
– Scientific Method• Hypothesis -> Experiment -> Result ->
Decision
Project Review
ProblemAll businesses need help from seasoned mentors
Solution
• We help you to put together a group of mentors who are experienced entrepreneurs.
• Hour long presentation provides a deep dive into your business.
• Your goal should be to put together a group of advisors and arrange a project review prior to the end of the semester
Provide Quality Educational Content
Problem
• Entrepreneurs need answers now, not when we are available.
• Entrepreneurs need to develop judgment about the quality of information provided
Solution
• YouTube Channel: usparkfoundrytv has short videos on entrepreneurship basics, available 24/7 and free to all
• Evening Socials featuring carefully selected guest speakers. Social time is crucial as it is when the seeds of a student-drive mentor relationships are sown
Dashboard Demo
www.edustartup.org/rpihub
Using the Tools in The Program
• An example….VITALIV• Brent – Pep Talk• James Spencer Eve
Next Steps
• Download the Foundry packet– http://goo.gl/bApSg
• Create draft MOKR in dashboard today – (You will need to be approved before it
will show up.)
• Finalize MOKR/MR by next meeting
Thanks to Rob Wuebker for content.
Acknowledgements
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