I've begun teaching a class at CCA called Designer as Founder. Having made that transition myself, and with the rise of The Designer Fund and designer as key advantage being touted by folks like 500 startups, it's time for designers to become full partners in the relationship with engineers and business folks. Thus I'm teaching using the Lean Launchpad as a base. This is the first of what will be a series. This class is VERY lecture-light, so see blog posts on eleganthack.com for full information.

1. Designer as Founder
Lecture One
Christina Wodtke
@cwodtke
cwodtke@gmail.com
www.eleganthack.com

2. Design the Class Rules
• What makes a good
learning experience?
– Best teacher?
– Best Classmates?
– Best ?
• What makes a crappy
one?
– Worst teacher?
– Worst classmates?
– Worst?
Note: this was done as an exercise

3. Who Are You?
What would you want to know about
a cofounder?

4. Founder Dating
• Name
• Where do you come
from?
• Why do you want to
make a company?
• What do you care
about?
• What’s your idea(s)?
• What are you good
at?
– Technical Skills
– Design Skills
– Business Skills
– Magical skills
Note: this was done as an exercise

5. Present each other
What did we learn?

6. Why this class?
Note: The Following slides are based on
Steve Blank’s Lean Launchpad
See http://steveblank.com/category/lean-
launchpad/ for more

7. we know something we didn’t
before

8. Because we know something we
didn’t before
We Now Know How to Build Startups

9. Course Objective: Idea to a Business
• What does it take to go from idea to a
business?
– Business Model + Customer Development
– Hypotheses testing of the business model(s)
– Get “out of the building”

10. Course Objective: Simulate A Startup?
• Create the pressures, uncertainty, and challenges
of a real startup
– Our expectations are unreasonable, they require
extraordinary effort
– We expect failures, iterations and Pivots
– Class is a “lab” - books/lectures are tools, not answers
– Fail fast, learn quick, push you outside your comfort
zone

11. Teaching philosophy
• You are in charge of your experience and outcomes
• This class is taught using the “Startup Culture”
– It’s tough, direct, fair - you need to be the same
– Startup culture has no hierarchy - in this class you are an
entrepreneur
– I’m a coach, not a teacher here
• Question, challenge, push
• I don’t pretend to be a domain expert, I know you
are smarter than I am

12. Getting Out of The Building
• This class is not about our lectures
• The class is not about your attendance
• The class is about the work your entire team
does outside the building
• It’s the difference between a vision and a
hallucination
YOU ARE ALL GOOBERS

13. Expectations of You
• This is a full-contact, immersive class
– All of you will be full participants – here and remotely
– You will spend lots of time outside of your university
– You all will do all the work assigned (and it is a lot
more than you probably realize)
– No “dine and dash”
• If you all cannot commit the time, let me know
now.

14. Syllabus
Each week
• We teach you about the business model
• You get out of the building and test
hypotheses
• Your team presents what you all learned
Repeat for 8 weeks

15. Deliverables
• Tuesdays each week
– Team synthesis
– Short lecture
– Work
• Thursdays Each Week – 10 minute presentation
– Lessons Learned presentation 7 minutes
• Instructor critique 3 minutes
– Updated WordPress (or Tumblr, etc) blog
– Tens of Hours of “outside the building” learning
• May Presentation
– 20 minute Lessons Learned Summary
– 2 minute video of what you learned
– 5 minute prototype demo

16. Syllabus for Today
12:00–1:30 Class Introduction: This presentation and exercises
1:30–2:00 Coffee and reading (HBR article)
2:00–3:00 Workshop: Planning for kifi
Homework: Reading, mostly
• Business Model Generation, pp. 118-119, 135-145, skim examples pp. 56-117
• VIDEO: Alex Osterwald on Business Model Canvas
http://ecorner.stanford.edu/authorMaterialInfo.html?mid=2877
• Steve Blank, “What’s a Startup? First Principles,”
http://steveblank.com/2010/01/25/whats-a-startup-first-principles/
• Steve Blank, “A Startup is Not a Smaller Version of a Large Company”,
http://steveblank.com/2010/01/14/a-startup-is-not-a-smaller-version-of-a-
large-company/

17. Syllabus for Thursday
12:00–12:30 Short lecture on market sizing.
12:30–1:00 Synthesize findings and make Business Canvas Hypothesis
1:00–2:00 Share canvas, critique
2:00–3:00 Workshop: Planning for validation
Homework:
Read
• Steve Blank, “Make No Little Plans – Defining the Scalable Startup,”
http://steveblank.com/2010/01/04/make-no-little-plans-–-defining-the-scalable-startup/
• Mary Meeker’s Internet Trends (You’ll need this for picking projects!)
http://www.kpcb.com/insights/2013-internet-trends
• Eager Sellers, Stony Buyers
http://www.embaedu.com/member/Medias/212/2012/12/201212516515825583.pdf
DO
• Email your link to your blog/wiki/journal to cwodtke@gmail.com
• Test your hypothesis for kifi with potential customers
• Size the market

18. THE CONE OF UNCERTAINTY
I can tell you
what I’m
teaching
tomorrow
I have the
month
planned out
I plan to
adjust the
class based on
how fast you
learn

19. What’s A Company?

20. What’s A Company?
A business organization which sells a
product or service in exchange for revenue
and profit

21. What’s A Startup?

22. A temporary organization
designed to search
for a repeatable and scalable business
model

23. A temporary organization
designed to search
for a repeatable and scalable business
model

24. A temporary organization
designed to search
for a repeatable and scalable business
model

25. A temporary organization
designed to search
for a repeatable and scalable business
model

26. A temporary organization
designed to search
for a repeatable and scalable
business model
A Startup aims to become a
company

27. How Are Companies Organized?

28. How Are Companies Organized?
Companies are organized around
Business Models

29. What is a business model?

30. What’s a Business Model?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=
QoAOzMTLP5s

32. Value Proposition
What Are You Building and For Who?

34. Customer Segments
Who Are They?
Why Would They Buy?

36. Channels
How does your Product
Get to Customers?

38. Customer Relationships
How do you Get, Keep and Grow Customers?

40. Revenue Streams
How do you Make Money?

42. Key Resources
What are your most important Assets?

44. Key Partners
Who are your Partners and Suppliers?

46. Key Activities
What’s Most Important for the Business?

48. Cost Structure
What are the Costs and Expenses

50. But,
Realize They’re Hypotheses

51. 9 Guesses
Guess Guess
Guess
Guess
Guess
Guess
Guess
GuessGuess

54. ©2006

55. ©2006

56. Customer Development
Test the Problem, Then the Solution

59. Customer Development
The Minimum Viable Product

61. Customer Development
The Pivot

63. Customer Development
Details

64. Customer Development is
how you search for the model

69. Buy & Read
Do not get Kindle version.
Get print version.