This document summarizes an information session about the Foundry process at the Lally School of Management & Technology. It introduces the Foundry process which focuses on validating business models through iterative testing using tools like the MOKR framework, weekly management reports, and project reviews. Students work in cohorts and receive online instruction and mentoring to help execute their ideas and solve problems. The goal is to teach students how to effectively manage projects, execute plans, and receive feedback to test business assumptions and move ideas forward.

1. Information Session
Jason Kuruzovich
LALLY SCHOOL OF MANAGEMENT &TECHNOLOGY
lallyschool.rpi.edu

2. 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

3. “Now is the best possible time in the
history of the Universe to start a
company...”
- Phil Libin, Evernote Founder

4. Why?
Technology
Process

5. Technology
HARDWARE
SOFTWARE
SERVICES
PLATFORM
ENTREPENEUR

6. The cost of testing a business
hypothesis has been dramatically
reduced

7. Processes

8. 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.

9. Validating a business model

10. Business schools talk a lot about
“business plans…”
What happens if you build a
business plan before properly
validating your business concept?

12. Everyone has a plan until they
get punched in the face.
- MikeTyson

13. New models of entrepreneurship
suggest iterative testing of business
models.

14. People scale flawed business models
because it is easier to grow a business than
it is to discover one.

15. These ideas are not new..
• Minimum Viable Product
• Customer-Centered Development (4 Steps)
• Nail It/Scale It
• Lean Startup
• Product/Market Fit

16. 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

17. What do you need to build a
company?
A great product concept
How to build it
How to distribute it
How to market it
How to hire people
How 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.

18. What do you need to
validate a business
concept?

19. Stuff Stuff
Stuff
…learn
how to
deal with
the “stuff
you don’t
know you
don’t
know”
problem

20. THE FOUNDRY PROCESS
e Foundry: Forging
trepreneurs for Life

21. 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

22. 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

23. 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

24. ManagementTools (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.)

25. USINGTHETOOLS
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

26. Weekly Management Meeting
Problem
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

27. Business Model Canvas

28. 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

29. Project Review
Problem
All 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

30. 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

31. Dashboard Demo
www.edustartup.org/rpihub

32. Using theTools inThe Program
• An example….VITALIV
• Brent – PepTalk
• James Spencer Eve

33. 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

34. Thanks to RobWuebker for
content.
Acknowledgements