This document summarizes feedback from an Alpha Launch event for startup teams. It discusses things that went well at the event like venue, panelists, and event coordination. Areas for improvement included not enough time for feedback, demos, and pitches. The document also provides summarized feedback for several startup teams on making their pitches and demos more clear and focused. Teams are encouraged to study competitors, prove out use cases, and consider narrowing their product focus.

2. Alpha Launch
Retrospective
Vishnu Gopal

3. Hope you had fun at
the Alpha Launch :)

4. Our team at SV.CO liked it a lot
because it was a validation of our
program & product.

5. Today, I’ll talk about:
- Things that went right.
- Things that can be improved.
- Feedback for teams.

6. Things that went right.

7. 1. Choice of venue.

8. 2. Quality of the panelists.

9. 3. Girish.

10. 4. Overall event coordination.

11. 5. The practice pitch.

12. Things that can be improved.

13. 1. Not enough feedback.

14. Demo sessions, practice pitch
sessions and the pitch itself was
too short.

15. Incorporating a demo & a Q&A
session into the pitch.

16. 2. Practice where you pitch.

17. We’d like to have some version
where the pitch happens at a
location similar to the final pitch.

18. 3. Demo Video versus Pitch
Video versus Product Video

19. Teams are still confused as to
what these mean.

20. 4. Wished more teams had a
demo.

21. Every team learns at a different
pace.

22. 5. Clear prior communication
about day agenda + available
setup + times.

23. Feedback for teams

24. This is my attempt to paraphrase
and explain feedback that teams
have got from the Freshdesk faculty.

25. + a few general points from
me :)

26. Feedback: “Pitch was ambitious
but use-case shown was trivial.”

27. Takeaway: Show impressive &
real use cases or demos.

28. Feedback: “Sieving through a resume
is a art not sure BOT can do that. Bot
can help filtering the first level.”

29. Takeaway:
Show real use cases & show customers.
Show feedback from HRs.

30. Takeaway:
How does an HR go through a
resume?

31. Feedback: “Not sure, this looks
more like a filter on Amazon.”

32. Takeaway:
Value prop of the product is not clear.
Say “it’s the X of Y”. “Youtube of
Powerpoint”
“Policybazaar but for mobile phones”

33. Feedback: “Bot based booking
may not be superior to site
based.”

34. Takeaway:
Think of cases where site-based booking
is superior. Then think of at least 1 case
where bot-based booking is superior.
Pivot the customer segment.

35. Feedback: “Market is there.
Differentiation not clear.”

36. Takeaway:
Study competitors and what they do
well. Do at least a few things better.
Learn from your customer segment.
Deploy to customers & get feedback.

37. Feedback: “Overcrowded. Not
enough moat for a new player.”

38. Takeaway: This is one of those
opinions that talk about the
market.
Prove this wrong, or pivot.

39. Feedback: “Value from a digital
solution over paper register vs
complexity and cost added
may not be that favourable.”

40. Takeaway: Do an honest tradeoff of
paper registers. What can digital
offer that is 10x better?
Imagine a world 10 years from now.
How will interaction models change?

41. Feedback: “ML as service is
large. Pre-trained models may
not be differentiation enough.”

42. Takeaway: Think: what could work as a
differentiator?
Analyse competitors in the space. Look
at big & small players and what they
are trying to do. Look at their clients.

43. Feedback: “Very high level,
keeping the use cases generic
makes the problem much
harder.”

44. Takeaway: This is one of those cases
where a narrower focus might be better.
Can you reduce the scope of the
product to build a better product for a
narrower segment?

45. Feedback: “Just pricing may
not be sufficient.
Differentiating against full
stack hiring platforms is
important.”

46. Takeaway: Why is a niche solution
in this space better?
Why is it important to build a
narrower solution? Can it integrate
with larger apps in the space?

47. One last feedback from my
end.
Respect.

48. 2 pieces of feedback
from my end.
Respect.
Curiosity.