2016 CaribbeanStartups.com Summer Digital Accelerator

www.CaribbeanStartups.com
1
Summer 2016 Cohort
The First Digital Accelerator in the Caribbean

Agenda
 Introduction &
Orientation
 Product Dev 101
 Customer Dev 101
 Guest Workshop
 Funding 101
 Marketing 101
 Guest Workshop
 Open hour office
hours
 How to avoid top 99
mistakes of
entrepreneurs
 10 companies
selected to demo for
top 3 prizes
2
Day 1 & Day 2 Day 3- Demo Day

Founder Introduction
3
Christine Souffrant
Ntim
• 2016 Forbes 30
Under 30
• AdAge 40 Under 40
• TEDx Speaker
• Founder of Vendedy
• Managing Director
of Startup Grind
Dubai
• 30 under 30
Caribbean American
Emerging Leaders &
Changemakers
Guelma Emile
• Founder of GuelmasInternational.com
• actively involved in community awareness initiatives
and launched the 3 social media networks with close to
40,000 followers to inspire, educate, and encourage
bold life choices.

Orientation
What We Offer?4
CaribbeanStartups.com is the home of the Caribbean’s startup ecosystem.
1. The First Caribbean Startup Digital Accelerator: We accelerate 100 companies to
market each quarter annually.
2. Code it Caribbean hosts a series of monthly digital workshops to help
entrepreneurs, careerists and students learn to code.
3. Central Startup Ecosystem Directory: We list all events, programs, and initiatives
that advance entrepreneurship in the Caribbean.
4. Annual Online Caribbean Startup Ecosystem Expo: an action-packed lunch hour
where the top accelerators, incubators, and events present their programs to
aspiring entrepreneurs of the Caribbean.
5. Ecosystem Partnership Platform: We help facilitate the collaboration of
government, incubators, accelerators and entrepreneurs by hosting monthly online
roundtables, blasting monthly insights to 1000+ influencers in the Caribbean

Orientation
What We Offer?5
The First Caribbean Startup Digital Accelerator: We accelerate 100 companies to
market each quarter per year. Our 3-day accelerator program is open to all small
businesses, startups, and freelancers connected to the Caribbean.
1. Part 1 Startup Development: First is the 3 -day accelerator program that includes 2
days of intense startup development training followed by an online demo day for
the top ten companies to pitch investors, press and global accelerator directors.
2. Part 2 Mentorship: Once companies complete the program- they are given access
to monthly startup development training with mentorship from successful
Caribbean entrepreneurs.
3. Part 3 Progress & Investment: Companies are given an opportunity to submit
updates on their companies 4x per year to and pitch our investor network for
capital

Orientation
Prizes6
Top 3 teams will receive $5k in prizes.
• VIP tickets to ATECH- the biggest tech
conference in the Caribbean. The winning team
will receive (2 tickets, value of $695 each) VIP
guest services (e.g., VIP service at the airport,
free transportation to and from the airport and
conference venues), including access to one-
on-one investor feedback sessions.
• $1,560 worth of credits with SendGrid ($129.95
/ month for 12 months)
• Consultant review package with SeedIM
Investments (2 hours) valued at $350-Review
your business model; Review Marketing
Strategy; Provide recommendation
Top 10 Teams Pitch
• 2 investors
• 1 startup influencer
• 1 global accelerator

Orientation
Continued Offerings7
$100 Pitch Challenge Give Away!
July 8- August 8
Monthly 1 hour
webinars w/
Successful
Caribbean
Entrepreneurs

Orientation
Stats on the Inaugural Class8
Top 3 Countries
1. Trinidad w/ 40
2. Haiti w/ 18
3. Jamaica w/ 13
105 Selected -432 entrepreneurs
Majority early stage
• 2016- 28 companies
• 2015-29 companies
Funding needed
• 45% less than $50k
• 54% btw $50k-$20M

Orientation-

Orientation
1. Participated in the Caribbean Innovation
Challenge
2. NEDCO Entrepreneurship Boot Camp
3. Global Leadership Coalition
Entrepreneurship Boot Camp participant
4. 2015 Caribbean Entrepreneurship
Challenge
5. 711 Startup Pitch Competition Event - 2015;
6. 1776 Challenge Cup – Local
7. Idea 2 Innovation Competition
8. Arthur Lok Jack Bizbooster Incubator
9. UStart Incubator (University of Trinidad
and Tobago,
10. IBIS (state-run seed fund in Trinidad )
11. Startup Weekend, HBX (Harvard Business
School),
12. Pitchit Caribbean,
13. Devlabs,
14. prohaus.vc
15. MCI start-up accelarator
16. MEMA businees plan training
17. CodeSPRINT 2016
1. Branson Centre Online Training Programme
2. PitchIT Challenge
3. KingstonBETA
4. startup Weekend
5. Women Innovators Network in the Caribbean,
6. Creativity for Employment and Business Opportunity.
7. Youth Leader of The Americas Initiative
8. Forum on Finance (Haiti)
9. A USAID (Haiti) project called Konbit
10. Digicel entrepreneur of the year
11. Branson Centre of Entrepreneurship - Caribbean;
12. Jamaica Business Development Corporation
13. US Department of State '' International Visitor
Leadership Program (IVLP)''
14. Entrepreneurship Program for Innovation in the
Caribbean (EPIC),
15. FCC's Small Business & Emerging Technologies
Conference & Tech Fair,
16. Haiti Renewal Alliance (HRA) Expo. Additionally
17. The National Integrated Business Incubation System
(IBIS)
Your Cohort participated in over 34 Programs in the
Caribbean

Orientation-
Self Development
1. Coursera
2. Lynda.com
3. Mastermind
4. small business workshops
5. CleverGirlFinance.com
6. www.entrepreneur.com
7. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries
8. Running Lean, Ash Mauria
9. Road to Riches, Rich Dad Poor Dad
10.audio books and motivational talks on
youtube
11.LatishaStyles.com 8-week Coaching
Program
Resources in the USA
1. sba.gov,
2. Caribbeansintech.com
3. US Small Business Administration
4. Microsoft BizSpark
5. StartingBloc,
6. CSIS at Penn,
7. Be Social Change NYC,
8. Echoing Green,
9. Impact HUB,
10.Ashoka Changemakers
11.Skoll Foundation resources.
12.Tech Noir 2.0-Washington DC
13.entrepreneur.com Business summit
14.Miami Caribbean Tech summit
What else were you using for startup
development training?

DAY 1
12

Orientation
13

Product Development 101
14

Product Development-Week 1
15
A. Ideation Process
1. Spend a week writing
down all of the things
that annoy you;
enjoy; that you’re
good at
2. Write out idea.
Executive summary
sheet of problem,
solution, competitors.
3. Research
4. Do the “Why activity”
for 1 hour
5. Identify: Target User
& Consumer
B. Beta Testing
1. Create a landing page-
post on 50+
facebook/linkedin
groups : Wistia or
Unbounce
2. Do at least 100 Survey
& Interviews with
random people at mall,
school etc.
3. Use tools like
(Balsamiq)/ Fiverr.com
to create a test app or
mock app to potential
customers.
C. Online Presence
• Website + blog: Wix
or WordPress
• Media: Post photos,
videos, testimonials
• Social Media: Create a
FB Page, Twitter
• Get Noticed: HARO-
Help A Reporter Out;
Submit to HackerNews,
Reddit
• Google Alerts on your
competitors

16
Decision
Options
go
technical
then hire a
tech lead
Or
hire a tech
lead then
go
technical
Once you have a good sense of demand, you have to build
the tech plan for the product
1. Alpha: Stripped down version of your application, which might
be unstable and missing data verifications and error handling, but
covers the core application features.
2. Beta: Usually this version is only available to a controlled group
of users with early access privilege to the system for the purpose
of testing and feedback.
3. Release Candidate: System is very stable at this point and no
new features will be added at this stage, and the system is
available as an early preview to the users for the purpose of
identifying the last set of bugs in the system, or understanding
user behavior on a larger scale than Beta user set.
4. Release (v1.0, v1.2): At this stage system is usually released to
the customers.

17
Decision
Options
• External
Freelancer
work
• External
outsource
agency/tea
m
• Internal
team
member
with high
coding
skills for
MVP
Tech funnel hiring
• Hire 20 developers on same small relevant coding task- fiverr,
freelance etc.
• Have them send links to previous projects and referrals
• Google performance tests and have each of them complete it
within a week (wufoo.com, gomockingbird.com)
• Select 2. Each will receive a 1/3 or ½ payment for the first set
work. Select the best one to continue with,…

18
Design and release w/ no code
https://www.appmakr.com/blog/make-
apps-without-experience/
Design and release w/ basic website
Learn to Code and release
• Self taught in 12 weeks
http://www.jamesfend.com/learned-
ruby-rails-12-weeks-launch-freelancify
• Self taught in 8 weeks
http://lifehacker.com/how-i-taught-
myself-to-code-in-eight-weeks-511615189
Code App/Website
Send to beta users
Get feedback
Repeat

Idea to Market
Example

Customer Development 101
21
Prep-Before We Begin
Bucket 1 & 2
For Startups w/ a great
product that is ready to go!!!
40+ Ideas based on Growth
Marketing Hacks
Bucket 3 & 4
For Startups that need to focus
on product enhancement and
user engagement.

Customer Development-Site
Submissions22
1. Post on the legendary 3: Reddit, Digg, HackerNews, (Ninja Tip: Before posting a link of
your screenshot to Reddit, first share it on Twitter and then post the Twitter status link to
Reddit. It’s an easy way to pick up a few Twitter followers) ; Go to the /subreddit (Page on
Reddit) related to your business and leave comments
2. Post a screenshot of the app with the link on Product Hunt, Dribbble, DesignerNews and
other niche forums. Don’t limit your self to the legendary 3.
3. Post on Craiglist, Eventbrite.com, Meetup.com: Launch a Competition, Campaign or
Event to test your app on advertise it on these platforms
4. Post Question on Quora Post an answer on Google Search: Leave comments on the
top 5-10 search results .
5. Post on the TNW Market- While primarily a place for specific special offers or promos, you
can also create a listing of your startup for free.
IWebsite: http://market.thenextweb.com & Add New Company Twitter: @TNWMarket
6. Post on Dubbler. Promote your blog posts or content having to do with your app's niche
on Dubbler -- a 60-second audio social network.
7. Post a deck demo on slide share with a perk: http://www.slideshare.net/ and Add
comments on other slideshare power point presentations

23
1. Get featured on http://AppSumo.com, DailyWorth.com, Thrillist, DailyCandy, Groupon or
some site that promotes others.
2. Get featured on alternative app stores like- Windows, Amazon,
3. Apply for awards. Look into awards such as the Kiip Build Fund or The Mobileys.
Submit to HARO to get press
4. Submit app for review: Cnet, 148apps, Mashable, Techcrunch, IGN wireless, etc.
148apps, AppStoreApps andAppAdvice . Submit to PreApps (free) Submit to
UserTesting lets you “look over the shoulder” For $49,
5. Submit to http://betali.st & http://betali.st/submit Twitter: @BetaList
6. Submit to http://erlibird.com & http://erlibird.com/startups Twitter: @erlibirdapp
7. Submit to http://startupli.st/ & http://startupli.st/startups/add Twitter: @thestartuplist
8. Submit to http://appstorm.net/ & http://web.appstorm.net/about/submit-an-app-for-
review/ Twitter: @appstorm
9. Submit to http://www.killerstartups.com& http://www.killerstartups.com/submit-
startup/ Twitter: @killerstartups

24
3rd Party Directories
• Exposure: Submit to 100
directorieshttp://www.beingprac
tical.com/2013/10/12/100-
startup-directories-to-submit-
your-startup-for-free/
• 130 Places to Promote Your
Startup
• http://promotehour.com/index.
php

Customer Development-Social
Media25
1. Reach out to organizers of meetup, eventbrite, facebook to post on their page, or email
out to followers
2. Reach out to the newsletters organizers that you subscribe to already.
3. Reach out to Bloggers & local tech newsletters: Provide 500 word document: app’s
features, startup story and value proposition
4. Reach out to twitter influencers with 20k+ followers: Provide tweet and link about app.
Request that they tweet at midday.
5. Contact admins of related Facebook pages. “Look for pages with 100k+ likes and reach out
to their admins. Make sure these pages have something to do with the focus of your app. Then give
them a compelling reason to mention it”.
6. Select 100 twitter influencers with at least 10k followers or more and have them tweet your
app campaign on the same day/ stagger for 20 each day if necessary
7. Download email contacts on linkedin and Email blast ONLY once w/ mail chimp
8. Google form campaign- get people to signup to be network ambassadors for a day/week

26
1. Google alert competitors and reach out to reporter to write a follow up story or rebuttal
2. Follow your Audience: Target your customers/users on intagram + pinterest and comment the
link to the app on a relevant post.
3. Look at new channels that have less competition (rules) like snapchat, pinterest, instagram to
drive traffic
4. Search Twitter for related hashtags - then tweet at the people to offer feedback
5. Leave video responses on popular-related YouTube Videos
6. Create a six-second how-to series. Make the most of Vine with videos potential customers will
find useful. The hashtag #howto is one of the top trending tags on Vine.
7. Thunderclap campaign your network for the launch date
8. Do Content marketing: Blog away not about your product, just anything that your target market
would want and that would make them want to explore the product.
9. Ride a wave- If an image is going viral put your name on it and share it too
10. Use snip.ly to share viral blogs with your own advert
11. Find Trending Content http://buzzsumo.com/ find titles that gets the most shares
12. Google Keyword Research Tool To Know Search Volume and Demands
13. Click To Tweet Tweet From any Blogs or Pages
14. Bounce Exchange To Track User’s Mouse Movements on your page

Customer Development-Fake the
Hype27
1. Fake it till you make it: When users come initially to your platform and there's nothing
there, they see little value in using it. Platform usage requires investment; you set up a
profile, you browse around... it takes time. Users won't invest if they don't see activity. Well,
if there isn't any activity, create some. Reddit did it. Paypal did it. A lot of marketplaces do it.
Once you create some activity, more users start coming over.
2. Seed the community on standalone mode: Essentially, a user should be able to derive
value out of the product even when other users aren’t on it. A product that has standalone
value irrespective of the network is more likely to get traction among at least one set of users.
3. Piggyback on an existing network: Piggyback on a thriving network as long as your
platform is contextual and complementary to that network. PayPal got almost all its traction
by piggybacking on eBay and offering a much superior payment method than the painful
check-over-mail. PayPal solved all the payments pain points on eBay providing instant
payments without the hassle of credit cards. Moreover, while credit card companies
scrambled to figure out how they’d manage online fraud, PayPal simply did away with the
problem by taking the risk upon itself (a classic case of how a high burn rate company
changed an industry). PayPal soon became the predominant mode of payments on eBay and
essentially rode its growth to become synonymous with online payments.

Customer Development-Fake the
Hype28

Customer Development-Random
Gorilla29
1. Take a weekend, afternoon, major
event parade etc to go our to the streets and
attract users to sign up. Have a big sign with
the value proposition and make it fun.
Timesquare madness- you never know- you
might get caught on youtube or news.
2. Sit in Barnes and Nobles with $5
Starbucks cards and get people to talk with
you about your service.
3. Go to events and try to get users as
they leave or enter an event- make sure you
coordinate with organizers so you don’t
harass them. Go to parties, festivals etc to
get users
4. Email 10 entrepreneurs you know and
ask them how they got users (target ones in
your field and ones that aren’t) you will be
surprised what you learn.

GUEST WORKSHOP W/
SENDGRID
30

31
Summer 2016 Cohort

DAY 2
32

Agenda
 Introduction &
Orientation
 Product Dev 101
 Guest Workshop
 Funding 101
 Marketing 101
 Guest Workshop
 Open hour office
hours
mistakes of
entrepreneurs
 10 companies
top 3 prizes
33

Funding101-Re-access
34
Always Target:
1. Cash investments
2. In kind services for
free- marketing, legal etc.
3. Partnerships- validation
• Your goal is not just to raise cash but value that
can propel your startup forward.
• Remember- you are raising money to spend and
advance your startup. If you already get what you
need for free, then you’re on the right track.
Make strategic requests. Example- instead
of can you sponsor our event? Say, “can
you host us at your venue and we will
gladly share your brand with our network”
Our startup received closed to $50k
in cash, $50k in legal support and
$100k in marketing, partnerships,
services. That’s $250k in 6 months!

Funding101-5 Bucket Strategy
35
Bucket 1
Competitions- Prizes, Contests, Grants
Bucket 2
Family, Friends, and Supporters
Crowdfunding
Bucket 3
Smart Capital Investments
Bucket 4
Incubators, Accelerators, &
Corporate Programs
Bucket 5
Get Creative & Monetize

Funding101-Prizes & Grants
36
Competition Funding – 100 apps
in 3months
1. Calendar: Use main databases to
list out all applications for at least 6
months ahead- Gust, Angelist,
Younoodle, F6s
2. Apply: In bulk for all due in one
month over a weekend. Ex. Do all
February applications during the first
weekend of February.
3. Document: all application answers
in word. Track: your progress w/
highlights. Note: Keep track of
missed opportunities for next year

Funding101-Friends, Family,
Fools37
Top methods/platforms
• Kickstarter.com- product perk
• Indiegogo.com – thank you perk
• Gofundme.com – need
• Prosper.com- Peer Lending group
• Kiva.org- Microloans by a group
• Crowdrise- equity based funding
• Teespring- T shirt crowdfunding site
Before you begin
• Prepare the media plan, list out potential campaign partners…
• Reach out to the top 50 campaign raisers across different crowd funding groups.
Ask for 15 minutes of their time to tell you how they did it and if they are similar or
complimentary, if they can partner with you; recommend you to reporters and
investors! Also reach out to the top worst campaigns and ask them what
they regret.

Funding101-Smart Capital
Investments38
• Target Angels First: on Angelist.com +
Gust.com + Angel Capital Association. Angel
investors (individuals) or (syndicates) can
invest from $10k to $500k to $1M
• Ask for feedback: 50-100 angel investors
and send them this message: "Hi <>, I'm a
student at <> University looking to solve a
huge problem in the <> space. We're still
pre launch and not ready to raise yet, but I
was hoping to get 5-10 minutes of your time
to ask some questions. Since you invested in
<> and <>, I figured you would be perfect!
Thanks!”
Golden Rule:
Ask for advice, get
money…ask for money, get
advice...
DO NOT DO THIS BUCKET BEFORE YOU HAVE TRACTION!!!
“If you can’t be bothered to spend $5k-$10k to build a prototype, of what you
want to do, then why should I take you seriously?”—Jason Calacanis

Funding101-Incubators &
Accelerators39
Get $20k-$100k from Accelerators
• According to the National Association of Business Incubators, there are about
800 incubators in the US.
• Apply to at least 12 that fit your niche. Even if you don’t get in, the interview
process reveals a lot of wholes that you night of missed.
Target Corporates for Startups
• IBM Global Entrepreneur, Microsoft Bizspark, Amazon, Target, Nike, Disney
Hubspot, Citi Fintech, Barclays,Coca Cola, GE, Google Ventures, Qualcomm,
Sales force, Digital Ocean, Rackspace etc
• Some have their own accelerators!
• Google name of company and startup company or innovation hub.
• Go on linked in to find innovation coordinator. Go to events targeted for
corporate companies

Funding101-Get Creative &
Monetize40
Get Creative
• Host events, workshops where you offer your solutions
to customers…charge $5, $10 etc
• Google consulting projects at major entrepreneurship
centers- colleges and graduate schools are consistently
looking for live cases to do work for
• Donations via social media . For example,
the Tweetsgiving drive via Twitter pulled in over
US$10K in just 48 hours, simply from donations of $5
or $10 dollars.
• Online ad revenue and Affiliate advertising
Monetize
• Subscription
• Beta sales etc
Air BNB
raised $25k selling
cheerios- We made
500 of each (Obama
O's and Cap'n
McCains). They
were a numbered
edition on the top of
each box, and sold
for $40 each.

Funding101-Resources
41
Top Resource Archives
• http://venturehacks.com/archives
• http://10years.firstround.com/
• http://fundersandfounders.com/about/
• http://alexanderjarvis.com/blog/2015/05/19/pi
tch-deck-collection-from-vc-funded-startups/

Press & Marketing 101
43
Blue Print Your Announcement Dates & Frequency:
• Beta signup, launch, updates
• Trial Day Run Assign roles & engagement management workflow
Blue Print Media Content
• Email: Construct a 3 paragraph email (press release + personal outreach formats)
• Share: Construct the 140 tweet, facebook, linkedin, instagram etc
Target amplifiers
• List: Coordinator, supervisor, and/or representative: Alumni networks: High
school, College, Programs, jobs, internships, contract roles, HARO
Reach out to Social Media Influencers
• Social Media Groups- Facebook/Linked organizers
• Eventbrite attendee lists +Meetup.com: message coordinators to share
• Create a list of 20+ Twitter/FB w/ 10k followers+ to share your post on the target
date (send personal email)
• Post google doc form for volunteers to blast their networks (goal 50)
• Email list: Excel Spread sheet of all linkedin contacts- blast (mailchimp)

Press & Marketing 101
44
Budget & Prep
Step 3: Plan the Budget
• Social media Marketing
• Google Adwords
Step 5: Trial Day Run
• Assign roles &
engagement
management workflow
Free tools for the day:
MailChimp (2000);
Hootsuite (3 accounts);

Press & Marketing 101-Email
45
What:List: Coordinator, supervisor, and/or representative for the following networks
Who:
1. Alumni networks (Personal Email)
• High school, College, Programs
• Part time jobs, full time jobs, internships, contract roles
• Clubs, sports, church etc.
2. Social Media Groups (Personal Email)
• Facebook/Linked in groups
3. Social Media Ambassadors (Personal Email)
• Create a list of 20+ Twitter/FB w/ 10k followers+ to share your post on the target
date (send personal email)
• Post google doc form for volunteers to blast their networks (goal 50)
1. Contact your network list (include media and target date); Request: Newsletter
posting or social media blast
2. Engage w/ responders
3. Input confirmations into launch excel file (to follow up 3 days prior + on the target
date)
Free tools
for the
day:
Boomerang

Press & Marketing 101-Email
46
What:
Keep the momentum going!
Use press release email
Who:
1. Event+ Competition networks + previous press coverage (send update email)
2. Eventbrite attendee lists +Meetup.com: message coordinators to share
3. Google alert & compile reporters & reference story
4. Submit to: HARO, Reddit, HackerNews, BuzzFeed
5. Submit to: Directory submissions (130+ locations-http://promotehour.com/);
directorieshttp://www.beingpractical.com/2013/10/12/100-startup-directories-to-
submit-your-startup-for-free/
6. Email list: Excel Spread sheet of all linkedin contacts- blast (mailchimp)

Press & Marketing 101-Spend
47
Tools of the Day
• ThunderClap
• Wistia, Unbounce
• KickoffLabs
To increase value of spend dollars
• Competition/ prize campaign
• Call to action social media share
• Webinar introduction
• Google hangout- live demo

Press & Marketing 101-
Networking48
Get Out There
• Attend local startup events: StartupWeekend, Step Conference, etc
• Tools: Meetup, Eventbrite etc
• Volunteer: Shadow disruptive entrepreneurs; organize & support local events
Event Networking Done Right
• Go through the attendee list of Eventbrite.com or meetup.com
• Google Profiles & Linked In
• How do you two relate
• What matters to them
• Ask 1 great question out loud for the audience to get noticed.
Follow Up: Business Cards
• Write notes on the back of cards

Press & Marketing 101-Pitching
49
30 Seconds- 1 Minute Pitches (Teaser)
• What & Why in 30 seconds
• Value in 10 seconds (tailor to audience)
• Traction & Call to Action (20 seconds)
2-10 Minute Pitches (Details)
• 1 Minute Teaser Intro
Additional Info
• Pre recorded demo
• Competition Matrix details
• Customer experiences
• Financial metrics
• Team profiles
• Call to Action
Elite Pitch Competitions
• Application materials are longer
• Review previous winners
• Exploit application weaknesses-
don’t avoid them
• Highlight the publicity effect you
will have: your story, your traction,
unique product, etc.
• Keep emails of organizers for future
use
• Request blasts on social media
• Leverage names for other
competitions & opportunities
• Keep photos w/ logos for marketing
material

50
Summer 2016 Cohort

DAY 3- DEMO DAY
51

Agenda
 Introduction &
Orientation
 Product Dev 101
 Guest Workshop
 Funding 101
 Marketing 101
 Guest Workshop
mistakes of
entrepreneurs
 10 companies
top 3 prizes
 Final Annoucements
52

Orientation
Top 3 Countries
1. Trinidad w/ 40
2. Haiti w/ 18
3. Jamaica w/ 13
105 Selected -432 entrepreneurs
Majority early stage
• 2016- 28 companies
Funding needed
• 45% less than $50k
• 54% btw $50k-$20M

Top 99 Mistake-Product Dev
55
Ideation Phase:
• Mistake: launch based on an idea
and not a problem.
• Solution: Research problem space,
do why activity, survey +
100+inperson interviews, beta test
landing pages (Business Model
Canvas/Lean Startup)
Alpha/Beta Phase:
• Mistake: Launch w/ too many
features.
• Solution: Phase out features and
test beta response. Simplicity is
key. Know the process- Alpha,
beta, release, V1+++
Release Phase:
• Mistake: Paying for growth &
users leads to false success
markers
• Solution: Organic growth and viral
spread is important. Figure why
they love it to incorporate the
right features.
Version Phases:
• Mistake: Outsource product
development at the release phase.
• Solution: Internal memory for
product development is key.
Github all source code & maintain
wireframe vision progress

Top 99 Mistakes-Team Dev
56
Hiring Phase
• Mistake: No contracts.
• Solution: NDA all collaborative parties.
Contract agreement all team development
parties. Vest schedule/equity deal all
founding members
Hire
• Mistake: Hire based on resume & past.
• Solution: Startup different then corporate
process. Hire based on project execution
milestones. Never provide title positions
until earned.
Payment
• Mistake: Defer payment to big investment.
• Solution: Not guaranteed. Hire based on
budget and agreed hourly pay or stipend
pay.
Recruiting Phase
• Mistake: Quick to take in a Co-founder but
slow to hire.
• Solution: Co-Founder search is like
marriage. It should be a priority taken with
care.
Sources
• Mistake: Hire on job board sites based on
profiles
• Solution: Hire within your network first,
network meetups second and take in
recommendations from others.
Bplan
• Mistake: Plan business plan and vision with
the team as you go.
• Solution: Can’t inspire without a
foundation. Have Bplan, vision, and
strategy concrete first.

Top 99 Mistakes-Team
57

Top 99 Mistakes-Business Dev
58
Partnerships
• Mistake: Depending on partnerships for growth.
Red flag.
• Solution: If you can’t scale without partnerships,
the business model flawed.
• Mistake: Not knowing the partnership process for
a company.
• Solution: Find out if the company has an
established startup innovation arm; competition;
representative. See how competitors closed
partnership
Accelerators
• Mistake: Apply to as many as possible and attend
whatever accepts your team
• Solution: No accelerator is too much alike. Be
strategic on location, mentor network,
partnerships, development focus (some better for
hardware others for software others for retail etc)
Milestone Progress
• Mistake: No milestone markers.
• Solution: Need to motivate internal team
and need to validate potential with
stakeholders. Have set milestones
• Mistake: No metrics.
• Solution: You can’s scale unless you know
what success parameter needs to be
repeated over and over like a playbook.
Track traction markers early and compare
to competitors
• Mistake: Focusing on too many value
propositions.
• Solution: Do one thing well and have
people love you for it. Then expand.

Top 99 Mistakes-Bus Dev
59

Top 99 Mistakes-Funding Dev
60
Continued…
• Mistake: We just need $500k. Just
because.
• Solution: You must always have a
budget breakdown of what you need to
accelerate growth at each milestone.
Not accomplish it. You should be able
to progress even without capital.
• Mistake: Providing only executive
summary for investment opportunities
• Solution: Have pitch deck and
summary deal sheet already prepared.
Quick & dirty financials is a must.
Typical
• Mistake: Seek funding before you have a
product.
• Solution: Don’t waste time. Fundraise when
ready for better deals or else you will exhaust
exposure.
• Mistake: Focus on venture capital.
• Solution: Target all 5 streams of funding
(Credit & savings, prizes, crowd
funding/equity, accelerator funding, smart
capital)
• Mistake: When running capital rounds with
conflict of interest.
• Solution: separate the investor lead from your
investor mentor.

Top 99 Mistakes-Marketing Dev
61
Go to Market
• Mistake: Focusing on too many
marketing development avenues.
• Solution: Know the difference in
approach and select a balanced
strategy. (Internal: Launch Live event,
Pilot & Beta, Marketing Campaign.
External: Global Competitions,
Accelerators, Partners)
Marketing Materials
• Mistake: Pay thousands for photo
stock or using google images.
• Solution: recycle marketing materials
from events, pitches, meetings, pilots
etc. More authentic
Pitch
• Mistake: Pitch at every event possible.
• Solution: In the fist month- practice
to a couple. Once beta is out, focus on
strategic pitch platforms for
partnerships prizes not exposure.
Have format locked: 1, 2, 5, 10
Minutes
Web Presence
• Mistake: Just have a website and
social media pages.
• Solution: Newsletter blast w/
Linkedin, submit to directories;
Complete Startup Profiles
Crunchbase, F6s, Angel List,
YouNoodle, Gust.com, etc;

Top 99 Mistakes-Legal Dev
62
Valuation
• Mistake: Try to get the highest valuation
possible early on.
• Solution: Be strategic, the highger your
valuation number the higher ROI you
have to return and greater chances for
down round. Be fair and think long
term.
Taxes
• Mistake: Issue stocks immediately
without proper valuation.
• Solution: Remember to take caution
with this. For founders remember to do
a 83b election within 30days of issuance
for future tax purposes
Paperwork
• Mistake: not getting your house in
order.
• Solution: you can use popular platforms
like Clerky and Legal zoom to get started
but remember to always have minutes,
contracts and NDAs all in one place.
Trademark + Patents not necessary for
ideas.
Lawyer Fees
• Mistake: Pay lawyers with equity.
• Solution: Don’t do it. Get the costs and
see if you can back pay based on
funding. Target startup lawyers only!

Top 99 Mistakes-Ops Dev
63
Admin
• Mistake: Sharing admin responsibilities
across the team.
• Solution: Dedicate only one person to
admin and limit focus to one part of the
week/day. Use tools like boomerang,
wufoo for scheduling, and google docs
for collaboration. Every meeting must
have a summary emailed out! Crucial
for institutional memory
• Mistake: depending on google hangout
and skype for team meetings & investor
meetings.
• Solution: Pay for $10 per month web
meetings- zoho or use freemeeting.com;
it will maximize efficiency
Team Flow
• Mistake: Daily meetings
• Solution: Keep meetings to a minimum. Try
the MWF email update approach and have 2
meetings per week- one short one long.
• Mistake: Hire before a small team has
operational flow
• Solution: It’s a train wreck waiting to happen.
Wait to have a system approach with a team
of 5 or less before hiring more people,
Project Management
• Mistakes: no execution feedback loop.
• Solution: have dates posted for group view;
All main documents must be accessible to all
and not just via email. Consider tools for this
like GIRA

Top 99 Mistakes-PR Dev
64
PR Networks
• Mistake: Cold call reporters before you
are ready.
• Solution: target alumni networks,
bloggers, and local community
newsletters first to get a buzz. Then
submit to HARO- Help A Reporter Out;
HackerNews, Reddit;
• Mistake: Email random reporters to
write a story on you.
• Solution: Target reporters who are
already interested in your space. Google
alert your competitors and contact
reporters who profile them
Competition and Events
• Mistake: Pitch at events and
go home.
• Solution: Whether you win
or loose, always network
with reporters and bloggers
at the event and update
event organizers on your
progress. Their brand
validation can help get you
press.

DAY 3- DEMO DAY
65

Top Ten Demo
68
1. www.aquaflowjm.com (Jamaica)
2. www.tabancabox.com (Trinidad)
3. www.farmslc.com (St.Lucia)
4. www.techbaseltd.com (Trinidad
5. www.thelocalapp.info (Antigua
6. www.kwabosal.ht (Haiti
7. www.livewireact.com (Jamaica)
8. www.caribbeanandco.com
(Montserrat)
9. www.carryonfriends.com
(Jamaica)
10.Instagram.com/plantbasedforyou
(Guyana)
1 Minute Pitch
2 Minute Questions from Judges
Ratings 1-10 Per Judge

What’s Next?
69
$100 Pitch Challenge Give Away! July 8-
August 8
Share-most likes/shares wins!
RSVP- Monthly 1 hour webinars w/
Successful Caribbean Entrepreneurs

2016 CaribbeanStartups.com Summer Digital Accelerator

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