4. For the purpose of this
talk, we will think of the
framework as two parts:
1. CHECKLIST
What components do you have to
hit?
2. BENCHMARKS
How do you know when you’ve hit
it?
Mr. Progress
9. Talk to 8 different
investors, and you’ll get
8 different answers
“We invest in great teams.”
“We only invest in billion
dollar markets.”
“We want to see world-
changing problems.”
Mr. Progress
10. They’re all important.
Here are the 8 Fundamental Parts of Company Building:
Idea
Team
Customer
Development
Market
Development
Business
Plan
Operations Product
Fundraising
Mr. Progress
11. Get answers to
your burning
questions...
Do I have enough users to raise a
seed round?
How do I know if my team is
strong enough to win?
Mr. Progress
Do my unit economics work out?
Will we make a profit?
How do I know if my problem is a
large enough problem?
and much more...
15. How Do I know
My Company is
Worth Building?
Questions to ask yourself:
Mr. Progress
• Will this be a problem in 5-7 years?
• What unmet needs are we solving?
• For who?
• How many people face this problem?
• Is our solution 10x better than the
next available best alternative?
16. Don’t Build a
Solution With No
Problem.
Put Yourself in
Your Customer’s
Shoes.
One way to validate your idea:
Describe a day in your customer’s life
Mr. Progress
• What do they actually do?
• How do they make decisions?
• What are their goals: professionally, socially,
personally?
• How are they measured or evaluated?
• How do they currently achieve these goals?
• What is missing? What can’t they accomplish?
18. Four things to keep in mind
when hiring top talent
• 50% of hires are mistakes
• “Good enough” is not good enough
• Hire slow and fire fast
• Only hire for burning needs, don’t
make pre-emptive hires
19. The Hiring
Framework
Mr. Progress
• Recruit passive candidates -- people
who are not looking for a job
• Verify references
• Understand how they fit into the team
• Run the process
20. Elements of a Good Team
Trust
Results
Conflict Resolution
Commitment
Accountability
Communication
22. Customer
Development
Mr. Progress
• Collect Feedback, DO NOT SELL
• Feedback = The Answers on How To
Sell Your Customer Later
• Create a Customer Advisory Board
• Build Personal Relationships
24. Market Development Differences for
Enterprise and Consumer Companies
● Awareness
● Connecting with customers
● Conversion from leads
● Retaining
● Customer Service
● Referrals & Use Cases
● Awareness
● Focus on traffic and connecting
with customers
● Conversion to lead or purchase
● Retaining
● Customer Service
● Referrals, Influence
B2B B2C
30. All the funding
in the world
won’t build
your company.
Mr. Progress
• Set your 10 year vision
• Set your 1 year vision
• Break down your 1 year vision into quarterly goals
• For the upcoming quarter, split the goal into 3-4 sub
components
• Align one member for your team to own one of the
components
• Break down the quarterly goal into monthly goals
• Break down the monthly goal into objective, measurable
weekly goals
• Report on these weekly goals using OGSM & KPI model.
(Objective | Goals | Strategies / Metrics)
• Hold weekly team meetings and 1:1’s with CEO/Team
Leads to set and discuss goals
34. Getting to 1.0
Mr. Progress
• Build one thing.
• Build the minimum amount necessary
to get 1 happy customer.
• Simplify your problem. Reduce your
workload at every possible corner.
• Ask yourself: How can we simplify
this?
35. Learn and Iterate
Constantly innovate in your business practices to
find new solutions
Question why and how
Form independent thoughts
Don’t blindly follow