This document provides advice for how to win a new venture challenge and succeed in business. It recommends talking to customers and the industry to understand needs and competitors, collecting and analyzing data to make evidence-based decisions, and iterating continuously to improve. Additional tips include delivering value and products customers want, working with the right partners, keeping solutions simple, embracing and learning from failure, hiring a strong team, and clearly communicating vision without ambiguity. The overall message is to thoroughly understand customers' problems and demands, validate ideas with evidence, and have the right team and approach to execute the business model effectively.

1. How to WIN the New Venture
Challenge & SUCCEED in Business
George Deriso, Leeds School of Business george.deriso@colorado.edu

2. Data Node

3. Lesson: Be the of secret!
• Talk to your market (customers)
• Talk to your industry (know your competitors)
• Collect and analyze data (evidence)
• Iterate continuously

4. The Software Guild

5. Lesson: Craft the right
• Deliver the value your customer wants
• Deliver your product the way your customer
wants
• Work with the right partners
• Keep it simple

6. Apple

7. Lesson: Learn to embrace
• If you want to differentiate or
innovate, expect to fail
• Make failure OK, and reward risk-takers
• Use failure as a learning tool
• Know when to “shoot it in the head”

8. MIACO

9. Lesson: You must have the
• If you want to get s#*t done, hire well
• Be sure you and your partners agree, then put
it in writing
• It’s not enough that the Captain can clearly
see land, if everyone is rowing in different
directions! (Communicate without constraint)

10. Insession

11. Requisite Technology

12. Intermezzo

13. Solista

14. Beyond Solista
• 2 years in an earn-out (indentured servitude)
• 2 more technology product & service startups
• 6 sell-side acquisitions (not all mine)
• 3 years on the investor side of the table
• 8 years working with CU and social enterprises
a lot more lessons…

15. Key Lessons
• Opposite of secret • Product/market fit
• Business model • Know who you are
• Embrace failure • Banish ambiguity
• Right team • Improve continuously
• Exploit your network
• Communicate
• Build win-win
• Innovate/differentiat partnerships
e • Cover your legal and
• Validate constantly accounting bases

16. Let’s break it down

17. What the NVC judges want
• A great Executive Summary
• A flawless live presentation
• A clear and understandable business concept
• Validation and evidence
• A plausible business model
• A competent and experienced team
• Evidence of strong support for the business

18. Let’s work on it
• Your Executive Summary and Presentation will
be topics of future workshops
• Let’s focus right now on how you
communicate and present your business
concept

19. So…you’ve got a good idea?
Start by being the opposite of secret…
…and be sure to get their perspectives in return!

20. Evidence of PAIN
• Demonstrate that you’ve talked to your target
market
• Demonstrate that you’ve talked to members
of your industry
• Prove:
– The PAIN is known and well understood
– Industry and market AGREE on what the PAIN is

21. Evidence of DEMAND
• Demonstrate that you’ve presented your solution
to your target market
• Demonstrate that you’ve presented your solution
to members of your industry
• Prove:
– The DEMAND for your product is present and
measurable
– The market accepts your solution at your price
delivered the way you expect to deliver it

22. Embody your evidence
• Create a brief PITCH
• Create a succinct ENCAPSULATION
• DISTILL your essence into one word
• Here’s how it looks…

23. The pitch: <=60 seconds
• What you should include:
– Start with a “hook;” capture their attention.
– What are you about? Mission? Objective?
– What’s the BIG DEAL? Exactly what do you do?
– So what? What makes you different? Why should
they care?
– Who’s your target? What problem do you solve?
– Sell yourself – why will you succeed?
– Strong close – leave them with a reason to want
more. (This is a good place for a testimonial).

24. Encapsulate: <=7 words
• Think of this as a 7-word pitch that answers
what you are about.
• If this is all you get to say, what will you leave
them with? What should they think about
you?
• Leave out company name, extraneous details.
• Here’s an example:
“Mobile electronics, proven to simplify your life!”

25. Distill: one word
• What single word captures the absolute
essence of your company?
• Examples:
– Apple “Design.” OR “Innovation.”
– Dell “Efficiency.” OR “Custom.”
– Tiffany “Special.” OR “Luxurious.”
– Prius “Clean.” OR “Thrifty.”
– Hummer “Rugged.” OR “Powerful.”

26. Why is this exercise important?
• Clarity of your mission
• Foundation of your brand/identity
• Demonstration of intent
• Gets your most important conversations started
• Judges need to walk away from your presentation
convinced that you have a great idea and are the
right person (or team) to execute it successfully.

27. You’ve got their attention…
• …Now convince them that you’ve got
something.
• You need to PROVE beyond doubt that you
have identified the PAIN suffered by your
target market…
• …and that you have a solution that your
market will DEMAND.

28. They believe you, but can you
execute?
• How well do you know your competitors?
• How well do you understand HOW customers
buy products like yours?
• How “connected” are you in the industry?
Does your experience align with what you are
intending to do?

29. They believe you, but can you
execute?
• In what stage of development is your product?
• Do you have the right team in place?
• What is your business model and how have
you proven it will work?

30. How will you PROVE your
business will work?
• Best way is to have sold
something…repeatedly.
• Next best is to present evidence that your
target market will buy at the price you want,
once your product is available.
• In both cases, your business model must make
sense.

31. Your business model
• Does your product solve a recognized
problem?
• Will your customers buy it at the price you are
asking?
• Will your competitors recognize that you have
an advantage they don’t?
• Is your marketing crafted in the most effective
way for driving demand from your target
market?

32. Your business model
• Do you have partnerships in place that
support or enhance your product offering?
• Have you proven your business will survive?
• Does your cost structure support immediate
and persistent profits?
• Does your growth plan make sense?
• Will your operations support the business
processes necessary to deliver your product?

33. One last thing…
Jargon:
the dirty little secrets of Geoffrey Moore and
Eric Ries.

34. Applied jargon
• Geoffrey Moore (Technology Adoption Curve)
– Crossing The Chasm (1991)
– Popularized “Chasm,” “Bowling Alley,” “Tornado,”
and “Main Street”
• Everett Rogers (Market Diffusion Theory)
– Diffusion of Innovations (1962)
– Originated “Innovators,” “Early Adopters,” “Early
Majority,” “Late Majority,” and “Laggards”

35. Applied jargon
• Eric Ries (Lean Startup movement)
– The Lean Startup (2011)
– Popularized “Lean startup,” “MVP,” “Customer
Development” and “Pivoting”
• Every successful entrepreneur
– Most entrepreneurial texts
– Popularized “manage cash flow,” “make something
people will buy,” “market testing,” “build on your
successes,” and “fail, fix and try a new approach”

36. Judges hate jargon…
…present your plan in simple terms using plain
English
BTW, don’t use texting abbreviations
And recognize that your customers want plain
simple language as well!

37. Time for questions…
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