This book details the process used by Unicorn Ventures to accelerate its startups. Learn more at www.UnicornVentures.org

1. Startup Accelerator:
In a Book
Michael Herlache MBA
Unicorn Ventures
www.UnicornVentures.org

2. For my wife, Svitlana, whom is my
treasure.

3. About the Author:
Michael Herlache MBA is a Franchise Elite
Account Director at a leading technology
company. He lives in his home in Scottsdale,
Arizona with his wife, Svitlana. Michael has an
MBA in Finance from Texas A&M University and
has a background in financial sales and more
recently, technology sales.

4. Contents
Startup Acceleration Process
Chapter 1: The Startup Acceleration Process
Part I: The Value Concept
Chapter 2: Organization
Chapter 3: Vision, Values & Virtues
Chapter 4: Market Model
Part II: Innovation
Chapter 5: Platform
Part III: Marketing
Chapter 6: Funnel Building
Chapter 7: Funnel Pilot
Part IV: Additional Processes
Chapter 6: Evergreen Content
Chapter 7: Content Distribution
Chapter 8: Domain Authority Process
Chapter 9: Product/Market Fit Test
Chapter 10: List Development & Customer
Interviews
Chapter 11: Customer Development
Chapter 12: Team
Chapter 13: Financing

5. Part V: Objectives, Traction & Metrics
Chapter 14: Objectives, Traction & Metrics

6. Preface
This book was created to detail the startup
acceleration process that Unicorn Ventures
uses to accelerate the next billion-dollar
startups. The course outline that you find
here matches the actual methodology that
Unicorn Ventures utilizes.
Unicorn Ventures is purposefully opening
its methodology to the public in an
attempt to drive the most innovation and
value. The bottom line is we want more
people ideating and starting companies.
When this happens, we are doing our part
to better the world and drive change to
the positive.

7. Please connect with us on Facebook &
Linkedin as we use these platforms to
distribute content and to manage our
acceleration process. Additionally, we have
mentor and funding partners ready to
hear your idea and help you move
forward.

8. Chapter 1: The Startup
Acceleration Process
There is a definite startup acceleration
process that leads to traction in the form
of traffic, users, and ultimately revenue.
This process is known as the Startup
Acceleration Process and it is employed by
Unicorn Ventures in the Unicorn Ventures
Startup Accelerator.
The Business Concept
Peter Drucker wrote that a business (or
startup) only has two real functions;
innovation and marketing. This
understanding helps us to form the
business concept being the bringing of

9. functionality to certain subsets of users
(markets). Our methodology for
accelerating startups acknowledges this
reality.
As such, we have chunked the Startup
Acceleration Process into five manageable
parts. This parts are the following:
Part I: The Value Concept
Part II: Innovation
Part III: Marketing
Part IV: Additional Processes
Part V: Traction & Metrics

10. Part I: The Value Concept
The value concept speaks the concept of
the organization/startup at a theoretical
level. It defines the meaning of the
opportunity and conveys its importance.

11. Chapter 2: Organization
I. Why Organization?
The first key is organizing and foldering
according to a taxonomy of what you will
need to bring your startup forward. One
cannot underestimate the importance of
organization/foldering to structure your
thinking and your process. Use Google
docs to share with your team and create a
parent folder for your portfolio or
individual startup. Within this folder, you
will create subfolders for each stage of the
acceleration process detailed below.

12. II. Organization process
1. Foldering
2. Subfoldering
3. Populating Folders in Order
III. Foldering
Within Google Drive, our foldering mirrors
the startup acceleration process
We have a folder for each step in the
process to ensure that we complete it
IV. Subfoldering
Within each folder there are various
subfolders that will also need to be

13. completed associated with each step in
the startup acceleration process
V. Populating folders in order
Once we have completed the foldering, we
can then proceed forward with the next
steps in the startup acceleration process
which will now include populating the
folders with various content and
deliverables

14. Chapter 3: Vision, Values
& Virtues
I. Why Vision, Values & Virtues?
What will the organization look like when
it is at $100M in revenue? The key here is
to understand exactly what you are
building and work backwards from the
desired end state to tangible actions today
(virtues). We determine exactly what it is
that we want which is called the values
and then determine which virtues you will
need to embody to get you there.

15. Vision, Values & Virtues drives our Market
Model ($100M math), which drives our
Platform Model (Customized
functionality), which drives our Sales
Model (SS, Transactional, Complex)
II. Vision, Values & Virtues process
1. Vision
2. Values
3. Virtues
III. Vision
The end state of what the company looks
like when it hits the value of the company
that you would like

16. IV. Values
$100M revenue company
$1bn TEV company
V. Virtues
How to get there
1. Functionality
2. Client list
3. Workforce size
4. Social media numbers

17. Chapter 4: Market Model
I. Why market model?
Based upon the nature of the startup, that
is going to determine the market model
necessary to get to $100M in annual
revenue and a $1bn valuation. The market
method is going to determine the primary
method for acquiring users and customers.
II. Market model process
1. Market Model Math
2. Impact on Platform Structure
3. Impact on Sales Structure

18. 4. Impact on Customer Acquisition
Costs (CAC)
III. Market model math
1. Enterprise – 1,000 @ $100,000 per
year
2. Mid Market – 10,000 @ $10,000 per
year
3. SMB – 100,000 @ $1,000 per year
4. Professional Consumers – 1M @
$100 per year
5. Consumers – 10M @ $10 per year
IV. Impact on platform structure
1. Enterprise – Highest custom mods &
solutions

19. 2. Mid Market – High custom mods &
solutions
3. SMB – Moderate custom mods &
solutions
4. Professional Consumers – Low
custom mods & solutions
5. Consumers – Lowest custom mods &
solutions
V. Impact on sales structure
1. Enterprise – Complex Sales
2. Mid Market – Complex Sale
3. SMB – Rep Assisted Self Service
Transactional Sale Clearinghouse
4. Professional Consumers – Rep
Assisted Self Service Transactional
Sale

20. 5. Consumers – Self Service
V. Impact on Customer acquisition cost
(CAC)
1. Enterprise – Highest CAC
2. Mid Market – High CAC
3. SMB – Moderate CAC
4. Professional Consumers – Low CAC
5. Consumers – Lowest CAC

21. Part II: Innovation
The second part of the Startup
Acceleration Process is innovation. This
speaks to the functionality that we will be
commercializing.

22. Chapter 5: Platform
I. Why Platform?
The features that you need in your MVP
are most likely already built in a
Wordpress plugin. Don't waste thousands
of dollars and weeks and months on your
MVP. It allows you to test assumptions
and find product market fit with your
solution. The platform should be built
using lean principles. One does not need
to reinvent the wheel to get to an MVP
and cost is the primary factor here. That is
why we utilize a white label strategy with a
wordpress theme. It is likely that your

23. solution already exists in a Wordpress
theme or plugin. Start with just a website
in your MVP stage and don't worry about
an app. The cheaper and sooner you can
get to an MVP, the better off you will be.
II. Platform process
1. White Label Theme
2. Custom Mods
3. Functionality Timeline
4. Custom Platform
III. White label theme
● Using an existing Wordpress theme
to get started
● Customizing the theme

24. ● Base level functionality
IV. Custom mods
Custom mods/plugins built into the
platform for unique or differentiated
functionality
V. Functionality timeline
1. White label theme
2. Custom mods
3. Custom platform
V. Custom platform
As you grow and garner additional
investment, you can look to create a
custom platform

25. Part III: Marketing
The third part of the Startup Acceleration
Process involves funnel building and
piloting. Keep in mind there are three
parts to a funnel and we need to respect
the order and process.

26. Chapter 6: Funnel
Building
I. Why Building the Funnel?
1. Funnel Building Methodology
Funnel building is marketing in the 21st
century. It involves building a top,
middle and bottom part of the funnel
to drive traction and ultimately revenue.
Many startups don’t realize that you
need to build out the top of the funnel
first in order to be able to mode the
account through mid funnel and finally
to the bottom of the funnel. Clearly

27. revenue is the ultimate goal but we
should not put the cart before the horse
by focusing on revenue initially. A
startup needs to take the time, energy
and resources to build out the top of
the funnel.
The bottom line is that there is an order
to funnel building and you cannot build
the bottom of the funnel before the
mid funnel and you cannot build the
mid funnel before you build the top of
the funnel.
2. Top of the Funnel
Top of the funnel refers to activities
used to generate brand awareness and

28. interest in the form of page follows,
group invites and ultimately group
members.
3. Mid Funnel
Mid funnel refers the content drip strategy
employed to generate approximately 14 to
16 touchpoints with your content. This
moves the potential user from unaware to
aware to interested to primed.
4. Bottom of the Funnel
Bottom of the funnel refers to the
activities related to moving someone from
mid funnel into a lead and driving them to
a landing page optimized for conversion.

29. This means we are really tracking leads,
offers made, and sales.
II. Top of the Funnel
1. Top of the Funnel Methodology
2. Ads
3. Page likes
4. Group invites
5. Group members
6. Top of the Funnel Metrics
III. Mid Funnel
1. Mid Funnel methodology
2. 14 to 16 Touchpoints
3. Mid Funnel metrics
IV. Bottom of the Funnel
1. Bottom of Funnel methodology

30. 2. Leads
3. Offers made
4. Sales
5. Bottom of the Funnel metrics

31. Chapter 6: The Funnel
Pilot
The funnel pilot is describes running the
funnel process in its entirety via
advertising on different platforms such as
Facebook and Linkedin.

32. Part IV: Additional
Processes
The fourth step describes additional
processes in the Startup Acceleration
Process.

33. Chapter 6: Evergreen
Content
I. Why Evergreen Content?
Now that we know we have something of
value for the consumer, we can now create
the content that will make up the offer
that we use for our list building. Content
creation starts with analyzing the
keywords that people are searching for.
This is going to tell us the main value
themes associated with our startup. Create
3 to 5 evergreen pieces of content as blog
post tutorials. Evergreen content is

34. content that doesn't lose value and
actually generates more and more traffic
over time. This can be a how to, a list, a
problem solved. Once this evergreen
content is created it can be turned into an
infographic.
II. Evergreen Content Process
Copywriting
Methodology
Infographic
Blog Posts
III. Copywriting
Using the copywriting template
Basis for marketing material

35. IV. Methodology
Methodology consistent with the problem
we are solving using our platform
V. Infographic
In order to package the methodology or
copywriting, we put it into an infographic
for distribution
V. Blog Posts
Turning our copywriting into blog posts
that will be used for SEO and social media
purposes.

36. Chapter 7: Content
Distribution
I. Why Content Distribution?
We are trying to increase our domain
authority to get more free traffic from
Google and other sources. We do so by
taking our content and distributing it into
different platforms. Social media is really
just list building and content distribution
platforms so use them as such.

37. II. Content Distribution process
Email
Social Media
Sales Force
III. Email
Market model database
Beginning a conversation; opening a sales
cycle
IV. Social Media
Linkedin connections, page, and group
Facebook connections, page, and group
Youtube page

38. Twitter connections
V. Sales Force
Emails vs. open calls
Friending & connecting on social media
Invites to page, group

39. Chapter 8: Domain
Authority Process
I. Why Domain Authority?
Domain authority is scored on a scale of 1
to 100 (1 being the worst, 100 being the
best) using an algorithm designed by Moz.
Domain authority between 40 and 50 is
considered average, between 50 and 60 is
considered good and over 60 is
considered excellent.

40. The key is going to be to become an
authority within your niche. This can only
be done by creating great content and
engaging with your followers and
consumers on social media.
II. Domain authority process
Platform
Evergreen Content
SEO
III. Platform
Platform up and running on domain with
content customized
IV. Evergreen content

41. Copywriting and content populated on
site and backlinks to it
V. SEO
Backlinks
Paid
Timeline

42. Chapter 9:
Product/Market Fit Test
I. Why Product/Market Fit Test?
Product/market fit as a process
Throughout the entire funnel
Platform
Establishing durable conversion rates
II. Product/Market Fit test process
Funnel
Platform

43. Word of Mouth
III. Funnel
Funnel testing
Value proposition
Conversion rates (durable)
IV. Platform
Traffic to users conversion rates
Users to paying users conversion rates
V. Word of Mouth
Designing the platform to facilitate invites
Traffic invite signups

44. Chapter 10: List
Development &
Customer Interviews
I. Why List Development & Customer
Interviews?
List development and customer interviews
are the real work of marketing. This
includes the collecting of emails and
contact information as well as the
conversation with the DMs to discuss
needs and GAPs.

45. This gives us knowledge to test our value
hypothesis
II. List Development & Customer Interview
process
Content Distribution
Funnel
CPC & Social Ads
Customer Interview
II. Content distribution
Email outreach to give value in the form of
content and begin conversation
Blog & SEO to pull into the funnel

46. Social Media to have a dialogue and bring
people into the funnel
III. Funnel for List Development
Click funnel – Prebuilt software to
optimize for conversion
Wordpress funnel – Platform that can
utilize themes and plugins to create a
funnel
Capturing emails and contact information
in order to follow up and have a
conversation
First list will be social media followers
interested in connecting with you on
Facebook, Linkedin, Twitter
Content drip & conversation with
followers to do customer interviews. They

47. goal is to use social media to create
marketing assets; a page with 100k
followers, a linked group with 10k
members, and 1k true fans that will pay for
whatever you create.
IV. CPC & Social Ads
CPC driven to funnel to optimize for
transactionality
Social ads driven to funnel
Emphasis is conversion and ROI
V. Customer interview
Conversations with target clients
discussing their needs and what they are
looking for

48. Looking for GAPs

49. Chapter 11: Customer
Development
I. Why Customer development?
Customer development takes the list that
you have built in social media and emails
and then attempts to convert these
followers into users and then paying
customers. This is accomplished via a
content drip process on the platform and
direct messaging to introduce yourself.
Customer development mirrors the buying
process.

50. II. Customer development process
1. Latent Need
2. Need Conceptualization &
Verbalizing
3. Solution Conceptualization &
Verbalizing
4. Commitment
III. Latent need
Only a small percentage of a target market
is currently in the conceptualized need
phase of the buying process. This means
that most of the target market is unaware
of their current need
We need to drip content and through the
questioning process to develop the need

51. IV. Need Conceptualization & Verbalizing
The next phase of the buying process is
need conceptualization which means that
the individual has moved from a latent
need to identifying a pain point or
problem and has developed it into a
concept
This is where we directly question to get
the DM to admit that they have a problem
or gap that they are experiencing
V. Solution Conceptualization &
Verbalizing
This is the next phase where we have
transitioned from the conceptualized need
to a conceptualized solution co-created
along with the DM
VI. Commitment

52. Once we have confirmed that our solution
is a fit to close the verbalized gap, we can
then recommend getting started

53. Chapter 12: Team
I. Why Team?
Building the minimum viable team
Team scales up with progress on the
startup
Look for capabilities to match the startup
acceleration process
II. Team Process
1. Founder
2. Technical Co-Founder
3. Community Manager/AE

54. 4. Gig-Based Freelancers
III. Founder
Founder should be an expert in the startup
acceleration process
Technical skills (Technical Co-Founder
skills)
Marketing skills (Community Manager/AE
skills)
IV. Technical Co-Founder
Capabilities should match functionality
phases of the startup
Wordpress
Custom built platform

55. V. Community Manager/AE
List-building, customer interview &
customer development skills
VI. Gig-Based Freelancers
Filling the GAPs
Outsourcing the non-essentials

56. Chapter 13: Financing
I. Why Financing?
Financing to match the sources of capital
to the uses of capital
First priority is learning in a Pre-Seed
Accelerator
Bootstrapping for as long as possible
Getting to CF+ puts you in a power
position
II. Financing Process
1. Pre-Seed Accelerator

57. 2. Job/Career
3. Seed Accelerator
4. Venture Capital
5. Private Equity/Strategic
III. Pre-Seed Accelerator
i.e. Unicorn Ventures
Digital acceleration to get to MVP,
evergreen content, content distribution,
SEO/PR and list-building.
IV. Job/Career
$10k to $50k in list building through FB
ads to build list via likes/follows on page
and perform content drip to facilitate
customer development.

58. V. Seed Accelerator
$50k to $100k to validate yourself to next
round of VCs and build relationships with
local or regional VCs that will provide your
Series A round.
VI. Venture Capital
$2M-10M to focus on driving ads to
website to get users and revenue. Unit
economics begins to kick in and cash flow
positive.
VII. Private Equity/Strategic
$10M+ to allow the founder(s) liquidity.
May not involve the reinvestment

59. assumption allowing the founder to make
an exit.

60. Part V: Objectives,
Traction & Metrics
The fifth step describes the traction &
metrics in the Startup Acceleration
Process.

61. Chapter 14: Objectives,
Traction & Metrics
I. Why Traction & Metrics?
We use traction and metrics to reverse
engineer from our desired end state from
the Vision, Values & Virtues step. The
metrics have a flow and order to them to
coincide with where they are in the startup
acceleration process.
The main metrics we will be tracking are:
1. Platform metrics

62. 2. Funnel metrics
II. Traction & Metrics Process
1. Current
2. Goal
a. 1M page followers
b. 1M group members (viral FB
group after 1k group members
added via invites ex. Nigeria)
c. 100k monthly website uniques
(10% of group members)
d. 100k emails captured/users
e. 10k true fans (10% of monthly
website uniques) meaning
those that are willing to pay
based upon market model type
aka paying users

63. 3. Gap
4. Time to close gap at pacing
5. Resources necessary to close gap
III. Followers
IV. Group Members
V. Users
VI. Paying Users