Webinar Videos

 

The Worksheet videos for 2017 will be published in advance of each webinar.

Subtitles are also added to each worksheet video shortly after initial posting. To enable subtitles (Closed Caption) click CC at the foot of each video.

The Worksheets are the first of the three deliverables required from semifinalists. (The other two are the executive summary and your investor presentation).

 

 

Videos 9 & 10: Executive Summary and Investor Presentation (Webinars 13A/13B)

Below are the background videos on the Executive Summary and Investor Presentation that relate to session 13 on Thursday, August 17th, 2017.

 

 

 

Video 8: Sustainability (For Webinars 12A & 12B)

Please watch the video below before the webinar on Wednesday, 16 August, 2017.

 

 

Video 7: Team (For Webinars 10A & 10B)

In preparation, please watch the seventh video before the webinar on Thursday August 10th 2017.

• Develop your theoretical answers to the questions, then test them with your validated subsegment. Don’t get too deeply into this process until you have a validated subsegment.
• You have completed this worksheet once you have concisely and completely answered the questions below, within the character limits, for your validated subsegment.
• Briefly describe the background and skill sets of each team member and why those skills are critical to the company’s success in the next 18 months.
• What skills are missing from your current team to achieve your 18-month milestones successfully?
• How will you fill those gaps? Advisors? Consultants? New employees?

 

Video 6: Legal – An Introduction (For Webinars 8A/8B & 9A/9B)

In preparation, please watch the sixth video before the webinar on Wednesday August 2nd, 2017.

 

• You have completed this worksheet once you have concisely and completely answered the questions below, within the character limits, for your validated subsegment.
• What is your legal (corporate) structure (e.g. C Corp, S Corp, LLC)?
• Are you aware of any corporate or equity structural issues that could be a problem down the road? How will you address them?
• Is your IP owned by you? If not, do you have a(n exclusive) license for your IP?
• Is your IP defensible?
• What patent landscape analysis or prior art search have you done or had done?
• What patents, if any, have you applied for?
• Does your IP help give you a sustainable competitive advantage, such as higher prices, ability to capture market share rapidly or lower costs or all, of the above?
• Tell us what your IP strategy is going forward?

 

Video 5: Finances and Funding (For Webinars 6A/6B & 7A/7B)

In preparation, please watch the fifth video (finances and funding) before the webinar on Wednesday 26th July 2017

• Start your first draft projections early, but don’t get too deeply into this process until you have a validated subsegment.
• You have completed this worksheet once you have concisely and completely answered the questions below, within the character limits, for your validated subsegment, and uploaded your financial projection spreadsheet in pdf format. Note that you only need answer the relevant questions.
  • Interview professionals familiar with the manufactured or final cost of the product/technology, or products similar to yours and record a validated Cost of Goods Sold (COGS) for your product, according to volume, as necessary. Make sure you capture all hidden costs in your selected channel.
  • Describe the milestones you must hit in the next 18 months and estimate the funds you will require to reach them. Try using TRLs and MRLs to define your development milestones.
  • Tell us where you will most likely be able to raise such funds. (Government grants? Friends and Family? Angel investors? Seed investors? Venture Capital investors?)
• For your financial projection, use the work you’ve completed above and in previous worksheets:
  • Use your work in Worksheet 2 (Product Market Fit) to project first-year revenues for your validated targeted subsegment. Subsequent years might reflect second and third target subsegment revenues, if you have sufficiently penetrated the first subsegment by then. Make sure your assumptions are credibly based on your validation interviews.
  • Use your customer acquisition cost in Worksheet 3 (Markets and Getting to Them) to project marketing and sales costs in the P&L.
  • Make sure your assumptions reflect industry benchmarks – or that you can explain why not, if not.

• Create a three-year financial projection based on this model or a similar one of your own (with formulae, not fixed values) that you bring to the finances and funding session in your Business Clinics. You should develop your best guess scenario, with assumptions.
• At least a week before the submission deadline, run a test: export a version of your spreadsheet, convert to pdf, and upload using the button below. If you’re not familiar with pdf creation, ask for help well in advance.
• You can upload as many subsequent versions as you like; a new upload will overwrite the previous one.
• You are done with Worksheet 5 when you’ve imported a ‘final’ three-year projection pdf.

Additional Notes

to create a single pdf (even if you have multiple tabs) in Excel:

Windows: Save As …, select ‘Format’ PDF, select ‘Options’, then select ‘Entire Workbook’ – this will create a pdf for all your tabs.

Mac: Print, then select ‘Entire Workbook’ and print to pdf.

 

 

Video 4: Product/Technology Validation (For webinars 5A & 5B)

• Please watch the fourth video (Product/Technology Validation) before the webinar on Thursday 20th July 2017

 

• Develop your theoretical answers to the questions, then test them with your validated subsegment. Don’t get too deeply into this process until you have a validated subsegment.
• You have completed this worksheet once you have concisely and completely answered the questions below, within the character limits, for your validated subsegment, and uploaded a testimonial pdf, if you have technology-related testimonials to share. Note that you only need answer the relevant questions (for example, skip questions related to manufacture if irrelevant).

• State clearly where in the development cycle the product is?
  • Use DOD/DOE TRLs/MRLs to designate the stage of development.
  • Tell us whether an initial prototype or full scale prototype has been successfully developed?
  • Do you have any initial users/field installations?
  • Is the product ready for manufacture?
• Has the product (as distinct from the technology) been validated by any third parties (e.g. national labs, universities, research institutions or certification organizations)? If so, and if relevant, provide written technology-related testimonials and concise evidence from credible sources that your product design can work. Please upload a pdf with any technology testimonials (one to three pages maximum).
• If you’re ready, or nearly ready, for manufacture at scale, provide clear evidence or an industry third-party testimonial that there are no residual technical issues to be resolved and that you have credibly costed the manufacture.

 

Video 3: Market(s) and Getting to Them (For webinars 4A & 4B)

Please watch the third video before the webinar on Wednesday 19th July 2017.

 

Market(s) and Getting to Them

• Develop your theoretical answers to the questions, then test them with your validated subsegment. Don’t get too deeply into this process until you have a validated subsegment.
• You have completed this worksheet once you have concisely and completely answered the questions below, within the character limits, for your validated subsegment:
• What is your go-to-market strategy? Apply what have you learned about your validated customer subsegment’s buying process – how they will learn about your product, how they will assess your product, their purchasing cycle, all the people involved in the purchase decision and all the leverage points in that process in which you can affect their purchase decision. {I’d like to delete or amalgamate this question – it’s too close to the sales model question below}.
• After your initial sales (which you will make directly), describe which channels you will use to reach other customers in the subsegment? Direct sales? Independent sales reps? Systems Integrators? Wholesalers or distributors? Dealers or resellers? Original Equipment Manufacturers (OEMs)? Does your customer segment already buy other product through channels you could leverage?
• Show that you have validated the chosen channel by talking to key people. Show that the partners you have approached represent a profitable and willing route to the end user.
• Explain whether you have also investigated partnering with companies that currently sell related products to the same customer.
• Specify the the second, third, (and fourth) most promising subsegments that are adjacent to – share some characteristics with –your target segment such that you can sell to them with only moderate tailoring of your go-to-market strategy. These segments together should represent your SAM.
• Show that you have developed a repeatable sales model to ramp your sales from a few to many? Show that you know all the players in each company involved in the purchase decision. Who holds the purse strings? How many sales calls/visits are needed to make one sale? How long does an average sale take from beginning to end?
• Do you know how you will keep and grow customers?
• Do you know what at your customer acquisition cost will be? What resources (financial or otherwise) will you have to allocate to acquire additional customers?

 

 

Video 2: Product/Market Fit (for Webinar 3A/3B)

Please watch the second video before webinar 3A/3B on Thursday 13 July 2017.

 

Product/Market Fit (Customer Discovery)

• Brainstorm several possible customer segments or industries including the “long shots” with potential customers in those segments. Test those segments to see if they have the problem your product/technology addresses. Ideally you’re looking for your first million-dollars in revenue within a year.

• You have completed this worksheet once you have concisely and completely answered the questions below for your validated subsegment.

o Specify the validated market subsegment you have identified, in which the customers buy similar products, have a similar sales cycle, look for a similar value proposition and reference each other.

o Identify specifically the pain your technology addresses/problem it solves: a monetizable, “shark bite”, “hair on fire” pain or problem validated by your interviews.

o In your value proposition, describe your product briefly and how it addresses that pain or problem, excites the customer, taps an urgent need and will have a big impact on their business. Quantify the impact, if possible. (This value proposition should get prospective customers to return your cold call).

o Describe the minimum feature set that your customer has clearly indicated in interviews they want more than other features. What will they pay for this Minimum Viable Product as the first release?

o What’s your revenue model? Will you (a) sell a product or service or lease or (b) sell subscriptions or (c) license the technology or product.

o How will you price the product? Does your pricing model take into account competitive pricing, manufacturing costs, product value and “how much the market will bear”?

o Are you creating a new market, or have you found a niche in an existing market that you can dominate? If you’re in a well-established market, what is your competitive advantage in your subsegment that drives a customer’s purchase decision and against entrenched competitors or suppliers of an alternative solution?

o Estimate the size of your target customer subsegment (NOT THE TAM OR SAM) and calculate the $ size of that segment, using your validated revenue model and pricing structure.

o Provide some evidence or insights that show whether or not your target subsegment represents your first million-dollar market within a year?

o If you win this subsegment, describe how you can leverage it to enter adjacent markets with only slight modification to the product or your sales strategy.

o Show you thoroughly understand your customer end users, their persona, how they will use your product.

o In the target segment, have you sold “earlyvangelists” who have bought into your vision and provide references/testimonials, or pilot customers who will collaborate with you to define the Minimum Viable Product.

 

Video 1: A Recap of the Business Model Canvas & An Introduction to Validation(For Webinar 2A/2B)

Please watch this video before webinar 2A/2B on Wednesday 12th July 2017.

 

 

Business Model Canvas

• • • Get out and test your theories: vigorously hunt down exactly the right individuals and companies in your proposed ‘value chain’. You can hypothesize, but only your customers and partners and vendors can validate.
    • Refer to these materials frequently as you complete and revise your hypotheses on the Business Model Canvas.
    • You can upload interim versions of your canvas all the way up to the final submission deadline, but you’ll make your life easier if you upload to this worksheet only after you complete validation.
    • At least a week before the submission deadline, run a test: export a version of your canvas and convert to pdf, and upload.
    • If you’re not familiar with pdf creation, ask for help well in advance.
    • You can upload as many subsequent versions as you like; a new upload will overwrite the previous one.
    • You are done with Worksheet 1 when you’ve imported a ‘final’ Business Model Canvas pdf with all ten* hypotheses tested and validated.

* Use the customer relationships section to record the potential size of your initial market subsegment, the ‘tenth’ section of the Business Model Canvas.

Business Model Canvas Judging Criteria

• • How clearly understood and articulated is the business model?
  • Has the team interviewed enough and all types of players in their entire value chain to convince that they have thoroughly validated and de-risked their business model?