Curriculum

Fall 2009 San Diego / Orange County

The Founder Institute offers a weekly curriculum of company-building sessions designed to help entrepreneurs think through every aspect of their business, from the core idea to the revenue model. Each weekly session is lead by three startup CEO Mentors, who share their unique and often differing opinions on the topic, and provide our founders with expert feedback and advice. Participating Founders are given assignments to build key aspects of their companies between the sessions that are completed in Working Groups with their peers.

Program Sessions

Your Vision and Idea Types

November 03, 2009, at 06:00 PM: Develop ideas for your business.

What are you passionate about? What is your vision? How do you translate passion and vision into a business idea? How do you brainstorm ideas? What are tools for evaluating your ideas? What are the makings of a good idea versus a bad idea? Should you pursue multiple ideas at once, and when should you focus on one?

Basic Research

November 10, 2009, at 06:00 PM: Validate your idea and target market.

What market are you pursuing? Is it big enough? Is it growing or shrinking? What are the other characteristics of your market, and why do you care? How do you find data on your market? How do you define your competitors? What are inexpensive tactics to do custom market research? How can you determine if you can win in your target market, and when do you decide to walk away?

Naming and Branding

November 17, 2009, at 06:00 PM: Name and brand your business.

What is a brand? Is it you? Is it your vision? How do you determine what you stand for, and then how do you come up with a good company name? What are the characteristics of a good company name? What do you need to do to protect your name?

Company Roadmap

December 01, 2009, at 06:00 PM: Develop a plan to build your idea.

How do you get from an idea to an offering? How do you build an offering? What tactics should you use to ensure success? What is the plan to develop your offering? What are tips and tricks to make that plan accurate? What are common mistakes that every founder makes? What are the best practices? How do you navigate competition, and how do you win?

Earning Revenue (Investor Session)

December 07, 2009, at 06:00 PM: Build a revenue model for your business.

Investor Session: How do you get revenue, grow revenue, and track revenue? How do you scale your business from the first dollar earned to the millionth? How important is early revenue versus long-term potential? What are symmetrical versus asymmetrical models, and which type of model holds the most promise for your business? What are the various routes to market that you can take? How do you set your revenue goals, and how do you go about meeting them?

Hiring and Firing

December 15, 2009, at 06:00 PM: Implement hiring policies and practices.

Do you need a cofounder? How do you find and choose a cofounder? What employees do you need, and when do you need them? How do you hire and fire employees? What are important qualities to look for in employees? How do you decipher a resume? What are compensation guidelines? How do you set expectations? When is it easiest and hardest to find the best resources, and why?

Startup Legal and Incorporation

January 05, 2010, at 06:00 PM: Build a legal strategy and incorporate.

Why incorporate? What are the basic legal concepts that you need to know to run a successful company? What are the key legal terms that you need to care about in contracts, with your team, and with your Board? What are common legal mistakes in startups? What are the key legal documents that a startup needs to operate? When do you need to use a lawyer, and when can you handle things on your own? How do you manage a law firm efficiently to get the best work?

Intellectual Property

January 12, 2010, at 06:00 PM: File your provisional patents.

How do you manage your intellectual property using confidentiality, copyrights, and patents? What is the intellectual property of your business? What types of protections are available, and what are the costs? How do you file a patent quickly, cheaply, and with the necessary protections? What can you do on your own, and what do you need an attorney for? How do you pick the right attorney? How much does protecting your intellectual property cost, and why should you do it?

Partners & Suppliers Sponsored by Microsoft

January 19, 2010, at 06:00 PM: Select key vendors.

What is the core competency of your team, and what should it to be? What should you keep in house and what should you outsource? What vendors do you need? How do you select the best vendors for your business on the best terms? What guidelines should you use? How do you evaluate the economics? What are some horror stories to avoid?

Founder Institute Working Session

January 26, 2010, at 06:30 PM: Refine business & revenue models

Founders will be pitching to 4 different mentors. Mentors will provide feedback so founders can refine their business & revenue model. Putting it all together: What is the story of your company and your offering? How do you sell that story? Who are you trying to reach with the story? Do you solve a problem, create controversy, offer something new? Are you a pain killer or a vitamin? What is your brand? What are the best tactics for your outreach and traction: publicity, guerilla marketing, advertising? How do you measure the success of your efforts and your spending?

Marketing and Publicity

February 02, 2010, at 06:00 PM: Create a marketing and publicity plan.

What is the story of your company and your offering? How do you sell that story? Who are you trying to reach with the story? Do you solve a problem, create controversy, offer something new? Are you a pain killer or a vitamin? What is your brand? What are the best tactics for your outreach: publicity, guerilla marketing, advertising? How do you measure the success of your efforts and your spending?

Presentation

February 09, 2010, at 06:00 PM: Create a perfect pitchdeck.

How do you present your business to target partners and investors? What are the tricks to captivate and retain attention? What makes for a great presentation, and what makes for a bad one? How do you convey enthusiasm, conviction, and success? How do your meeting reflect on your company culture? How can you innovate in your meetings to reflect your culture and be more productive?

The Funding Lifecycle

February 16, 2010, at 06:00 PM: Create a funding plan with targets.

How does startup funding work? When can my company raise capital, and what are the stages in a typical funding lifecycle? What are the milestones and expectations? How much money should I raise, and how long should that money last? How does one begin the fundraising process? What are some tips and tricks to succeed?

Graduation

February 23, 2010, at 06:00 PM: Time to celebrate!

The Graduation is the beginning of an exciting period for Founders, where the seed of an idea becomes reality. Graduating Founders are invited to bring one guest of their choosing to the session and to the after party. The Institute will continue to provide office hours, add special service provider deals, assist with fundraising, and give guidance on publicity and launch strategies for Graduated Founders.