Curriculum

Fall 2010 Singapore

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

Startup Basics and Orientation

May 27, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Understand the program and startup life.

What do you need to know to be successful in the Founder Institute? What can you expect from launching a startup? What traits are required to be successful?

Vision and Values

May 28, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Develop your vision and idea.

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?

Startup Research

May 29, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Identify your target market.

What market are you pursuing? Is the target market 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, such as surveys? How can you determine if you can win in your target market, and when do you decide to walk away?

Naming and Branding

June 05, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Name and brand your business.

Michael Eisner once said "A brand is a living entity - and it is enriched or undermined cumulatively over time, the product of a thousand small gestures.” In other words, great brands are grounded in a central differentiating principle that drives everything great businesses do. For many of you, that thought may well be in place. For others, that thought will need work. We're here to help you with that. The purpose of this session will be to refine your central brand idea and turn it into a more executable brand concept. You'll walk away with a name and a plan for how you intend to bring your brand to life in a way that positions it more competitively in the marketplace. Along the way, we'll provide tools, expertise and exercises to help make that happen.

Mentor Idea Review

June 12, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Review your idea with Mentors.

Can your idea survive the scrutiny of seasoned CEOs? How can the idea be refined? What elements are missing from your idea? How can you improve the way that you describe your idea?

Revenues, Costs and Profits

June 26, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Determine your business model.

How does your business make and spend money? What is the best mix of revenues, or is one revenue stream the right approach? How do you build a realistic financial model? How do you create realistic assumptions for your model? What are ways to check that your assumptions are right? How do you know if your business model is viable?

Hiring, Firing and Cofounders

June 27, 2012, at 07:00 PM: How to find the best people.

What are the right mix of skills that you need to launch a world-class technology company? Should you be looking for cofounders, team members, freelancers or interns? When should you plan to bring on people to help? How do you recruit and interview to find the best resources? What are the compensation guidelines in the beginning for cofounders and other various roles? How do you set expectations, measure results and remove or fire under performing resources?

Startup Legal, Incorporation & Intellectual Property

July 03, 2012, at 07:00 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? What is the intellectual property of your business? What types of protections are available, and what are the costs? How do you manage your intellectual property using confidentiality, copyrights, and patents? What can and what should you do on your own, and what do you need a lawyer for? What are common intellectual property problems, and how do you deal with them cost effectively?

Product and Service Development

July 17, 2012, at 07:00 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?

Outsourcing, Partners and Suppliers

July 18, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Select key vendors.

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

Marketing and Sales

July 24, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Create a message that resonates.

Who are your customers? What audience are you trying to reach? How do you tell the story of your company? How do you create the right messages? What are the best tactics for your outreach: publicity, guerrilla marketing, advertising? How much should you spend on outreach? How do you measure success?

Presentation and Publicity

July 31, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Prepare for publicity.

How do you get the world to take notice of your company? What are tips and tricks to present your business? What tools do you need to succeed with outreach? How do you identify newsworthy milestones? How do you craft a successful media release? What are effective tactics to get social media, the blogosphere and traditional media to take notice? What are common media mistakes for new companies?

New Markets Entry

August 07, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Plan your entry to foreign markets

Where are your markets if not local? Is the new foreign market big enough? Is it growing or shrinking? What are the characteristics of the new market and why do you care? How can you determine if you can win in your new market and how to tactically execute to win your first customer? What are the networks and partners needed to dominate the new market? Markets targeted are: China, Indonesia and the USA

Fundraising

August 14, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Plan to raise your first round.

When is it realistic to raise capital for a brand new company? How should you calculate the amount of money to raise? How should you define the use use of proceeds? What materials are required to fundraise? How do you identify and qualify target angel and seed stage investors? How do you find a lead investor? What do investors expect from the company? What are typical investment structures and deal terms for seed-stage financing? How do you negotiate terms?

Graduation

August 16, 2012, at 07:00 PM: Prepare to succeed after the Institute.

How do you ensure success after Graduation? Who will lead the alumni community, and what are the plans following graduation? The Graduation is the beginning of an exciting period for Founders, where an idea becomes reality. Congratulations!