Curriculum

Fall 2010 Paris

Le Founder Institute consiste en une série de sessions hebdomadaires d'aide à la création de startups. Elles ont été concues pour aider les entrepreneurs à prendre en compte et à travailler tous les aspects de leur projet, de l'idée initiale jusqu'aux modèles de revenus et de financements. Chaque session est conduite par trois Mentors CEOs, qui partagent leurs expériences sur le sujet, souvent uniques et parfois même contradictoires. Les Fondateurs participants doivent également accomplir des travaux et des activités en groupe entre chaque session pour faire avancer la mise en place de leur société.

Toutes les sessions ont lieu le soir apres les heures habituelles de travail.

Program Sessions

Startup Prep

September 21, 2010, at 06:30 PM: Welcome to Startup life.

An overview of the Startup life from the perspective of a both US and local Mentors.

French Legal

September 28, 2010, at 06:30 PM: Prepare to incorporate.

Review the necessary steps to incorporate your business during the program so that you are prepared when the time is right.

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Final Admissions Deadline on October 03, 2010

Vision and Values

October 12, 2010, at 06:30 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

October 19, 2010, at 06:30 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?

Public Grants and OSEO Funds

November 02, 2010, at 06:30 PM: Understand French public grants

This session discusses specific French programs from the government and other public entities and help you navigate through the more than 30 different programs targeted at starting a company in France.

Naming and Branding

November 09, 2010, at 06:30 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?

Revenues, Costs and Profits

November 16, 2010, at 06:30 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?

Outsourcing, Partners and Suppliers

November 23, 2010, at 06:30 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?

Hiring, Firing and Cofounders

November 30, 2010, at 06:30 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?

Product and Service Development

December 07, 2010, at 06:30 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?

Startup Legal and Incorporation

December 13, 2010, at 06:30 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 11, 2011, at 06:30 PM: File your provisional patents.

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?

Marketing and Sales

January 18, 2011, at 06:30 PM: Identify and convey your positioning.

How do you portray yourself and your business to the world? How do you tell the story of your company? How do you define your ultimate success? How do you attract the first customers and partners to your vision? How do you involve your customers and partners in your success? What are techniques to refine your messaging?

Presentation and Publicity

January 25, 2011, at 06:30 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?

Fundraising

February 01, 2011, at 06:30 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

February 08, 2011, at 06:30 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!