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Advice for Corporate Accelerator Mentors

This was a workshop done for the DBS Hotspot Accelerator program. The intent is to provide guardrails for new accelerator mentors who may have never mentored start-up teams and want to learn from all my many mistakes.

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Advice for Corporate Accelerator Mentors

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  1. BEING AN ACCELERATOR MENTOR TIPS AND TRICKS FROM MANY MISTAKES

  2. PART ONE AN INTRODUCTION TO START-UP ACCELERATOR MENTORSHIP

  3. ACTIVITY ONE WHY ARE MENTORS SO IMPORTANT IN AN ACCELERATOR PROGRAM? Individually, in 3 minutes, and without talking to others, write down as many benefits of advisors as you can on post-its. ONE IDEA PER POST-IT PLEASE

  4. ACTIVITY TWO SHARING UNIQUE IDEAS Let’s go one by one through our lists. First person posts post-its to the wall and explains. If you have the same idea, bin your post-it. Let’s keep posting until we have all the unique ideas

  5. BIG IDEA • MENTORS ARE KEY • Teams need someone who…. • is practical and results focused • has an experience earned gut-feel of what is right • will smack them around when needed • can bring domain expertise and industry contacts • will be there when they need you (within reason)

  6. ACTIVITY THREE KNOWING YOURSELF Each of you tape some flip chart paper to the wall & use post-its to fill out this grid. 20 minutes then we discuss a few MY STRENGTHS AS A MENTOR MY WEAKNESSES AS A MENTOR What “I” want out of this program xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx xxxxxxxxxx

  7. PART TWO USING THE 7V FRAMEWORK TO QUICKLY IDENTIFY PROBLEM AREAS

  8. Q: What is a value proposition?

  9. The value that your product has for your customer! NOPE!!! Fine for marketing class, but not sufficient

  10. URGENT INTENSE

  11. YES! MAYBE! URGENT NO! INTENSE

  12. START WITH TOP DOWN women women who like nerds Women who like me

  13. START WITH TOP DOWN TOTAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET TOTAL SEGMENT SIZE TOTAL SHARE

  14. SANITY CHECK WITH BOTTOM UP • Customers I have capacity to sell & deliver to

  15. 1TO1 MAP PAIN POINTS TO PRODUCT FEATURES

  16. PROOF

  17. No Competitors = No Hope

  18. One barrier-to-entry per point in the value chain

  19. WIIFM

  20. form follows function

  21. http://www.slideshare.net/selenasol/basic-start-up-valuation-how-much-r-u-worthhttp://www.slideshare.net/selenasol/basic-start-up-valuation-how-much-r-u-worth

  22. http://www.slideshare.net/selenasol/99-questions-winning-entrepreneurs-must-answer-the-minimum-viable-business-planhttp://www.slideshare.net/selenasol/99-questions-winning-entrepreneurs-must-answer-the-minimum-viable-business-plan

  23. http://www.slideshare.net/selenasol/barriers-to-entry-cheat-your-way-to-successhttp://www.slideshare.net/selenasol/barriers-to-entry-cheat-your-way-to-success

  24. http://www.slideshare.net/selenasol/handling-presentation-qa

  25. PART THREE ALL THE STUPID SH!T THEY DO

  26. ONE Make sure they do not settle too quickly or too firmly into an idea/business model. Keep challenging. The first model is often not the best model

  27. EXAMPLE: SUGARDROP Technology that uses genetically modified yeasts to 100% naturally reduce the calorie count in juice, without reducing the sweetness QUESTION How many business models can we come up with for this one technology?

  28. Manufacture, package and sell juice at 7-11 • Sell licenses to juice brands who will setup their own process for their own SKUs • Sell machines and bottles of secret sauce to juice brands to integrate into their plants • Provide a service where brands ship juice to you and you send them back reduced-calorie juice • Create a home-based machine (like a coffee maker) and sell retail. Insert any juice and our packet into the machine and enjoy half-calorie juice • Why did we focus on juice? Would it be better to apply the same technology to soda?

  29. TWO Keep them focused. A start-up does not have the resources to simultaneously tackle more than one segment, more than one customer, or more than one product.

  30. THREE Make them validate all their assumptions. Any time they say X is true, make them to prove it to you. “I’m on your side. I intuitively agree with you that vacation travelers want a simpler discovery process to find cheaper flights, but until you prove that hypothesis is true with data points, I’m taking it as false!”

  31. FOUR Make sure they practice their pitch and do several rounds of Q&A wellbefore the last-minute

  32. FIVE There is no excuse for lame, bullet-ridden slides –packaging is often as important as content

  33. SIX Make sure that they treat your time like gold plan, and stick to, an engagement calendar prep for all meeting with you follow-up with minutes and actions do not become a grammar checker

  34. SEVEN Make sure they know when they are allowed to contact you, your general SLA to get back to them, and by what media you prefer.

  35. EIGHT Don’t let them expect all the answers from you (don’t become a crutch and don’t let yourself show off)

  36. NINE If you give them networking leads, don’t assume they understand how to protect your brand

  37. questions…

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