Building a Startup
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/ Vol 2020 1 / Building 2020 Vol a Startup Building a Startup From Nothing #2 to Success The main content of this booklet is divided into five Formation phase, focus different main segments: on about ideation and team building. #1 Overview, about startups 2 and development phases. #3 Validation phase, focus #5 on validating the team and product/service idea. Additional details, #4 supporting material and resources. Vol 2020 Vol Scale phase, focus on scaling the business and organization. Building a Startup 01 Intro 01 Forewords 02 How to Use this Booklet? 03 What is a startup? Contents of Table • Some reasons leading to startup • Myths busted • Starting points • Events • Media • Bootstrapping • Advisors • Building Value and Exits • About exits • Initial resourcing • Founding and investors 00/ →Types of investors Table of Contents 3 • Investor Communications /11 • Competition and Copycats 04 Startup Journey • Startup Development Phases • How to use development phases in your journey • General outline of the journey 05 Formation (-2 to 0) • Ideation & Co-founding SHA early part of content • Company Culture • Sample values in startup company • Sample of startup company rulebook 2020 Vol • Mission Statement → How should good mission statement look like? Building a Startup • Vision 07 Scale (2+) → How should good vision look like? • Funding & growth (advisory board, extended team → Why set a high ambition vision? & option plans), & working with big companies • Strategy • Mission, Vision & Strategy working together Contents of Table 08 Building Growth • Initiate Basic activities • Tea m → Connecting paid adds (controlled funnel) to → Why startups need a founding team whole funnel → Team Building • Marketing channels → Co-founding talks • KPI’s → How to calculate valuation? → Business & Financial Metrics → Valuation as a tool in calculating co-founder → Economic and Other Defining Qualities ownerships → Other Product and Engagement Metrics → Shareholder Agreement (SHA) • Supporting Services for “Scaling” Stages • Types of business ideas • Funding sources • Supporting Services for “Formation” Stages → Entrepreneurship Courses 09 Additional tools & resources. → Startup Weekend 4 → Hackathons 10 Startup Terminology → Coworking Spaces • Basic Terms → Incubator Programme • Startup Ecosystem Terms • Funding sources • Basic Startup Terms • Finance Related Terms 06 Validation (0 to 2) • Product Related Terms • Build, Iterate & validate (KPI’s) • Startup Progress Related Terms • Planning Tools • Supporting Services for “Validation” Stages → Accelerator Programme → Funding sources Vol 2020 Vol Building a Startup This guide has been drafted in cooperation with Startup Copyrights & Creative Commons Licensing. You have right to Growth Academy education and Intro Commons Global team and it’s partners. The purpose training materials “as is” under creative commons of this guide is to give a general view of startups and licensing for publishing, private editing and for distributing materials for free. Or to create startup development phases as well as to act as education programs, eLearning platforms, courses supportive guide to new startups, co-founders and etc. based on this content, to be offered for free or as commercial offering. However, you must team members. As well as for those working closely give appropriate credit to Startup Commons and with startups, like mentors and advisors and anyone related contributors , provide a link to this license page (http://www.startupcommons.org/growth- else interested to learn about startups. academy-development.html), and to indicate any changes your may have made, but not in a manner that suggests Startup Commons or any of the The knowledge shared in this booklet is the result contributors endorses you or your use. of serial entrepreneur Valto Loikkanen personal If you are unsure or are planning to use materials entrepreneurial quest and drive for solving a problem commercially, or as part of commercial product or service, please contact us for further details related of: “How to scale entrepreneurship and innovation 5 to your concerns or use of Startup Commons name, and to help create more successful startups in higher logo and brand. volume?”, views and knowledge shared, are based on more than 20 years of international startup experience, via several startups and various roles with hard earned successes and failures. Contributors: Valto Loikkanen @valto Oscar Ramirez @oscar__ramirez Eva Jimenez @evajimeneztubau 2020 Vol Rishi Mehta @konnectrishi Building a Startup Before diving into this booklet, let’s get company or founders include past failures one thing straight, regardless of the or successes, so even more rare for first impression you may get via media, building time founders. The best way to improve Forewords a successful startup requires a lot of work your luck by design, is to be committed, and long term commitment. On a mental active, systematically learn and improve, level there are a lot of similarities with but most importantly be visible, making athletes in the type of mindset required, you many times luckier that those that for learning, practising, measuring, just expect luck to happen. improving to get things to the next level and doing it again with things required on At the same time, building a startup is the next level. Also building a startup is a often very motivating, inspiring and usually team sport, not a solo venture, requiring rewarding with full of new learnings, commitment to your shared vision and experiences, unexpected opportunities level of passion for what you are pursuing and challenges, that’s why startups as a team. are called ventures or journey, and also referred as a rollercoaster ride. Sure there are rare cases where some In startups you will learn more about startup became “an overnight success”, world, people, business etc. more than you but more often than not the truth is can imagine. 01/ very different, where the history of the Forewords 6 /10 “Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled.” Vol 2020 Vol Forewords Building a Startup While ultimately the path to success In this booklet we focus on path, tools and require entrepreneurial mindset, hard work strategies that expect to plan and work and commitment - deciding to start that smart and hard, with serious commitment, Forewords path is easy and best way is to “just do but the way the path is laid out, is a step it” - take the first step. As at the beginning by step process, where it gets more you don’t need to quit your job have an challenging each step at a time, including idea or a team, time for those will come at the decision for longer term commitment, due time. What you need is a curious mind that comes only after few steps into your and motivation to build something new and personal journey. meaningful together with others, having also option to build your own team or join an existing team. 7 Vol 2020 Vol Next → 02/ How to Use this Booklet? /10 Building a Startup This booklet is designed to help guide you information. Also as startups are born and through the startup journey over time. The evolve through various phases, valuable purpose is to introduce all the key relevant information and knowledge important for items at top level and introduce you to key one stage, may actually be totally wrong terminology and concepts that will help and even harmful advice if applied at a you make the journey. To be your map wrong phase of the journey. For these for the journey and guiding companion to reasons we felt there was a need for How to Use this Booklet? this Use to How be used with other tools and materials. more holistic and complete guide, that Something you can keep with you and gives an overview of these development revisit periodically as you progress on your phases of the journey and then connect journey. the most relevant knowledge, tools and methodologies to be applied in each of With the help of this guide you will find these stages. Including knowledge based the relevant more detailed information on our expertise, research and validations, about the topics and view covered via but also from various experts and online online in form of various expert authors, sources online, in a way that it’s less blogs, statistics, books, youtube videos likely to be overwhelmed by too much etc. at deeper level. You will be introduced information and to avoid failures coming to most relevant basic concepts, so you from applying right methods at the wrong 02/ How to Use understand the context to what and stage, making it more harm than value. this Booklet? when they are relevant in your journey, 8 /10 so you don’t get lost with the amount of This booklet is not meant to be “expertise information available or overwhelmed with of everything”, but really to act as a general everything being relevant at every phase. map & guide on your journey, so you don’t’ get lost with all the information along the As startup world can be quite a lot to way, but with this guide, should be able to get your head around and while there connect and link any other expertise and is tons and tons of relevant information advise you get to most relevant stage of and knowledge available via many your own journey. sources online and offline, there is also a lot of irrelevant and less important How to Use this 2020 Vol Booklet? Building a Startup The content of this booklet is divided into five different main segments: 2 3 How to Use this Booklet? this Use to How Formation phase, focus on 1 Validation phase, about ideation and focus on validating team building. the team and product/service idea. Overview, about startups and development phases. 9 5 4 Additional details, supporting material Scale phase, focus on and resources. scaling the business and organization. Vol 2020 Vol Building a Startup How to Use this Booklet? this Use to How The approach with the guidance in with this how interested markets and customers booklet is based on the logic of removing are about your startup and it’s solution, as much of the unnecessary risks that can and a natural curve of onboarding or be avoided, and optimizing for factors of becoming customer, a minimum of one full success.