• C15: Competition and Monopoly

•Video – Peter Thiel of Founders Fund / PayPal (15 min): Competition is for Losers

https://youtu.be/DLWyP83iU5M?t=13m55s stop at 28min


•Activity – Large group discussion: Why does Thiel maintain that startups should pursue a monopoly? (5 min)

•Activity – Divide into teams. Each team pitches its idea to the class, focusing on the target market for the initial product launch (25 min)
•Each team to bring laptop with Google Sheets or MS Excel for next Tuesday class

  • C16: Guest Speaker – Greg McKee, Connect CEO

•Thursday 3/3 @ 2:45pm-3:30pm, with 20 minutes for talk, then 20 minutes for Q & A

•Greg McKee is the President and CEO of Connect, the leading business accelerator in San Diego. Previously, he was the President and CEO of Nventa, a Canadian biotech company. Greg has held a number of positions in biotech and pharma companies and worked in Japan and Singapore for over 7 years. Greg received his MBA from the Wharton School along with an MA in International Studies from the University of Pennsylvania and a BA in Economics from the University of Washington.

•What makes a great startup business plan from an entrepreneur?

  • C11: User Interviews

•Video - Emmett Shear of Twitch / Amazon (5 minutes): Interviewing Users

https://youtu.be/qAws7eXItMk?t=3m stop at 8m
•Activity – who would you interview about a note-taking app? Large Group Talk (5 min)

•Video - Emmett Shear https://youtu.be/qAws7eXItMk?t=9m stop at 18m:50s (10 min)
•Small Group Discussion – Who would you interview about the Torrey Stand? What questions would you ask them? Split into 3-4 person teams and generate and present interview questions to the class (25 min)

  • C12: Field Project - Interviewing Potential Users

•Each team interviews 6-8 potential customers (students, parents, teachers/staff, and others) about the Torrey Stand (25 min), and presents interview feedback in class (20 min)

  • C17: Measuring Success

•Handout – Measures of Success sheet: discuss components (20 min)
•Potential market size – what are the different market segments?
•Customers by segment, total # of customers,  and market penetration %
•Total sales and average $ sales per customer
•Cost of goods sold – variable cost of products sold
•Operating expenses – fixed cost of labor, other fixed costs?
•Operating profits and margins as % of revenue
•Startup costs? Equipment, development, supplies, etc.

•Activity – Each team develops financial estimates for the first year of operations by month, and its 5-year projections by year (20 min)
•What’s the North Star – the most important metric for success? What are the risks? (5 min)

  • C13: Team and Culture

•Video – Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital / Zappos and Brian Chesky of Airbnb: Team Culture (10 min) https://youtu.be/RfWgVWGEuGE?t=1m55s stop at 11m22s
•Activity – Large Group discussion: What are core values and team culture? (5 min)

•Video – Alfred Lin of Sequoia Capital / Zappos and Brian Chesky of Airbnb: Team Culture (20 min) https://youtu.be/RfWgVWGEuGE?t=11m22s stop again at 32m30s

•Divide into up to 6 teams of 2-4 students each (5 min)
•Activity – Each team writes paragraph about their core values and team culture (10 min)
•Activity – Each team presents their core values and culture to the class (10 min)

  • C18, C19, C20: The Business Plan

•Handout – Sequoia Capital guide (edited version): Discuss components (20 min)

  1. Company Purpose – define the business in a single declarative sentence
  2. Problem – describe the customer’s pain, and the solutions available today
  3. Solution – how do you make the customer’s life better with your product/solution?
  4. Why Now – recent trends that make your product/solution possible
  5. Market Size – ID/profile customer, potential market size, realizable target market
  6. Competition – list competitors and your advantages over them
  7. Product – define product features and your product development roadmap
  8. Business Model – describe your pricing strategy, revenue model, margins, costs
  9. Team – list and describe your team members and advisors, outline team culture/values
  10. Financials – develop 1 year monthly profit and loss statement and initial startup budget, project the profit and loss statement out 5 years, annually

•Activity – Teams discuss and write their 1 page (single sheet, double-sided) business plans (20 min)

  • C14: Guest Speaker – Don Rady, Angel Investor with Tech Coast Angels

•Thursday 2/25 @ 2:45pm-3:30pm, with 20 minutes for talk, then 20 minutes for Q & A

•Don Rady has purchased and sold over 2,000 mostly residential properties in San Diego over the past 20 years. Recently, Don has been a member of Tech Coast Angels, which invests and mentors startup companies. He recently purchased an Obstacle Course race company called Epic, and a surf camp in Mexico. He has an undergraduate degree in Economics and Accounting, practiced as a CPA for 2 years after college, then went back to get an MBA in finance. Don went to La Jolla Country Day for 7th and 8th grade.

•How does an angel investor look at a startup investment?