Session 8

Having just finished the OAP project, many teams will be even more excited about pursuing their ideas, having received positive feedback from customers and realizing there is a large market potential out there.

Other teams will have received less than positive feedback from customers and will have realized that their initial idea is not feasible.

For the latter teams, you can change to a new idea for the OEP project if you would like. Ideally, you would choose a related idea rather than a completely new one so that you can leverage some of the learning generated from your OAP activities.

For the former teams, I encourage you to not get too carried away with optimism for your startup. There will be ups and downs and you need to remain somewhat self-critical and open-minded as you begin to test the other parts of your business.

We are now beginning the first of a few sessions on fundraising and venture capital. My friend Henry Wong, a serial entrepreneur and venture capitalist with Garage Ventures agreed to get us started by telling us how he thinks about the pitch from entrepreneurs. Henry is a frequent mentor and guest speaker in my class at Stanford and I appreciate his help!


Session 8

Intro to venture finance

• Videos
• Acid Test for Entrepreneurs by Henry Wong
If you use a supported browser, you can view Youtube videos via the YouTube HTML5 Video Player, which may be more accessible for keyboard and assistive technology users. This can also be used to playback the video at a faster rate of speed. 

[Transcript download]

[Slides]
• Assignment
• Work on OEP (test the other aspects of your business model)
• Work on your website/mobile app/prototype to help you test the other aspects of your business model (marketing, partnerships, etc.). Having a beta version or prototype to put in front of people is incredibly helpful. You should have built a basic version in the OAP, now it's time to upgrade it and use it for the rest of your business model tests.
• Update blog
• Recommended Reading
• Ch. 13.1, 13.3, 13.7-13.8
• Read entries from Feld's term sheet blog
          Price
          Liquidation Preference
          Board of Directors
          Anti-Dilution

First time here? 

1. See the class description and frequently asked questions. 
2. The course operates according to the flipped class, where team-based, experiential education (learning by doing) is central and video lectures and readings are there for support.
3. If you'd like, form a team and follow along at http://venture-lab.org, like us on facebook and join the group, or follow the Google+ page.
4. Start with the intro and course overview videos.
5. See what some of the teams did for the last assignment and the description of the next assignment.
6. View the videos for Sessions 1-3 to catch up here.
7. View the videos for Session 4 here.