This week, we kicked off our annual summer entrepreneurship program. For the last 4 years, the Brown Institute has been running a program led by Justin Hendrix, CEO of Tech Policy Press, on entrepreneurship. This year’s cohort features our Venture Challenge winners, Hey Kahani, Palumba, SiSe News; and two Magic Grant projects. One project is in their research phase, another has started generating revenue, another has over 200k users, another has first physical prototypes of their product shipping this week.
But before jumping into the nitty gritty of building, we zoomed out and asked “why?” Why are we sitting around a table in the Brown Institute on a summer Monday? Why are we building? Is it because of the desire to change the world? Money? The love of creation? Fame? Being unemployable otherwise? Solving a problem? Needing full control? Satisfaction of owning output? Spite?
After the cohort gut-checked their motivations and values, they learned about customer discovery, problem definition, the functional and expressive needs of a customer, the LEAN method, and drafted an elevator pitch and business model for their company.
Over sandwiches and Greek salad, participants questioned their riskiest assumptions about their business. Everyone presented their pitch and business model to the rest of the cohort. Our cohort which includes a unique blend of data scientists, former entrepreneurs, journalists, public policy experts, each asked clarifying questions, gave feedback, shared resources, ideas, and scribbled notes. By the end, the 10 strangers felt a bit closer.
Friday rolled around and we heard updates from all teams on customer interviews they conducted throughout the week. Palumba conducted 10 interviews, SiSe News ran a survey, PRISM spoke to validators, and we learned that we shouldn’t ask for advice from those close to us as they are biased. Some of the most valuable feedback can come from strangers who are not invested in you or your project.
We learned about product market fit and discussed the 30 elements of value for a consumer by Bain. The teams will now fill out a value proposition canvas for different customer segments to sharply understand what they can add in a consumer’s life. We discussed what a product is – a physical object, a service, or even an intangible offer.
For the next 8 weeks, the cohort will meet twice a week, attending field trips to different startups, hearing from guest speakers, interviewing their own customer base, learning together as a group, and ending the summer with a pitch competition. We’re excited to share more as the program goes on.