by Page no: G97
Table of contents
- 1 Go-to-Market & Scale
- 1.1 Sprints
- 1.2 #1 (Incorporation)
- 1.3 #2 (Alternatives)
- 1.4 #3 (Advisor Follow-up)
- 1.5 #4 (Marketing Messaging)
- 1.6 #5 (Marketing Tools)
- 1.7 #6 (Email Capture)
- 1.8 #7 (Customer Acquisition Channels)
- 1.9 #8 (Conversion Rate)
- 1.10 #9 (Unit Economics)
- 1.11 #10 (Growth Goals)
- 1.12 #11 (Growth Plan)
- 1.13 #12 (Weekly Update)
- 1.14 #13 (Hotseat Pitch)
- 1.15 #14 (Office Hours)
- 1.16 #15 (Fourth Mailing)
Go-to-Market & Scale
Improve your strategy to launch or scale
In this Feedback Session, Mentors will provide Founders with feedback on their current go-to-market plans and progress, and cover topics like marketing messaging, unit ecomomics, customer acquisition, and more.
Sprints
Below are just a few of the 10-15 deliverables you’ll complete through Working Groups and Office Hours:
- Alternatives – Identify two alternative models (markets or “pivots”) for your go-to-market solution to discover the most lucrative market opportunity. Interview at least 2 customers for each alternative.
- Advisor Follow-Up – In the next Step you will finalize advisors, so begin finalization meetings with your top candidates, and set up test Advisor Test Projects where necessary following our templates.
- Test Marketing Messaging – Write at least three separate marketing messages for your solution, and A/B test them using landing pages with at least 100 engagements each.
- Customer Acquisition Channels – Identify at least five initial or new major marketing channels to acquire customers that are appropriate for your solution.
- Conversion Rate – Begin testing at least three of your new customer acquisition channels, pushing as much traffic through them as possible to evaluate their comparative conversion rates.
- Unit Economics – Research any data on the standard Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC) and standard Lifetime Value (LTV) for your industry and segment, and compare and analyze against the metrics you have collected thus far.
| Questions | Answer |
#1 (Incorporation)File Formation Agreements with the government and make progress with incorporation if you have not yet formed a Corporate Entity. Email your Law Firm for an update on your Formation Plan. Ensure that the Law Firm or other qualified entity, such as a notary, has filed the Formation Agreements with the government and take any option for expedited processing. Upload a receipt of the government filing to the Founder Institute web site under “Account.” Write one sentence to update on each step of the Formation Plan, and label a completed step as “DONE” with the date completed. (1 Hour) |
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#2 (Alternatives)Identify two alternative models, alternative markets or ‘pivots’ for your solution to discover the most lucrative market opportunity. For example, a business to consumer (B2C) solution may consider looking at a business to business (B2B) offering. Interview at least 2 customers for each alternative and at least 4 customer interviews in total. Based on the interviews, write three benefits of pursuing each alternative, and the three negatives for each alternative. Write a final paragraph with the reasoning to stay with your original focus or shift to an alternative focus. (3 Hours) |
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#3 (Advisor Follow-up)Follow up with top Advisor Candidates. Set-up a second longer virtual meeting or call with your top Advisor Candidates in each of the three categories. During this follow-up, ask the Advisor Candidate how they see the business growing over time and how they would like to help the business grow. Brainstorm with the Advisor Candidate on a small Advisor Test Project that they could help you with over the next few days, which may relate to upcoming Founder Institute work. An Advisor Test Project might be drafting a sales email, making an introduction or reviewing a specification. Provide bulleted notes underneath the name of each Advisor Candidate, including an outline of the Advisor Test Project, and write one sentence for each Advisor Candidate on whether the meeting made your more excited or less excited about working with them. If you are less excited, then initiate Advisor Follow-up with the next ranked Advisor Candidate. The selection of Advisors toward building an Advisory Board is covered in the next assignment. (4 Hours) |
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#4 (Marketing Messaging)Test your Marketing Messaging. Write a series of at least three separate Marketing Messages for your solution that are 140 characters or less. Use distinct words and concepts in each Marketing Message and provide a unique link for each message to your site or Landing Page. Distribute the Marketing Messages on social media and in paid advertising that targets your Customer Archetype. Ensure that you secure at least 100 clicks across all three messages. Measure the link clicks and engagement for each of your target messages, and provide a synopsis of the data below each Marketing Message. Rank order the Marketing Messages from most popular to least popular. Write a few sentences on the positioning insights that you discovered from this work. Update your Landing Page or online presence with any Marketing Messaging insights, and ensure that you have a prominent email sign-up form. (3 Hours) |
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#5 (Marketing Tools)Implement Marketing Tools. Provide a bulleted list of a couple common marketing optimization tools for your solution per major category, which may include analytics, email management and A/B testing solutions. Consult with your Working Group for best practices. Familiarize yourself with the various categories and the most relevant tools per category. Select and implement at least a couple of the tools, even if just on a Landing Page. If the tool requires a multi-step user flow, such as Email Capture next, provide a bulleted list of the steps and write the initial content for each step based on lessons from the Marketing Messaging work. Write a couple of sentences per selected Marketing Tool on why you chose the tool and how it will help you. (3 Hours) |
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#6 (Email Capture)Set up a system for Email Capture. Develop a messaging flow for potential customers that provide you with their email address. Assume that every potential customer that gives you their email will receive a welcome email, a follow-up email and at least a couple notifications or reminders to try your solution. Provide a bulleted list of the emails that need to be developed, and describe the trigger to send the email in one sentence. Write each of the required emails. Implement a Marketing Tool to manage the email and track open rates, click through rates and other engagement metrics, and describe the tool in a couple of sentences. (3 Hours) |
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#7 (Customer Acquisition Channels)Identify your Customer Acquisition Channels. Identify at least five major marketing Channels to acquire customers that are appropriate for your solution. These can include social media, content publishing, public relations, online advertising, offline advertising, affiliate programs, email marketing, direct sales, trade shows and community building, and others as outlined in the Resources. Research the effectiveness and the costs of each Channel. Write the name of the three Channels and a couple of sentences on the effectiveness and costs of using the Channel. Update your online presence or Landing Page with lessons from the Marketing Messaging work, and ensure that you have a prominent email sign-up form. (2 Hours) |
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#8 (Conversion Rate)Test your Customer Acquisition Channels. Choose at least three of your Customer Acquisition Channels that can be implemented and measured quickly. Push as much traffic to your Landing Page or online presence as possible from each of the three chosen channels, and measure everything from each channel, including any expenses and email signups. Divide the number of email signups by the amount of traffic, and see what Customer Acquisition Channel has the highest percentage Conversion Rate. Write a couple sentences on each Customer Acquisition Channel, describing what you learned and the Conversion Rate. (4 Hours) |
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#9 (Unit Economics)Complete an analysis of your Unit Economics. Research any data on the standard Cost of Customer Acquisition (CAC) and standard Lifetime Value (LTV) for your industry and segment, and provide a bulleted list of links to any resources that you found with information or analysis on the specific cost and revenues. You can read about common terms related to Unit Economics here (https://fi.co/guides/metrics). Create a Unit Economics spreadsheet that provides details on the anticipated cost of acquiring a customer (CAC) and the anticipated revenues from that customer (LTV), providing as much detail as possible based on all of your work to date. In the Unit Economics spreadsheet, create a second column where the costs increase by 1.5 times and a third column where the costs increase by 2.0 times, while the revenues remain the same. Discuss your Unit Economics analysis with any relevant Advisor Candidates, and provide a bulleted list of notes from the discussions. If your CAC is less than half of your LTV in the initial analysis or the analysis with 1.5 times the costs, then re-evaluate your Customer Acquisition Channels or product pricing. Provide a link to the Unit Economics spreadsheet. (3 Hours) |
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#10 (Growth Goals)Set ambitious customer acquisition Growth Goals. During the program, set a Weekly Growth Goal for each week during the program. After the program, set goals for each month until one year after the program is over. The goals should include a quantifiable increase in the top of the funnel from the Steps to Revenue, as well as an increase in the bottom of the funnel, which are paying customers. If your solution is not ready and if you can not take pre-sales, then focus the short-term Growth Goals on the top of the funnel. Write a paragraph describing your Growth Goals during and after the program. Provide a high-quality, professional looking, and easily edited spreadsheet with your Growth Goals. (2 Hours) |
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#11 (Growth Plan)Develop a process to track and hold yourself accountable for your Growth Goals. As a startup leader, you need to do actual work, manage people and ensure that goals are being met. Write a couple of sentences on the tools that you plan to use to track the Growth Goals and provide a link to any technologies or spreadsheets. Write a couple of sentences on how you plan to update the tools on a daily, weekly, monthly and quarterly basis. Find someone to help keep you accountable, such as a peer or Advisor, and set a schedule for a regular weekly or bi-weekly call with this person. Write a couple of sentences on how you plan to keep yourself focused on the Growth Goals and taking tough corrective actions if the Growth Goals are missed. (2 Hours) |
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#12 (Weekly Update)Provide an update on your weekly business progress. Copy the previous Weekly Update and mark all items that have been completed or Asks that have been fulfilled as “(DONE).” Mark anything that has not been completed or fulfilled as “(UNDERWAY),” and provide a one sentence update on their status. Add a few more bulleted items to be completed across Team, Product, Traction and Program for the coming week. (30 Minutes) |
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#13 (Hotseat Pitch)Update your one minute without slides and 3 minute with slides Hotseat Pitches with any learning and new materials this week, progress from the Weekly Update, and the latest Asks. Video yourself giving your best Hotseat pitch, and upload the video online as unlisted and accessible. Paste the link to the unlisted video in the assignment here and also paste the link in the field on your homepage under Weekly Pitch. (30 Minutes) |
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#14 (Office Hours)go to https://FI.co/ohours and schedule Office Hours with a Local Leader or Mentor this week or next week to discuss your progress, challenges that have come up in your incorporation if any, the quality of your final Advisor Candidates, pivots that may be needed in your business, your upcoming Progress Review, and your latest Asks. (30 Minutes) |
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#15 (Fourth Mailing)Expand The List to include at least 10 more people. Send a fourth mailing to The List that explains your growth plans, and includes some or all of the Weekly Updates content and Asks. List three pieces of feedback or help that you received on your Asks. (1 Hour) |
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