Program Schedule

WPI I-Corps Site Schedule and Assignments

The Winter 2023 program consists of 4 classes/workshops, and meetings with your Mentors to practice the I-Corps methodology and conduct your first 30 interviews.

All classes will be in person with the option to participate virtually.

CONTACT
Location: 15-17 Schussler Road
Office Location: Gateway II, Rooms 1303 & 1304
Phone: 508-831-4907

Application 

Apply to the WPI site program

Applications close January 20.  Please contact otc@wpi.edu with any questions.

Connecting with Mentors

January 26 from 5:00-6:30 via Zoom There will be an introductory presentation by all teams in the cohort where Mentors will observe and select teams they would like to mentor this fall.  In order to allow the Mentors to make a selection, please prepare the following 4 slides:

Slide 1: 
Team Name
Product/Technology – photo or drawing if available
1 Sentence Description
Team Photo(s)
 

Slide 2: 
Value Proposition
What customer problems are you trying to solve?
What customer needs are you satisfying?
 

Slide 3:
Value Proposition
What are the key features of your product/service that match the customer problems/needs?
 

Slide 4:
Customer Segments
Who are your most important customers?
Describe a typical customer?
What job do they want you to get done for them?

Lead Instructors:  Beth Kahn – bkahn@mit.edu, New England I-Corps Node, Todd Keiller -tkeiller@wpi.edu, Director, Office of Technology Commercialization, Rosanna Garcia – rgarcia@wpi.edu, WPI Business School

Workshop Dates after January 26 Mentor Match Meeting (attendance by Entrepreneurs required at all sessions):

Kick-Off/Class 1 – 2/2/23   5:00 – 7:15PM Customer Segments, Interviewing and Value Propositions

Class 2 – 2/16/23      5:00 – 7:15 PM Lessons Learned – Customer Acquisition

Class 3 – 3/23/23     5:00 – 7:15 PM Customer Relationships

Class 4 – 4/13/23        5:00 – 7:15 PM Presentation of Findings

Class 1

2/2/23   |  5:00-7:15 pm   |  50 Prescott St, Gateway Park and Streaming
Pre-class Preparation:

  1. Read Talking to Humans and Testing with Humans
  2. Watch:

Customer discovery pre planning part 1 https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/75308828

Customer discovery pre planning part 2 https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/75184102

Customer discovery pre planning part 3  https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/75603393

Customer discovery – interviews, part 1 https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/75535337

Customer Discovery - Interviews, Part 2 https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/75536337        

Asking the right questions: https://vimeo.com/74338298

3. Prepare:

PPT Slide 1 with following info:

  1. Team name
  2. Product/Technology – Photo or Drawing
  3. 1 sentence description
  4. Team photos

In-class work:

  1. Introductions
  2. Expectations
  3. Business Model Canvas
  4. Customers – Value Proposition and markets
    • Customer Discovery Plan
    • Interview GuideTeam develops PPT Slide 2 with:
    • Value proposition
    • Customer Segment

Post-class assignment:

  • Conduct 10 interviews to test the customer assumptions

Class 2 – Customer Acquisition – Get, Keep, Grow

2/16/23  |  5:00-7:15 pm  |  50 Prescott St, Gateway II

 

Pre-class Preparation:

 

  1. Watch:

Customer Discovery: Death by Demo 1 https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/76390080

Customer Discovery: Death by Demo 2 https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/76172223

Customer Discovery: Assuming You Know https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/76175907

Customer Discovery: Death by PowerPoint https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/76171146

Customer Disc: Understanding the Problem https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/76173388

Customer Discovery: Customers Lie https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/76176674

Customer Discovery: The Distracted Customer https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/73715398

2. Prepare additional PPT Slides

  • Slide 1 – same as last week with any modifications to the 1 sentence description
  • Slide 2 – Market Map
    • Link idea to end user
    • Who are the customers?
    • Who is involved in the buying decision and how do they adopt the product
  • Slide 3 – Lessons Learned
    • Hypothesis
    • What you did
    • Results
    • What is next?
  • Slide 4 – Value proposition
    • Customer Segment

In-class work:

  1. Presentation by Team of the Customer Discovery Process
  2. Lecture on Customer Acquisition
  3. (with mentors) plan on next 10 interviews

Post-class Assignment:

  • Conduct 10 more customer interviews

Class 3 – Customer Relationships

3/23/23   | 5:00=7:15 pm   |  50 Prescott St, Gateway Park

Pre-class Preparation:

  1. Watch:

Customer Discovery: Engaging the Customer https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/76174533

Customer Discovery: Customer Empathy https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/73714461

Customer Disc: The User, Buyer, Saboteur https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/73673203

Customer Discovery: The Multi-Person Interview https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/76175265

Customer Discovery: B-to-B to C https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/73674284

Customer Discovery: Existing vs New Markets https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/73674022

Customer Discovery: Public Interview https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/73711818

In-class Work:

  1. Presentation by teams
  • Slide 1 – Team Slide – team name, product/technology, team photos
  • Slide 2 – Customer Relationships – what did you do to find and get the attention of customers, how do you plan to keep and grow that customer base?
  • Slide 3 – Hypothesis: Here is what we thought
      • Experiments: so, here’s what we did
      • Results: Here’s what we learned
      • Iterate: so here is what we’re going to do next
  • Slide 4 – Current Value Proposition and Customer Segment

2. Lecture on Customer Relationships

3. (with mentors), revise Customer Discovery Plan and work on plan for next 10 customer interviews.

Post-class Assignment:

  • Conduct 10 more customer interviews

Final Class – Presentations of Findings

4/13/23 | 5:00-7:15  |  50 Prescott St, Gateway II

Pre-class Preparation:

  1. Watch:  

Customer Discovery Extracting Insight from Data https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/76177502

Customer Discovery Getting the MVP Right https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/73713162

Customer Discovery Pay Attention to Outliers https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/76177672

Customer Discovery The Other 85% https://vimeo.com/groups/204136/videos/74252460

In-class work:

  1. Program Recap
  2. Presentations by teams (3 minute presentation, 2 minute Q+A)
    • Slide 1 – team slide – include total number of interviews
    • Slide 2- Picture or brief description of your product or process (if not on Slide 1)
    • Slide 3 – What are the three critical insights you learned from your interviews?
    • Slide 4 - Original Value Prop and Customer Segment with highlights of your current?
    • Slide 5 – Next steps and what resources do you need going forward

3. WPI Innovation and Commercialization Ecosystem – what is available to you next?

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