ACCELERATE WPI SCHEDULE AND ASSIGNMENTS

Instructors – Todd Keiller, Curtis Abel, Joe Bush, Ken Rapp​, Beth Kahn (MIT)
Administrative - Lynda Kelly
Texts:   The Startup Owner’s Manual- Blank and Dorf​
Talking to Humans – Constable and Rimalovski​​
Video:  https://venturewell.org/i-corps/team-materials/

Class 1 – Kick-off Event

September 30  |  5:15-7:30 pm   | Fire Protection Conference Room, 1st Floor, 50 Prescott St.

Pre-class Preparation:

  1. Read:  Chapter 3 of the Startup Owner’s Manual; An Introduction to Customer Discovery
  2. Watch:
  3. Write and bring to class on thumb drive: PPT Slide 1 with following info:
    • Team name
    • Product/Technology – Photo or Drawing
    • 1 sentence description
    • Team photos

In-class work:

  • Introductions
  • Expectations
  • Business Model Canvas
  • Customers – Value Proposition and markets
    • Customer Discovery Plan
    • Interview Guide
  • Team 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

October 21 |  5:15-7:30 pm   |  Fire Protection Conference Room, 1st Floor, 50 Prescott St

Pre-class Preparation:

  1. Read: Chapter 4 of the Startup Owner’s Manual; Customer Discovery Phase One
  2. Watch: 
  3. Prepare additional PPT Slides
    • Slide 1 – same as last week with any modifications to the 1 sentence description, # of customer interviews
    • 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:

  • Presentation by Team of the Customer Discovery Process

Post-class Assignment:

  • Conduct 10 more customer interviews

Class 3 – Customer Relationships

November 11 | 5:15-7:30 pm   |  Fire Protection Conference Room, 1st Floor, 50 Prescott St

Pre-class Preparation: 

  1. Read: Chapter 5+6 of the Startup Owner’s Manual; Customer Discovery Phase Two and Three
  2. Watch:

In-class Agenda:

Presentation by teams

  • Slide 1 – Team Slide – team name, product/technology, team photos - # of customer interviews
  • 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

Post-class Assignment:

  • Conduct 10 more customer interviews

Final Class – Presentations of Findings

December 2 | 5:15-7:30 pm   | Fire Protection Conference Room, 1st Floor, 50 Prescott St

Pre-class Preparation: 

  1. Read: Chapter 7 of The Startup Owner’s Manual; Customer Discovery Phase Four;
  2. Watch:        

In-class work:

  • Presentations by teams
    • 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