etcetera columbia

Completed Interviews: 60

An entrepreneurship consulting platform

designed to help underrepresented

entrepreneurs learn & build scalable businesses.

Team Members

Chanique Vassell Riley Jones Jordyn Simmons John Kotey

Degree Program and Department Major

B.A. in Political Science

B.A. in Political Science

B.A. in Africana Studies and Political Science

B.S. in Electrical and Electronics Engineering

LinkedIn URL https://www.linkedin.com/in/chanique-vassell-616975ba

linkedin.com/in/rileyjonesiv

https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordyn-simmons-14629851

https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnkotey

SME No Yes No No

Role Hustler Picker Designer Hacker

Interesting Facts Born and raised in Jamaica

Sings Opera Has DJ’ed for celebrities

Worked for Google

Partners

- Chambers of Commerce

- Nonprofit Organizations that teach entrepreneurship

- Educators

Activities

- Develop a curriculum- Develop a website- MarketingCustomer Service

Value Proposition

- Access to entrepreneurial knowledge for people without it

- Creating a community for people to work through their ideas

Customer Relations

- Social Media- Small Business Fairs- Conferences

Customer Segments

- 21-35 y/o interested in starting a business

Resources

- Video Content- Server Space

Channels

- Website

Costs- Web Development/Maintenance - Data Storage

Revenue Streams- Freemium model for video content

Day 1Business Model Canvas

Customer Segments

Our only customer segment is individual customers of color (ages 20-34)

Resources

We would need to build a website with different tiers of content

Value Proposition

Our major value proposition would be connecting people to information

Revenue Streams

Revenue would be driven by paid content

Day 1What We Thought

Day 2What We Learned

Customer Segments

● Our segment is interested in starting their own businesses

● They want access to tools to help them decide the viability of their businesses

Revenue Streams

● People are willing to pay for the resources that we would provide (even more than $10)


Day 2How our Product Evolved

What We Thought

Users only wanted videos and articles

What We Learned

Users want tools to help them build their businesses

Customer Segments

● Customers are interested in and willing to pay for ADVISING

Customer Segments

● Our services could also be useful to educational organizations and companies already helping underrepresented entrepreneurs



What We Thought

Users only wanted videos, articles and tools

What We Learned

Users want tools to be connected to Advisers

Customer Segments

● Website/Mobile App is the best channel to reach our customers

● Customers are interested in a service that would help them find access to capital

Revenue Streams

● We could charge for helping to link investors and advisers to budding entrepreneurs

● Advisers may not want to charge


Category Hypothesis Test Pass/Fail Criteria

Channel Entrepreneurs: Will visit the website or app for information, tools, and/or advising.Advisers: Willing to offer virtual advising to entrepreneursPotential Investors: Interested in learning about new businesses to invest in

Interviews with all customers segments (Entrepreneurs, Advisers, Organizations, Potential Investors)

(PASS) Entrepreneurs: Do not prefer the access of physical resources and/or does not have access to mobile devices or the internet (PASS) Advisers: Willing to offer virtual advising to entrepreneurs (phone calls; video conferencing) (PASS) Potential Investors: Would be interested in learning about new businesses from entrepreneurs through our platform

“Get Strategy”

People at conferences, small business fairs and in co-working spaces are interested in accessing entrepreneurial advice via the Internet


(FAIL): Entrepreneurs interested in our services are not at the events that we will target

Revenue Model

Entrepreneurs: Will be willing to pay to access premium content and market insight toolsAdvisers: Will be willing to share advice and offer consulting services for profitPotential Investors: Willing to pay to have access to people with ideas


(PASS) Entrepreneurs: Willing to pay $10 for subscription services which will provide access to additional content (PASS) Advisers: Want to ge paid for their advising services(PASS) Potential Investors: Willing to pay for access to companies that have been vetted through the Etcetera platform

Women of Color Entrepreneurs

between 20 and 34

Educational Organizations& Incubators

Entrepreneurship AdvisersInvestors

● Teach courses for free● Manage groups of

aspiring entrepreneurs

● Use an array of tools to teach fundamentals of business

● Advisers interested in providing industry-specific advice for free or for a fee (More testing needed)

● Investors looking for recommendations of high potential companies from women of color to invest in

● Interested in starting scalable business

Customer Segments

Social Media

Small Business Fairs & Coworking Spaces

Conferences


What We Thought

Users only wanted to be connected with Advisers

What We Learned

Users want access to investors

Channels

● The platform (web and mobile) is a feasible means to connect to our key customer segments, women of color entrepreneurs and educational organizations

Revenue Streams

● Considering that it is problematic to charge entrepreneurs, we should consider how we can stay a for profit but develop relationships with corporate partners?

Day 5Where We Ended

Business Model Canvas

ConclusionNext Steps

The market for entrepreneurial education is saturated but if we create a robust platform that offers more than just information, we can differentiate ourselves

Conduct more interviews to redefine or confirm our revenue streams

CustomersGet: Attend small business fairs and entrepreneurial conferences, Adwords, SEOKeep: Branding/Marketing, Customer ServiceGrow: Expanded Tools

Finding corporate sponsors and advisors

Platform development(Mobile and Web)