[tigers@mekong] mentorship: roles & principals

MENTORSHIP ROLES & PRINCIPALS

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This presentation is going is going to quickly go over some broad guideline lines for mentoring

Outline

• The Startup Founders

• Roles for Mentors

• Mentor Relationship Responsibilities

• Business Model Engagement

• Appendices

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Outline for the program, we’ll talk about the typical startup founders, our roles as mentors and how to manage the relationships

Typical ‘Tech’ Start Up Founders

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* First Ask what people think are characteristics of a startup founder, and have a conversation* Lessons that mentors may learn: (1) Steve Job: be a patient listener to crazy ideas. Unfocused. Just the product. Mentors should be listeners. Just listen, don’t judge. (2) Bill Gates: Trust in the entrepreneur. (3) Mark Zuckerberg: listen with two ears; great vision. Often an engineer (introverted and not a good sales person), typically college educated with some work experience, product person, sometimes little to no business experience, often times not a good listener. Has big dreams, lots of ideas and unfocused. In many countries there are usually 2 to 3 founders. In summary: successful entrepreneurs are very smart, passionate and unfocused; your job is get them to focus and help them to take their emotions out of the decision-making process.

Mark Zuckerberg: “The Facebook” + Ivy League UniversitiesSean Parker: “Facebook” + connecting continents

More about the TIGERs@Mekong

• Leverage tech-focused startups to change the way

the region competes• Technology-based innovation businesses are welcome

• Innovation = Usefulness/Appropriateness + Novelty

• Help build up the local entrepreneurship ecosystems

• Increase regional linkages

• Cross-regional initiatives

• Cross-regional investing

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Tigers@Mekong does not just focus on internet and mobile apps. All technology-based innovation businesses are welcome. Innovation consists of usefulness/appropriateness and novelty

Many want to help.. Some are mentors

Mentor & Angel Investor

2005

2012

Coffee: a popular drink

Coffee will change the world

2011: $250M2012: $370M (E)2015: $1,000M+ (F)

An entrepreneurial process

Practising creative disciplines

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1) Retired deputy prime minister, leaders of VN young federation, corporate executive. 2) Founding CEO Pham Dinh Doan (Phu Thai Group), retails: $500 million revenue. Mentors. Dinner with entrepreneurs. Angel investors. 3) Coffee King Dang Le Nguyen Vu (Trung Nguyen). “The books that change your life”: Giving 1,000,000 entrepreneurs books. Tigers@Mekong Entrepreneurs survey: 1000+ responses.

Vietnam: More angel investors are coming

What is the Startup Mentor’s Role?

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*Ask this as a question!!!!! Don’t need to confirm or Deny, record what is said on the board. You will likely go over many of them in the presentation.* * Coach (guiding); Role Model (advocate); Advisor (confidant)

Founders can be very sensitive

Larry King Live: 25 years

Number of interviewees: 50.000

Retired at 76 year old after 53 years of ‘asking’ people

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The first thing a startup will ask for is feedback is on their idea and product. Again, ask questions and test their assumptions. Please try not to give direct opinions, but rather ask them questions to bring them to the point you want to make. The idea and products are a startup’s baby. I’ve seen founders actually cry because a mentor said they had a bad idea. Remember that as a successful business person they will listen to your every word. So don’t give direct opinions, but thoughtful feedback based on facts and process and lots of questions.

Provide Encouragement

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As you know, the entrepreneurship journey has lots of ups and downs; many people including friends and family will think the founders are crazy, and in the beginning they will have more bad news than good news. The startup journey becomes very straining and the founders have to look sure of themselves and positive while taking the journey. From time to time it will be important for you to encourage the entrepreneur. Even though they have had some bad news, they are learning and are on the right track.

Don’t tell the entrepreneurs what to doWho? What? Why? When? How? Listen

Mentors Have Something Special

Konosuke Matsushita (1894 – 1989): “Not for the bread alone”

Jack Ma: “Don’t repair your roof in raining day”

Joseph Alois Schumpeter(1883 – 1950): “Creative Destruction”

“The most important thing is your attitude to risk”

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Matsushita: Value and Vision. Ma: be realistic. Schumpeter: acknowledges competition and innovation. Binh (an ordinary businessman): Doing business is always risky. The most important thing is your attitude to risk Not everyone can be a mentor. You have experience; you have accomplished something and you are more likely to get an entrepreneur’s ear. You might be an: entrepreneur yourself, an expert in your industry/market, or a functional expert in something. The most important part of your role is share the wisdom you have.

Share Your Network

Keep the relationship honest

Develop Ground Rules

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A founder may take advantage of you, even call you at the middle of the night. Develop ground rules; give them office hours when they are free to communicate, remind them you are busy, and set rules for how often they can engage with you.

Founders are Overwhelmed by Data

The hidden driver of excellence: FOCUS

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Information and data is coming at the startup founder so quickly that they cannot digest it all. They often don’t know what to focus on or how to start. They have lots of ideas, lots of things they want to do. The business model helps them and you focus on what is important and helps to put things into steps.

The Business Model helps you to facilitate an efficient mentoring session

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This is a non-linear diagram; its best to start in the middle, on the Value Proposition, go to Customer Segments, Than focus on the Relationships and Channels. With that it should be easier to figure out the revenue streams. From there it is easier to go back, going over Key Resources, Partners and Activities. Lastly, focus in on the Cost Structure.

Value Proposition-Not Product

• What is the product (functions)

• What value is the product to the customer

• What problems are you helping the customer to solve

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Founders usually like to focus on their product first, keeping their conversation quick, and explaining what the product is and its functions. Then they dive into what value it delivers; how does it help customers? What pain does is it alleviate? The goal should move the founder from being product-focused to being value-focused. How is the product helping the customer? Founders (especially engineers) have a hard time with this concept.

The Entrepreneurial Endeavor of the Cricket!

Product = Market Fit

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The product must meet the needs of the indemnified market segment, so asking the startup who their market segments are and what their needs are that fit the value proposition. They should list their customer segments and their needs. They’ll also need to prioritize the segments. Which segment is the first mover on this product and which will lead to a focus on additional segments? Don’t forget to ask to verify their assumptions.

How engage and manage the customer• Customer

Relationship-Positioning your product and customer acquisition, retention and growth

• Channel- sales and distribution channels

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Sales and marketing are often overlooked for startups; too often they think about direct selling. But once the customer segment is identified, its important to understand how to market and sell to them and what sales channels they use. It’s important to understand this, because it will affect the cost of customer acquisition and doing business. For the customer relationship, the startup needs to understand why the customer uses the product and postion toward it, (comfort food, brag about pictures oline) Its important for them to come up with positioning statements toward their customers that quickly show the value they are providing. The channels is the startup tell you you how they are going to sell and distribute the product.

Best Market research you have

Sell your product!!! & Listen

How are you going to make money?• Revenue Streams-

How is the start up going to earn revenue and determine price

• First dollar revenue!!!

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Now that we’ve talked a lot about the customer and channels, let’s talk about the different revenue stream. For tech companies, this can be more complicated because there is a lot of jargon around this: freemium, subscription, licensing, advertising, etc. The target customer segment should be used to this pricing model used; if it is different, then there will be a learning curve. Also they need to work on their pricing model and calculating a price the market will pay. There should not be more than 3 revenue streams; again, make them focus. Finally, they should verify their assumptions and experiment with different revenue models.

What are the needed people and assets to make your business model work

• Key Resources-What are the things you need to prove your business model

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Building the right team is often the overlooked part of a startup strategy. what expertise is missing in the business? What else is needed for fixed assets? Financial capital needs? The number one failure of startups is problems with the team.

The right people Can accelerate a startup growth

Picking Members of Your Team

Winning Teams • Contacts with market• Experience with Technology• Previous StartUp Experience• Successful in Closing

Investments • Who do you need tomorrow

Be Careful• Friends and family• People similar to the

founders• Same Social Circles • Easy Decisions• Just thinking about Today’s

needs

How engage and manage the customer• Key Partner-

Look from a value chain perspective where the startup provides value and will need partners

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Sometimes founders overemphasize the partners, but they need to figure out who are going to be the key organizations to engage with, their market channels, suppliers and others. They need to make a list and engage with these partners early and understand their motivation and pain points.

What will your startup be good at?• Key Activities-

What are the core things your business needs to be good at

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The goal here is to get the founder to think about what expertise they will need to develop. For example, I often emphasize to a founder who wants to design an innovative product they are going to sell that they need to become experts in manufacturing and quality control. They need to either bring someone on the team with that expertise or find partners to do that.

What are your major costs?• Cost Structure –

What are the major costs of doing business, marketing and other expenses

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The founders need to write down their major costs for starting and running the business. They need to start investigating customer acquisition costs and cost of goods sold. This means they need to find out about outsourcing, mfg talking to marketing firms. For tech companies most of the money will be in development and marketing, but they need to go out and do their homework on costs.

Cash is King

Keep them Responsible

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Now hold them accountable; make them write down a list of major activities, 3 to 5 things to do over the next quarter where they do not have enough information, or have not yet verified their assumption. They need to get out and engage with the market, industry and market players, so they can learn quickly. Have them update you on their progress of those activities.

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Being a startup mentor is not about you feeling smart, or feeling smarter than someone else. This is to give away your knowledge, expertise, network and advice to help someone else build a great business.

Problem Solving• Vouloir c'est pouvoir

• Art of balancing

• KISS

• Keep It Short & Simple

• CBA

• Cost-Benefit Analysis

• FAN:

• Feasible; Attractive ; Novel

M. Jackson is an inventor

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By filing a patent application for the “Method and Means for Creating Anti-Gravity Illusion,” Michael Jackson let the cat out of the bag. The heel of the shoe is designed to detachably engage a hitch that retractably projects through the stage floor. By anchoring the heel to the floor, the dancer can lean forward and the illusion of defying gravity is achieved. His untimely death has subjected Michael Jackson’s personal choices to debate, but his dedication to creating and protecting his art is unquestionable. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TrOzBDdKGY4

Information Process of Entrepreneurial Decision

Napier, N.K. & Vuong, Q.H. (2013). Serendipity as strategic advantage, in T. Wilkinson (ed.) Strategic Management in the 21st Century – Volume 1: The Operational Environment (pp. 175-199). CT: Praeger/ABC-Clio.

entrepreneurship

Monitoring Entrepreneurial Progress

Objects:- Products

-Resources

- Team

- Clients

- Partners

Domains- Readiness to competition

-Entrepreneurial spirit

- Innovation capability

STATE: T0

Objects:- Products

-Resources

- Team

- Clients

- Partners

Domains- Readiness to competition

-Entrepreneurial spirit

- Innovation capability

STATE: T1 (Future)PROCESS

INPUTS- Capital, Human, Land, Technology- Entrepreneurship & Innovation

Product development

-Sales and Revenue- Differentiation- Trend setting

- New clients-New suppliers and distributorsNew investors

- Team performance- Corporate culture

- Cash balance- Profits- Upstream and downstream connections

OUTPUTS

IMPACTS

SPACE = COMMUNITY, MARKET, ECOSYSTEM

Team/Capacity building

Cash flows & Supply Chain

i2Metrix: Measuring innovation capacity and competitiveness readiness

3-D Process of Making Innovation

Innovation

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Information and data is coming at the startup founder so quickly that they cannot digest it all. They often don’t know what to focus on or how to start. They have lots of ideas, lots of things they want to do. The business model helps them and you focus on what is important and helps to put things into steps.

Business Canvas Model

[tigers@mekong] mentorship: roles & principals

Small Business & Entrepreneurship

customer customer relationship

startup founders roles

business needs

startup mentors role

product functions

customer acquisition

customer key partner

market experience