View the slides by Nicolaj Højer Nielsen on validating your business idea. Visit PreSeed Academy for more resources.

1. Validating your
business idea

2. Nicolaj Højer Nielsen

3. Today’s topic:
How to validate your business idea?

4. 1: Nicolaj Højer (09.15-09.30)
Serial entrepreneur, investor and External Lecturer
at Copenhagen Business School
Why most of what you learnt in
business school does not work
(in a startup)– and what to do
about it

5. 2: Thor Angelo (09.15-09.30)
Serial entrepreneur: LanguageWire,
OrderYoyo, MyMonii etc.
Founder perspective:
How I validate new
business ideas

6. 3: David Ventzel (09.30-09.45)
General Partner at Accelerace Invest and
Overkill Ventures
Accelerator perspective:
Insights on business
validation from working with
hundreds of startups

7. 4: Live Q & A session (09.45-10.00)
How to validate business
ideas?
• Thor Angelo, serial entrepreneur
(LanguageWire, OrderYoyo; MyMonii
etc.)
• David Ventzel, General Partner at
Accelerace Invest and Overkill ventures
• Nicolaj Højer Nielsen, serial
entrepreneur, investor and external
lecturer at CBS

8. Q and A (and upvote!)

9. The 5-minute introduction to
idea valiation in a startup
- Nicolaj Højer Nielsen

10. How hard can it be ?
”Dear mum/best friend. One a scale from 1-10 how
much do you like the very complex business idea
that I have just presented to you in three lines of
text – and which you spend at least five seconds to
consider?”

11. When does it in fact work quite well?
Well known problems, well known products/alternatives

12. How are innovative startups
different?
Latent needs! (both in b2b and b2c)

13. What to do about it?
1. Qualitative methods!

14. Focus on the ”Jobs to be done”!
“I’m 6-feet-8-inches tall. My shoe size is 16. My wife and I have sent
all our children off to college. I live in a suburb of Boston and drive a
Honda minivan to work. I have a lot of other characteristics and
attributes. But these characteristics have not yet caused me to go out
and buy The New York Times today. There might be a correlation
between some of these characteristics and the propensity of
customers to purchase the Times. But those attributes don’t cause
me to buy that paper—or any product…. Correlation does not
reveal the one thing that matters most in innovation—the
causality behind why I might purchase a particular solution.”

15. Why are even qualitative methods not
enough?
Amazing product you are
working on. This is the exact
solution our huge company is
looking for. Go ahead and
spend millions on building the
product. See you in three
years!
- CEO of your dream
customer

16. You need some kind of commitment to
validate your business idea!

17. The three”commitment-currencies”
Cash Time Brand
- B2B: Pay and we will
build /pilot customer
- B2C: Crowd funding
- B2B: Collaboration
agreements, free beta
version etc.
- B2C: Most consumer
apps are initially free
- Co-founders!
- Agreements with
famous companies
- Scientific advisors
- Board members
- Celebrities…

18. Commitment: That’s exactly how
succesfull entrepeneurs work!
Note: Commitment not
only from customers, but
also from other
stakeholders:
• Co-founders
• Employees (at very
low salary…)
• Partners
• Investors
• Etc.
Prof. Saras
Sarasvathy

19. 2: Thor Angelo (09.15-09.30)
Serial entrepreneur: LanguageWire,
OrderYoyo, MyMonii etc.
Founder perspective:
How I validate new
business ideas

20. 3: David Ventzel (09.30-09.45)
General Partner at Accelerace Invest and
Overkill Ventures
Accelerator perspective:
Insights on business
validation from working with
hundreds of startups

21. 4: Live Q & A session (09.45-10.00)
How to validate business
ideas?
• Thor Angelo, serial entrepreneur
(LanguageWire, OrderYoyo; MyMonii
etc.)
• David Ventzel, General Partner at
Accelerace Invest and Overkill ventures
• Nicolaj Højer Nielsen, serial
entrepreneur, investor and external
lecturer at CBS

22. Outro
- Nicolaj Højer Nielsen

23. Open door: September 2nd
- Apply at www.preseedacademy.dk

24. We will also be at TechBBQ Digital
- stay tuned for more info!
September 17-18