1.
TiE Workshop
Startup 101:
Finding your business model
Pallav Barah
Nagarjun Kandukuru
Krishnan Natarajan
Manish Govind Pillewar

2.
Objective
A guidebook for startups
Experiential, hands on learning
Value derived is through your effort

3.
Agenda
Friday Oct 5 Oct 6 - 12 Friday Oct 12
9:30 – 10:00 Customer investigation – in the 9:30 – 10:30
Welcome / agenda / introductions field Retrospective
10:00 – 10:30 10:30 – 1:00
Startup models Team presentations
10:30 – 11:00 1:00 – 2:00
Business Model Canvas (BMC) & Lunch
examples
11:00 – 1:00 2:00 – 3:00
Exercise: BMC Guest speaker: VC
1:00 – 1:30 3:00 – 3:30
MVP & examples Summary / wrapup
1:30 – 2:30
Lunch
2:30 – 4:00
Exercise: MVP
4:00 – 5:00
Best practices for customer investigation
5:00 – 5:30
Networking

4.
Startup models

5.
Story of the $23 million startup

6.
Cautionary tale

7.
1998 1998 1998 1999 1999 2000 2000
Mar Jun Oct Jan Sep March Jun
Analytics No investor Shift to Start Launch Shut down Liquid-
platform traction E-commerce company web site ation
for Telecom

8.
2 focus
group sessions
Telecom carrier
No customer contact
negotiations
1998 1998 1998 1999 1999 2000 2000
Mar Jun Oct Jan Sep March Jun
Analytics No investor Shift to Start Launch Shut down Liquid-
platform traction E-commerce company web site ation
for Telecom

9.
Who was that entrepreneur?

10.
Traditional start-up model
Build product Big-Bang
Develop concept Build product Alpha /test
Alpha beta Customer
test Launch after
Shipment
Get funding and offering Market test
3 years
Write business plan
Build the product Test / fix Ship / fix
Planning / collateral PR / plan launch Launch /
Demand gen.
Initial sales rep Build sales team /
selling

11.
“Big Up Front Design”
Develop concept Build product
Build product Alpha /test
Alpha beta Customer
Big-Bang
Get funding and offering test
Market test Shipment
Launch
Unbridled False sense of Rude Resetting Predictable
enthusiasm security awakening expectations disaster

12.
Traditional start-up practices aren’t working
90-95% of new ventures fail to meet projections

13.
Story of the Rs. 500 start-up

14.
Who is this legendary entrepreneur?
Karsanbhai Patel
Nirma

15.
How do you compete with a Rs. 200cr brand?
Answer: Start on a bicycle!

16.
Lessons from Karsanbhai and Nirma
Start small, but with a strong vision
Clear value-prop for untapped segment
Constantly validate all assumptions in the market
Iterate and learn

17.
Finding your business model

18.
2 stages of start-ups
Search Scale
Focus on Focus on
Experimentation Execution
Source: “Startup Owner’s Manual”, Blank & Dorf

19.
When to use this approach
Appropriate Limited value
New markets / new product Established categories
Bootstrap businesses Capital intensive industries
Disruptive businesses Established businesses
Examples: web, mobile Examples: retail store,
car company

20.
Search Principle # 1: Business Model Canvas
KEY KEY VALUE CUSTOMER CUSTOMER
PARTNERS ACTIVITIES RELATIONSHIPS SEGMENTS
PROPOSITION
KEY
RESOURCES CHANNELS
COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS
Source: “Business Model Generation”, Osterwalder & Pigneur

21.
Search Principle #2: Minimum Viable Product
Minimum + Viable
Fertile area for new products
Minimum Viable
Too-basic products Incumbent
no one wants products

22.
Excel competitor: Minimum Viable ?

23.
Minimum Viable ?

24.
Minimum Viable Product for Google Docs
Value
prop

25.
Search Principle #3: Focus on exploration
Ideas
Learn Build
Minimize the total
time through the loop
Data
Offering
Measure

26.
How it all fits together
Agile software development

27.
Business Model Canvas

28.
What are the children carrying?
Godrej ChotuKool

29.
Vision: “Refrigeration for rural India”
KEY KEY VALUE CUSTOMER CUSTOMER
PARTNERS ACTIVITIES PROPOSITION RELATIONSHIPS SEGMENTS
R&D Through
Microfinance PR retailers Indian
institutions Advertising Economical, households
effective, with income
Sarpanchs portable
KEY of
RESOURCES cooling CHANNELS Rs.10,000/m
solution o whom
Frugal Rural retailers
Village traditional
engineering (constraints of
electricity, ambassadors refrigerators
experts
space, cost don’t serve
solved)
COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS
Factory, raw material, SG&A Unit sales

30.
Competitive BMCs
vs.

31.
Flipkart
KEY KEY VALUE CUSTOMER CUSTOMER
PARTNERS ACTIVITIES RELATIONSHIPS SEGMENTS
PROPOSITION
KEY
RESOURCES CHANNELS
COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS

32.
Flipkart: “Online shopping for all Indians”
KEY KEY VALUE CUSTOMER CUSTOMER
PARTNERS ACTIVITIES RELATIONSHIPS SEGMENTS
• Supply chain optimisation PROPOSITION
Through email, online
Publishers • Delivery optimisation chat and database • Urban Indian
• SEO marketing
• Convenience book lovers
• Auto recommendations
• Wide selection
• Cheaper • Internet-
• Trust (CoD) connected
KEY people with no
RESOURCES CHANNELS
credit cards
• Delivery staff Web
• Technology • First-time
capability online
shoppers
COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS
Book sales
Technology, warehouses, deep discounts

33.
Crossword
KEY KEY VALUE CUSTOMER CUSTOMER
PARTNERS ACTIVITIES RELATIONSHIPS SEGMENTS
PROPOSITION
KEY
RESOURCES CHANNELS
COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS

34.
Crossword: “The best browsing experience”
KEY KEY VALUE CUSTOMER CUSTOMER
PARTNERS ACTIVITIES RELATIONSHIPS SEGMENTS
• Sourcing PROPOSITION
In store, Crossword
• Publishers • Visual merchandising club
• Franchisees • Urban Indian
• Book reading sessions
• Shopper’s Stop • Browsing book lovers
• Crossword Literary
(parent co) Award experience
• Instant gratification • Companies
KEY • Stationery
RESOURCES CHANNELS
buyers
• Real estate • Store
• Phone • Casual mall
• Web visitors
• Institutional
COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS
• Book sales • Coffee
Real estate, cost of inventory
• Advertising • Trinkets

35.
Mid Day: “Evening gossip companion”
KEY KEY VALUE CUSTOMER CUSTOMER
PARTNERS ACTIVITIES RELATIONSHIPS SEGMENTS
• Brand building PROPOSITION
• Distribution • Transactional • Mumbai
• PTI, AP etc. • Deep multi-year
• Newsgathering English-
high-touch
• Light speaking mass
• Improving ABC numbers relationships market
entertainment
in key demographics after/during a busy • Office-goers
day • Commuters
KEY
• “2nd newspaper” CHANNELS
RESOURCES Advertisers +
• Journalists • Mumbai-wide • Railway platforms Agencies:
reach of readers in • Kirana shops • Mass market
• Salespeople with a relaxed context • Mumbai
media-planning in a unique time • Direct • Classified
knowhow window • Discount
COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS
• Retail offtake (5%)
Newsroom, newsprint
• Advertising (95%)

36.
Summary: why BMCs are important
Elevator pitch – quick summary
Maximize time from your mentors/advisors
Compare with your competitors
The foundation for your business plans / planning

37.
Exercise:
Develop BMC / vision statement

38.
Vision statement
KEY KEY VALUE CUSTOMER CUSTOMER
PARTNERS ACTIVITIES RELATIONSHIPS SEGMENTS
PROPOSITION
KEY
RESOURCES CHANNELS
COST STRUCTURE REVENUE STREAMS

39.
Minimum viable product

40.
MVP example #1: Demo video

41.
MVP example #2: Balsamiq mockup

42.
MVP example #3: Mock brochure
“A lot of technology entrepreneurs, confuse
shipping and selling. They are two distinct and
separate activities. You don’t need a product to
try to sell something. Immerse yourself with
prospective clients; understand where their pain
points are.”
- Greg Gianforte, serial enterpreneur

43.
Definitions
• Version of a new product which allows a team to
collect the maximum amount of validated
learning about customers with the least effort
• Anything that helps validate a market for your
product

44.
Hard for customers to visualise Easy for customers to visualise
Ask Commission Mock Balsamiq Demo Real
friends/ex market brochure mock-up video product
perts research
Easy to implement, early Hard to do, late learning
learning

45.
Making your own MVP
Market risk Execution
risk

46.
MVP template
Identify the #1 market-facing risk for your idea
Design 1-week experiment that will help you validate the idea,
keeping in mind the risk
Define success criteria for the experiment

47.
Steve Jobs v. Steve Blank
Vision is important; so is validation

48.
Exercise:
Develop MVP

49.
MVP
Differentiating features / capabilities:
• 1
• 2
Features for viability:
• 1
• 2

50.
Best practices:
customer investigation
“There are no facts inside the building”
Source: “Startup Owner’s Manual”, Blank & Dorf

51.
Customer discovery
Assignment
✔
Docu ✔
Document Test Test Proceed
ment
hypothesis problem solution (or pivot)

52.
Customer discovery objectives
Talk to minimum 10 prospects
Validate problem

53.
Finding customers
Target list of 30+ (to get 10) - Identify specific personas
Sources:
• Email contacts / Friends and family / Social media: Linkedin,
Facebook/Quora / Warm Introductions
Pitch:
• Communicate your idea in 10 seconds or less
• “Want to ask for you advice – this is not a sales pitch”
• “Have been asked to talked to you by TiE”
Should be able to get useful input in 15 min.

54.
Interview principles
Customers are interested in their problem, not necessarily your
solution
Ask customers to describe problem(s) in their own words
Focus on behavior, not preconceived ideas / statements
Be inquisitive, don’t challenge
Ask open-ended questions
Observe the environment of the customer

55.
Interview questions
Poor questions:
• “Do you think this is a good idea?”
• “Do you like this (proposed) solution?”
• “Would you buy this product?”
• “How much would you pay for this?”
Good questions:
• “How do you currently deal with this problem?”
• “What alternatives have you considered?”
• “How much does this problem cost you today?”
• “Would you pay Rs. 1 crore to solve the problem?”

56.
Suggestions on how to probe
Walk me through the last time you faced this problem.
What was the impact on you?
How did you feel about the situation?
How frequently do you encounter this problem?
When the problem occurs, how critical / urgent is it?
How are you currently solving the problem?
What do you like / dislike the current solution?
Ask the “Why” behind the “what”.

57.
What to observe
Time spent talking about a particular issue
Observe their body language and expressions
“Yes” means no; “Where can I buy it?” means maybe; “Here’s
$20 dollars” means yes.

58.
Concluding Thoughts
Take notes (as quickly as possible)
Be prepared to find new problem(s)
Thank them
Ask for introductions

59.
Wrap up

60.
Acknowledgements
http://theleanstartup.com/ www.businessmodelgeneration.com www.steveblank.com

61.
Thank you!
knataraj@thoughtworks.com
nag@thoughtworks.com
pallavb@thoughtworks.com
mpillew@thoughtworks.com

62.
TiE Workshop:
Best practices and practical principles for
startups (Day 2)
Pallav Barah
Krishnan Natarajan
Manish Govind Pillewar

63.
Agenda
Friday Oct 5 Oct 6 - 12 Friday Oct 12
9:30 – 10:00 Customer investigation – in the 9:30 – 10:30
Welcome / agenda / introductions field Retrospective
10:00 – 10:30 10:30 – 1:00
Startup models Team presentations
10:30 – 11:00 1:00 – 2:00
Business Model Canvas (BMC) & Lunch
examples
11:00 – 1:00 2:00 – 3:00
Exercise: BMC Guest speaker: VC
1:00 – 1:30 3:00 – 3:30
MVP & examples Summary / wrapup
1:30 – 2:30
Lunch
2:30 – 4:00
Exercise: MVP
4:00 – 5:00
Best practices for customer investigation
5:00 – 5:30
Networking

64.
Retrospective
How were you able to find customers?
How many assumptions on the BMC were validated?
How many BMC assumptions were invalidated?
What were your biggest surprises?
Was this approach useful?

65.
Thank you!
knataraj@thoughtworks.com
pallavb@thoughtworks.com
mpillew@thoughtworks.com