This was a workshop done for the DBS Hotspot Accelerator program. The intent is to provide guardrails for new accelerator mentors who may have never mentored start-up teams and want to learn from all my many mistakes.

1. BEING AN ACCELERATOR MENTORTIPS AND TRICKS FROM MANY MISTAKES

2. PART ONE
AN INTRODUCTION TO START-UP
ACCELERATOR MENTORSHIP

3. ACTIVITY ONE
WHY ARE MENTORS SO IMPORTANT
IN AN ACCELERATOR PROGRAM?
Individually, in 3 minutes, and
without talking to others, write down
as many benefits of advisors as you
can on post-its. ONE IDEA PER POST-
IT PLEASE

4. ACTIVITY TWO
SHARING UNIQUE IDEAS
Let’s go one by one through our lists.
First person posts post-its to the wall
and explains. If you have the same
idea, bin your post-it. Let’s keep
posting until we have all the unique
ideas

5. BIG IDEA
MENTORS ARE KEY
Teams need someone who….
1. is practical and results focused
2. has an experience earned gut-feel of what
is right
3. will smack them around when needed
4. can bring domain expertise and industry
contacts
5. will be there when they need you (within
reason)

6. ACTIVITY THREE
KNOWING YOURSELF
Each of you tape some flip chart paper
to the wall & use post-its to fill out this
grid. 20 minutes then we discuss a few
MY STRENGTHS AS A
MENTOR
xxxxx
xxxxx xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxx
MY WEAKNESSES AS A
MENTOR
xxxxx
xxxxx xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxx
WHAT “I” WANT OUT
OF THIS PROGRAM
xxxxx
xxxxx xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxx
xxxxxxxxxx
xxxxx

7. PART TWO
USING THE 7V FRAMEWORK TO
QUICKLY IDENTIFY PROBLEM
AREAS

8. Q: What is a value proposition?

9. The value that your product has
for your customer!
NOPE!!!
Fine for marketing class, but not
sufficient

10. ASPECT DESCRIPTION
VALUED Customer will pay money to buy what you are selling
because it addresses a real urgent & intense
need/pain/opportunity

11. URGENT
INTENSE

12. URGENT
INTENSE
YES!
NO!
MAYBE!

13. ASPECT DESCRIPTION
VALUED Customer will pay money to buy what you are selling
because it addresses a real urgent & intense
need/pain/opportunity
VALUABLE The # of customers willing to pay is sufficiently large to fund
your company & your segmentation strategy gets you access
to them effectively

14. women
women who
like nerdsWomen
who like
me
START WITH TOP DOWN

15. TOTAL
SHARE
TOTAL ADDRESSABLE MARKET
TOTAL
SEGMENT SIZE
START WITH TOP DOWN

16. Customers
who
would buy
from me
Customers
who I can
reach
Customers I have capacity to
sell & deliver to
SANITY CHECK WITH BOTTOM UP

17. ASPECT DESCRIPTION
VALUED Customer will pay money to buy what you are selling
because it addresses a real urgent & intense
need/pain/opportunity
VALUABLE The # of customers willing to pay is sufficiently large to fund
your company & your segmentation strategy gets you access
to them effectively
VALID Your product works, is compliant as required, and has the
right features

18. TOMAP PAIN POINTS TO PRODUCT
FEATURES

20. ASPECT DESCRIPTION
VALUED Customer will pay money to buy what you are selling
because it addresses a real urgent & intense
need/pain/opportunity
VALUABLE The # of customers willing to pay is sufficiently large to fund
your company & your segmentation strategy gets you access
to them effectively
VALID Your product works, is compliant as required, and has the
right features
VALUNIQUE You have a sustainable & defensible competitive advantage
and are competing on the right vectors of differentiation

21. No Competitors = No Hope

22. ONE BARRIER-TO-ENTRY PER POINT
IN THE VALUE CHAIN

23. ASPECT DESCRIPTION
VALUED Customer will pay money to buy what you are selling
because it addresses a real urgent & intense
need/pain/opportunity
VALUABLE The # of customers willing to pay is sufficiently large to fund
your company & your segmentation strategy gets you access
to them effectively
VALID Your product works, is compliant as required, and has the
right features
VALUNIQUE You have a sustainable & defensible competitive advantage
and are competing on the right vectors of differentiation
VALUE
CHAIN
You can deliver the product promises across the value chain
and scale with growth

24. WIIFM

25. ASPECT DESCRIPTION
VALUED Customer will pay money to buy what you are selling
because it addresses a real urgent & intense
need/pain/opportunity
VALUABLE The # of customers willing to pay is sufficiently large to fund
your company & your segmentation strategy gets you access
to them effectively
VALID Your product works, is compliant as required, and has the
right features
VALUNIQUE You have a sustainable & defensible competitive advantage
and are competing on the right vectors of differentiation
VALUE
CHAIN
You can deliver the product promises across the value chain
and scale with growth
VALENCE You have a strongly-bonded team with all the right skills to
pull this off

26. form
follows
function

27. ASPECT DESCRIPTION
VALUED Customer will pay money to buy what you are selling
because it addresses a real urgent & intense
need/pain/opportunity
VALUABLE The # of customers willing to pay is sufficiently large to fund
your company & your segmentation strategy gets you access
to them effectively
VALID Your product works, is compliant as required, and has the
right features
VALUNIQUE You have a sustainable & defensible competitive advantage
and are competing on the right vectors of differentiation
VALUE
CHAIN
You can deliver the product promises across the value chain
and scale with growth
VALENCE You have a strongly-bonded team with all the right skills to
pull this off
VALUATION Your cost and revenue models lead to profit and the profit
potential is attractive enough for shareholders and investors

29. http://www.slideshare.net/selenasol/basic-
start-up-valuation-how-much-r-u-worth

30. http://www.slideshare.net/selenasol/99-
questions-winning-entrepreneurs-must-
answer-the-minimum-viable-business-plan

31. http://www.slideshare.net/selenasol/barriers-
to-entry-cheat-your-way-to-success

32. http://www.slideshare.net/selenasol/handling-
presentation-qa

33. PART THREE
ALL THE STUPID SH!T THEY DO

34. ONE
Make sure they do not settle too quickly or too
firmly into an idea/business model.
Keep challenging. The first model is often not the
best model

35. EXAMPLE: SUGARDROP
Technology that uses genetically modified yeasts to
100% naturally reduce the calorie count in juice,
without reducing the sweetness
QUESTION
How many business models can we come up with for
this one technology?

36. • Manufacture, package and sell juice at 7-11
• Sell licenses to juice brands who will setup their own
process for their own SKUs
• Sell machines and bottles of secret sauce to juice
brands to integrate into their plants
• Provide a service where brands ship juice to you and
you send them back reduced-calorie juice
• Create a home-based machine (like a coffee maker) and
sell retail. Insert any juice and our packet into the
machine and enjoy half-calorie juice
• Why did we focus on juice? Would it be better to apply
the same technology to soda?

37. TWO
Keep them focused. A start-up does not have the
resources to simultaneously tackle more than one
segment, more than one customer, or more than
one product.

38. THREE
Make them validate all their assumptions. Any time
they say X is true, make them to prove it to you.
“I’m on your side. I intuitively agree with you that vacation
travelers want a simpler discovery process to find cheaper flights,
but until you prove that hypothesis is true with data points, I’m
taking it as false!”

39. FOUR
Make sure they practice their pitch and do several
rounds of Q&A well before the last-minute

40. FIVE
There is no excuse for lame, bullet-ridden slides –
packaging is often as important as content

41. SIX
Make sure that they treat your time like gold
plan, and stick to, an engagement calendar
prep for all meeting with you
follow-up with minutes and actions
do not become a grammar checker

42. SEVEN
Make sure they know when they are allowed to
contact you, your general SLA to get back to them,
and by what media you prefer.

43. EIGHT
Don’t let them expect all the answers from you
(don’t become a crutch and don’t let yourself show
off)

44. NINE
If you give them networking leads, don’t assume
they understand how to protect your brand

45. questions…