Curriculum — Summer 2015

Curriculum — Summer 2015Throughout the 3-month program in Boston, Dat Venture Members are guided through a curriculum that covers key topics affecting their expansion to the US market. Guest speakers, generally serial entrepreneurs, investors and university professors, lead sessions following different formats: lecture, workshop, one-to-one mentorship, and others.

Dat Venture. All Rights Reserved. 2015

WEEK 1 HELLO BOSTON

WEEK 2 PRODUCT-MARKET FIT

WEEK 3 GO-TO-MARKET

WEEK 4 OPERATIONS

WEEK 5-6 FUNDRAISING & BUSINESS MODEL

WEEK 7-8 LAB TIME

WEEK 9-12 GROWTH STRATEGY

Dat Venture and Krash

Government Greetings 6/17/2015

MOITI, MassTech Collaborative, MA

Clean-Tech Center, MA Life Sciences Center

6/16/2015

Growth MindsetDat Venture and Ramon Sanchez

(Harvard University)

Greentown Labs, Harvard Innovation Lab,

MassChallengeStartup Community

Fellow Matchmaking

WEEK 1 — HELLO BOSTON

Welcome to Boston Dat Venture and WeWork

SESSION DATE LEADER/s DESCRIPTION

Recommended Read

Startup = Growth by Paul Graham, 2012. paulgraham.com/growth.html

To Visit

Harvard Square, CambridgeMIT and Charles River, Cambridge

6/20/2015

6/19/2015

Key Deliverables

• Elevator Pitch• Mission, Vision and Strategy• Executive Summary• Fellow Matching

6/18/2015

Overview of the day-to-day at Dat Venture, elevator pitches, project management tools and logistics issues, including orientation at WeWork and Krash.

International trade divisions of MA Government welcome Dat Venture Members and encourage them to reach out for connections, tax incentives and advise as they choose MA as their first US market.

Generation of roadmap to define key objectives and strategic matters for the program.

Dat Venture team, Members and Fellows visit some flagship startup communities in Boston, Cambridge and Somerville.

Members and Fellows meet over wine to build community. Fellows are a great resource for time-constrained founders that need additional manpower to grow.

Landing Page for Conversion

Testing the Market

James Paskett (UX Designer)

6/23/2015

6/23/2015

Martin Steinmann (Dat Venture)

Product Management

Tandhoni Rao(Salbec Solutions)

Customer Discovery 6/24/2015

6/27/2015 &

6/28/2015

Balaji Viswanathan(Black Duck Software)

WEEK 2 — PRODUCT-MARKET FIT

Design-Thinking

Geordie Kaytes(Fresh Tilled Soil)

-Lee Moreau(Continuum)


Key Deliverables

• Customer persona mapping• Strategy office hours• Design of landing page for conversion• Usability testing

6/25/2015

Recommended Read

The Design Sprint by Google Venturesgv.com/sprint/

To Visit

Copley Square, BostonMuseum of Fine Arts, Boston

Understand how to apply human-centered design principles to tackle complex challenges. Learn techniques to improve ideation and prototyping.

What to include in a headline; How to craft the perfect testimonial;Tips for reducing distractions on your page;The best call-to-action and how it affects your marketing funnel.

Learn various qualitative and quantitative methods to help you discover who your audience is and how to quantify the data. Find out about empathy mapping and work on your lean persona development.

Learn various ways to develop usability tests, and assessment of product-market fit using data-driven product marketing tools.

Understand each phase of a product life cycle, and the development stages needed to develop them. Identify the different methods of developing a product.

How to get people on your site, get them on your email list, and develop customers with virality.

7/01/2015

Branding 6/30/2015 Miriam Christof(JustJump Marketing)

Ryan MacInnis (Twitter)

-Nikki Nash

(Rest Devices)

7/01/2015Content Marketing

Growth Hacking Maneesh Sethi(Pavlok) 7/02/2015

David Wallace (Emerson College)

and Bobbi Carlton

(MassInnovation)

Community / PR

WEEK 3 — GO-TO-MARKET

Sourcing, qualifying leads and optimizing CRM

Chris Wolfel(Mavrck)


Key Deliverables

• CRM update• Sales documentation update• Review of landing page• Create a piece of content marketing

Recommended Read

Marketing Resources by Hubspothubspot.com/free-marketing-resources

To Visit

Provincetown, Cape CodQuincy Market, Boston

Create a brand statement, value proposition, and customer experience guidelines that create the foundation for future marketing efforts.

Articulate brand components to create a brand brief. Describe the relationship. between content and branding, and its impact on sales.

Learn how to throw key forms of community events to increase brand affinity and encourage in-person interaction.

Design a sales strategy, research and segment the local market for new prospects and re-think your CRM approach. Define sales and growth KPIs.

7/03/2015

7/7/2015

Corporate Structure and Board of Advisors TBD Peter Boyce

(General Catalyst)

Mintz-Levin7/9/2015Navigating Inmigration

Product Management Jose Colucci (IDEO)TBD

Francesco Liuzzi(Crimsom Hexagon)

Data Analytics

WEEK 4 — OPERATIONS

Team Leadership Enrico Palmerino(SmartBooks)


Recommended Read

Leadership that Gets Results by Harvard Business Review

To Visit

MIT Museum, Cambridge SOWA Market, Boston

Best practices in recruiting, retaining and growing talent as well as how to build a culture within your team.

How to build a corporate structure that attracts investors. The importance and role of the Board of Advisors and how to build one.

An overview of the legal challenges faced by foreign founders in the US and how to overcome them effectively.

How customer needs translate into features of a product, and the underlying risks and assumptions associated with new features.

Apply rigorous analytical methods to collect, clean, and analyze data using Excel, SQL, and Tableau. Create data visualizations and dashboards to communicate data-driven insights.

Key Deliverables

• Identify team needs and candidates.• Design of Board of Advisors.• Build trusted relationship with local influencer.• Entrepreneur visa fact sheet.• Revised business documentation.

TBD

7/14/2015-

TBD

Revenue Stream Analysis and Valuation Methods

7/15/2015 -

TBD

Mimi Evans (The Bulfinch Group)

-Elliot Rotstein

(Mgmt Planning Inc)

Wan Li (Fairhaven Capital)

-Steve Anastos (Bain Capital)

7/14/2015 -7/21/2015

Investment Vehicles and Investor Types

Pitch Events and Public Speaking

Greg Bohenko (T3 Advisors)

-Chuck Goldstone

(New Venture Institute)

7/16/2015-

TBD

David Benaim(Sigma Prime VC)

-Adam de Sola

(Angel investor)

How and When to Approach Investors

WEEK 5-6 — FUNDRAISING & BUSINESS MODEL

Business Documentation

Alex Zavorski(Veracode)

-Laurie Stach

(MIT)


Key Deliverables

• Financial Modeling and Valuation• Fundraising Strategy• Demo to Investors• Strategic after-Dat planning

Recommended Read

A Fundraising Survival Guide, by Paul Grahampaulgraham.com/fundraising.html

To Visit

Top of the Hub, BostonPortland, Maine

Overview of business documents: executive summary, pitch deck, business plan and due diligence.

Refine your financial model, map relationships, and prioritize predictions. Use and compare different methods to valuate your company.

Learn which investment vehicle fits your strategy, ranging from convertible notes, to debt equity and equity loans. Assess which type of investors better suits your startup.

Various opportunities to practice startup pitches. How to adjust your story according to the audience.

Learn what investors are looking for in an early-stage company. Best practices on building trusted relationships with angel investors and VCs.

TBD-

7/27/2015

http://paulgraham.com/fundraising.html

http://paulgraham.com/fundraising.html

TBD

Hackathon TBD Dat Venture

Dat VentureStrategy Office Hours

Investor Day Dat Venture’s investor communityTBD

Dat VentureTeam Building Office Hours

WEEK 7-8 — LAB TIME

Presentation at Santander Bank ISBAN US HQ


Key Deliverables

• Recruiting strategy• Demo to Investors• Strategic after-Dat planning• Meeting with at least one potential

paying customer

Recommended Read

The Art of the Start, by Guy Kawasaki

To Visit

Newport, Rhode IslandMIT Museum, Cambridge

TBD

Presentations delivered to executive team at Santander to receive feedback and build relationships.

Test and build a new Idea in 48 hours.

Meet with the Dat Venture’s Strategy Team to assess how to prepare for after the program.

Pitch to several investors in a private event.

Meet with the Dat Venture’s Strategy Team to lay out a recruiting strategy for the Boston team.

TBD

WEEK 9-12 — GROWTH STRATEGY

Business Development

Strategy Office Hours

Hustle with Fellows

Demo Day

Customer Visits

Strategic Partnerships

Fundraising

Board of Advisors

Recruiting

Move Rapidly

Hack the System

Pivot to Find Product-Market Fit

Pitch to Dat Venture’s Community

Demo your Product

Build Relationships

Guest Speakers and Instructors

Biographies are listed by alphabetical order.

Greg Bohenko Associate at T3 Advisors An Associate in T3’s Boston office and a member of its Emerging Technology Sector, Greg is passionate about advising entrepreneurs and being an integral part of the booming tech and innovation culture taking place in Boston. His passion for real estate began as a college student when he realized how vital “space and place” is in people’s lives, whether as tenants, first-time home buyers, or companies. His experience uniquely positions him to understand the real estate market and current trends and advise other entrepreneurs as they seek to locate and develop workplaces that truly reflect the culture of their organizations. Greg studied Finance & Management at UMass, Lowell.

Steve Anastos VC at Bain Capital Ventures Steve joined Bain Capital Ventures in 2014 and focuses on venture and growth-stage investments in technology-enabled businesses. Prior to joining Bain Capital Ventures, Steve was a strategy consultant at Altman Vilandrie & Company, where he worked on engagements across telecommunications and digital media, and advised on M&A transactions in the internet infrastructure space. Steve graduated cum laude from Harvard, where he studied History and Economics. His senior thesis on the creation of Medicare and Medicaid earned departmental High Honors.

David Benaim Sigma Prime Fellow at Sigma Prime Ventures David's worked with companies of all sizes, from early stage startups to publicly traded companies in the US, South America and Israel, covering Web, Mobile, Bio-Tech, IT & network security, SaaS/Cloud and enterprise software solutions. Prior to his tenure at Sigma Prime, David was CTO at Mobile Messaging Solutions where he led a team to implement nationwide audience voting for American Idol.

Peter Boyce VC at General Catalyst Peter is an Associate at General Catalyst Partners, where he focuses on investments in early-stage technology businesses. His areas of special interest include financial services, enterprise IT, consumer services and new media. He is based in the firm’s Cambridge office. Before joining GC, Peter was the Co-Founder of Rough Draft Ventures, a student partnership, co-founded by General Catalyst, investing at the earliest stage in student startups, to help them in their journey from rough drafts to products in markets. Peter also co-founded Harvard College Venture Partners and HackHarvard and is a graduate of Harvard University, earning a B.A. in Applied Mathematics and a Secondary in Computer Science.

Miriam Christof Principal at JustJump Marketing Miriam Christof is an innovative marketing strategist and digital media expert. Her unique expertise is melding business and marketing strategy, so that marketing programs seamlessly serve business objectives and provide a financial ROI. Miriam's passion for leveraging digital marketing strategy, rigorous analytics and metrics-infused process to drive business results and create successful lead generation programs led her to found JustJump Marketing in 2011.

William Coffman Attorney at Mintz-Levin LLC Bill’s legal work focuses on immigration and nationality law, as well as outbound emigration and related international law. Bill regularly represents clients in immigration matters before the US Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS) and the Department of Labor, as well as before US and foreign consulates. He received his JD from the University of Houston and a Masters in Percussion Performance from the University of Michigan.

José Colucci Sr. Portfolio Director at IDEO José Colucci is a Sr. Portfolio Director and an Associate Partner at IDEO. His interests range from the design and development of medical devices to strategy, trends and innovation in technology, science and healthcare. He’s authored many patents and written on topics from the biotech revolution to design thinking. Recently, he’s been researching and speaking about the impact of aging on society and its implications for the design of products and services. José holds a PhD in Biomedical Engineering from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

Mimi Evans Financial Strategist at Bulfinch Group As Founder and CEO of internet research firm salesquest.com, Mimi Evans grew and successfully negotiated an exit to a large international research firm in 2014. Her prior experience includes leadership roles at technology companies like IBM, Netscape and Eastman Kodak. Over her career she has held top positions in sales, marketing, channels, finance, and sales operations. She is currently an angel investor and financial strategist, dedicated to helping and leading young companies and small businesses to a place where they excel and build their financial fortitude.

Geordie Kaytes Director of UX Strategy at Fresh Tilled Soil Geordie specializes in product and service design and also brings a wealth of experience in new product launch strategy, market research, and process design. He shares his design, front-end, and UX expertise by teaching at the Startup Institute and Intelligent.ly, as well as managing our apprenticeship program here at Fresh Tilled Soil. He is a graduate of Startup Institute and Yale University.

Lee Moreau Principal at Continuum As an architect turned strategist, Lee combines a unique capacity for complex systems thinking with a deeply empathic perspective, which he uses to critically engage and re-imagine the contemporary world. Lee leads the firm’s Space Group and has led service design projects for a diverse group of clients — such as BBVA, Staples, P&G, Chili’s and Kaiser Permanente — that blur the boundaries between content and experience. Previously, he worked as a designer at IDEO and at the Rockwell Group and received his BA from Bennington College and a Masters of Architecture from Rice University.

Francesco Liuzzi Research Engineer at Crimson Hexagon Francesco is an experienced software engineer and data scientist, having developed patented solutions in the fields of Natural Language Processing, Artificial Intelligence and Big Data. On the side, he collaborates with startups as a technical advisor and plays piano.

Ryan MacInnis Product Marketing Manager at Twitter Before Ryan’s time as a Product Marketing Manager at Twitter, he was a core team member at one of Boston’s fastest growing startups—Acquia--where he developed messaging, positioning, go-to-market programs, and collateral for new Acquia Cloud features and capabilities. A Massachusetts native, Ryan is also a MassChallenge mentor and TEDx speaker.

Enrico Palmerino Managing Director at SmartBooks Enrico served as the CEO and co-founder of ThinkLite – a lighting efficiency firm which he grew from dorm room to #46 on Inc's 500 List before exiting. He is frequently recognized by the media for his entrepreneurial success and was named Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25 and ranked #2 among the Best Young Entrepreneurs in America by Bloomberg Businessweek. He is also an investor and advisor in several startups, keynote speaker at several colleges and organizations, and is on the Board of GVNA Healthcare as well as both the Board of Corporators and the Technology Advisory Committee at Fidelity Bank.

James Paskett Freelance Designer & Developer James is a finance and business administration escapee who now focuses his effort into design and development. His work includes developing and deploying Ruby on Rails applications through an outside-in test-driven development process at Launch Academy, and a stint at Pavlok as a UX/UI designer at Pavlok. James holds a bachelors from The Ohio State University.

Adam de Sola Pool Venture Mentor & Angel Investor With over 16 years experience being an early stage venture capitalist in central European environmental, cleantech and renewable energy SME’s, Adam knows how to both provide capital (debt and equity) as well as coach management teams into being growth stage companies. Of the 20 environmental and renewable energy companies Adam has invested in and mentored: 6 have been listed, 4 have been sold, 3 remain private, 4 have been liquidated and 3 are still partially owned by Adam. Equity stakes have ranged from 2% to 50%. Adam enjoys being an early stage venture capitalist / angel investor.

Tan Rao CTO at Salbec Solutions Tan is a hands-on senior engineering leader with an established track record of conceptualizing and bringing innovative products and services to market. Sought after thought leader and frequent industry speaker, has authored numerous articles for technical and trade publications, and holds 6 U.S. patents with 14 patents pending. Areas of technical expertise include wireless, embedded systems, data algorithms and analytics, wearable technology, and crypto-currencies.

Martin Steinmann Dat Venture Martin coaches startups on go-to-market strategies and manages Dat Venture's growth. He has extensive experience as a software founder, CEO, CMO/VPM and former early stage VC. He is also a mentor and judge at MassChallenge as well as at Swissnex Boston. Martin works with founding teams, CEOs, and investors to optimize early stage outcomes--specifically with software SAAS models and metrics, user/customer engagement metrics, and with B2B and B2C go-to-market strategies. Martin works with investors on deal-flow, due-diligence, team building, and risk/market/competitive analysis.

Maneesh Sethi CEO at Pavlok The founder of Pavlok - the wearable device that uses electric shock to help you break bad habits. Plagued by attention and focus issues his entire life, Maneesh decided to invent a technology to help him regain control --- and break the bad habits that held him back. Maneesh and Pavlok have been featured on the Colbert Report, Late Night with Jimmy Fallon, Good Morning America and more. Maneesh also was the founder of Hack the System, where he showed the world how to write NYTimes Bestselling books, became a famous DJ in Berlin, start an NGO in India, travel first class for free, and more.

Ramon Sanchez Director of Corp. Outreach & Strategy, Harvard University Ramon is a certified professional in sustainability, renewable energies, and technology innovation with a Doctor of Science in Environmental Health from the Harvard School of Public Health (HSPH). Before starting his academic life at Harvard, he worked as a Forward Products Lead Engineer at Delphi Automotive Systems (a former division of General Motors, dedicated to the design and manufacturing of electronic components and automotive systems).

Laurie Stach Executive Director at MIT Launch Laurie is the Founder and Executive Director of Launch, a 4-week entrepreneurship program for high school students held at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). She graduated from MIT, worked at GE Energy and in design and innovation at BMW Designworks prior to her MBA at Harvard Business School, and worked as a consultant at Boston Consulting Group. Laurie is also Program Manager at the Martin Trust Center for Entrepreneurship at MIT.

Chris Wolfel CRO & Co-Founder at Mavrck Christopher Wolfel is Co-Founder & CRO at Mavrck, High-growth Venture-Backed Boston based AdTech company who's social influence marketing platform powers premier consumer brands to drive more sales on social media. He is also an Advisory Board Member of IDEA: Northeastern University’s Venture Accelerator, Mentor at YouthCITIES, and the Founder of #GoodBeersGreatPeople, a monthly un-networking event that raises money for local charities.

Alex Zavorski Director of Product Management at Veracode Alex is an entrepreneur and change leader experienced in leading companies, from founding start-ups to publicly traded firms. He is passionate about developing value propositions and business models, and working with people to deliver value throughout organizations. He is currently Director of Product Management at Veracode, holds an MBA from Georgia Tech, and a bachelors from Tufts.

Wan Li Zhu Principal at Fairhaven Capital Wan Li invests in early stage startups as a member of the investment team at Fairhaven Capital. His interest is in applying software and internet technology to solving business problems in industries experiencing rapid change and where opportunities exist to build large, sustainable businesses. He's held roles in product development and marketing at Microsoft in enterprise software, has spent time in online advertising (Google), and in financial services (NYSE, Morgan Stanley).

Balaji Viswanathan Product Manager at Black Duck Software Currently a Product Manager at Black Duck - a VC funded startup in Boston. Balaji also runs a signature business program in my spare time: MBA Bootcamp: Business School on Steroids. He is also an active user of Quora, where he ammases a monthly audience of ~3.5 million. Some of his Quora answers have been published in Time, Fortune, Inc., and Slate among others. He has written a book on contemporary Indian history: From Tryst to Tendulkar. Balaji has a Bachelors in Engineering, MS in Computer Science with a thesis on Intelligent Agents [some of what are now called Internet of Things] and an MBA and worked at Microsoft Redmond helping build Windows and a few research prototypes. He’s also founded 2 startups that went through top incubators.

Strategy Office Hours

The Strategy Office hours are designed to help Dat Venture founders get recurrent input from a group of mentors that have a track record of adding value to startups.

Sagar Desai — Community & Operations Manager at Dat Venture — is responsible for serving Dat Venture members with the medium to schedule office hours with the mentors listed below:

Growth Strategy:

Ricardo Garcia is a born entrepreneur and passionate about new challenges. He provides expertise to accelerate revenue growth and scaling companies and organizations to a significant stakeholder valuations. He is the President of the Richi Childhood Cancer Foundation, and a Corporate Advisor at Efron Group and Dat Venture.

Available every other Wednesday from 10am - 1pm at WeWork’s 3rd floor.

Design-Thinking:

James Paskett James is a finance and business administration escapee who now focuses his effort into design and development. His work includes developing and deploying Ruby on Rails applications through an outside-in test-driven development process at Launch Academy, and a stint at Pavlok as a UX/UI designer at Pavlok. James holds a bachelors from The Ohio State University.


Fundraising:

Adam de Sola Pool is an angel investor with over 16 years experience being an early stage venture capitalist in central European environmental, cleantech and renewable energy SMEs. Adam knows how to both provide capital (debt and equity) as well as coach management teams into being growth stage companies. Of the 20 environmental and renewable energy

companies Adam has invested in and mentored: 6 have been listed, 4 have been sold, 3 remain private, 4 have been liquidated and 3 are still partially owned by Adam. Equity stakes have ranged from 2% to 50%. Adam enjoys being an early stage venture capitalist / angel investor.


Chris Seale is an entrepreneur and early stage investor passionate about building game-changing companies, developing entrepreneurial communities and helping others become great entrepreneurs. He was the founder and former CEO at Equitable Origin, the first stakeholder-based, comprehensive social and environmental certification system for oil and

gas exploration and production. He is also Entrepreneur-in-Residence at StartupBootcamp, where he has been involved in launching new accelerator programs and raising funds. Chris holds a MBA from Harvard Business School and an undergraduate degree in Economics from Brown University.


Product:

Andreas Randow is an accomplished technology advisor and implementation specialist with 20 years of experience, who has held numerous C-level technology growth roles and also experienced multiple successful exits from his own start-ups. His expertise runs both wide and deep, ranging from highly specific technological details of software and

data architecture, data acquisition and imaging, big data, mobile applications, SaaS, and media services; to business management including turnkey business development; and high-quality

functional design. Formerly VP of Technology for Data Translation, Inc., he is currently CEO of PopSleuth, Inc. and CTO of Hancock Software, Inc. He is also the Startup and Emerging Company Advisor for East Horizon Investments at the Cambridge Innovation Center.

Available every other Monday from 11am to 1pm at Cambridge Innovation Center’s 15th Floor Cafe. More info: http://www.andreasrandow.com/

Venture Cafe:

Venture Café Boston operates spaces, programs and conversations about entrepreneurship in the greater Boston area as part of the Venture Café Foundation. Its flagship event occurs every Thursday evening at the 5th Floor of CIC Cambridge.

Venture Cafe also hosts office hours with some of the most active angel investors in Boston. Entrepreneurs can schedule appointments with mentors here: http://vencaf.org/calendar/

http://vencaf.org/calendar/

Boston, MA

Dat Venture. All Rights Reserved. 2015

Documents

Curriculum — Summer 2015