Schedule

From Problem to Purpose – Technical Founder-Market Fit: Exercise on identifying real-world problems and founder-market fit.
Activities include:
• 20-10-10 exercise (products, problems, causes).
• Small group feedback sessions to refine ideas.

Guest Speaker: Fireside chat with entrepreneur & investor Michael Donohue (fmr WhatsApp Eng Dir)

Vertical Deep Dive – Choosing Your Playing Field: Workshop on competitive analysis and market landscapes.
Activities include:
• Conducting a domain scan for developments, pain points, and constraints.
• Orienting to various competitive analysis views (grids, landscapes, blue ocean).
• Finding a technical advantage/approach

Guest Speaker – Competition and Markets: Expert discussion on vertical-specific opportunities and competition - where and how to look. Deep Tech Focus
Learning goals include:
• Exploring opportunity zones.
• Understanding vertical constraints.
• Learning how founders define competition and pursue wedge opportunities.

Idea to Customer Insights & Digital Sketching: Hands-on design thinking (humanity-centered design)
Activities include:
• ICPs & Anti ICPs
• Applying the "5 Whys" exercise and concept sketching
• Using FIGMA to quick sketch FE

Guest Speaker: Guest Pete Koomen from YC shares insights on his story and customer/product validation from his time building Optimizely.
Learning goals include:
• Validation techniques.
• Understanding how early insights shift product direction.
• Exploring AI's role in product development.

How Real Products Start: Practical workshop on low-cost strategies to acquire early users and retain them.
Activities include:
• Landing Pages
• Defining compelling offers for initial trials.
• Using automation to assist (not lead) acquisition e.g., Make.com, Lindy, n8n, etc

Guest Speaker: Tactics for bootstrapping initial customer acquisition and community building.
Learning goals include:
• Understanding product trial.
• Practical user acquisition without large budgets.
• Exploring onboarding, activation, and retention patterns.

Building a Team: Frameworks for structuring founding teams, defining roles, and navigating equity splits when you are the technical or product lead.
Activities include:
• Reflecting on founder strengths and mapping core functions (note AI's role).
• Discussing founder gaps with peers.
• Unique communication/style challenges of technical leaders

Guest Speaker: Lisa will help us discuss recruiting dynamics, conflict resolution, and equity structure.
Learning goals include:
• Understanding technical team structuring for speed.
• Learning how early-stage equity impacts dynamics.
• Exploring how to assess co-founders for alignment.

Startup Budgets: Workshop on creating milestone-based budgets and understanding burn rate.
Activities include:
• Defining milestones and mapping necessary resources.
• Grouping projected needs into cost buckets.
• Tactical Workshop + Financial Case Study: Fractional CFO or finance expert demystifies financial modeling.

Tactical Workshop + Financial Case Study: Fractional CFO or finance expert demystifies financial modeling.
Learning goals include:
• 18-month financial runway.
• Fixed vs. variable costs.
• Tough decision-making.

Raising Capital: Funding sources and identifying aligned investors.
Activities include:
• Reviewing capital categories and defining startup funding needs.
• Mapping startup profiles to investor types for fit.

Guest Speaker
Learning goals include:
• Understanding how different capital sources operate.
• Learning fundraising as a relationship.
• Identifying how to align stage, story, and source.

Spring Break (no class)

Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy – Sales: Session on developing a GTM plan.
Activities include:
• Identifying customer segments and listing where customers gather.
• Drafting an outreach message and getting feedback on tone and effectiveness.
• MVP Demos

Guest Speaker: Strategies for building initial sales momentum.
Learning goals include:
• Understanding early-stage channels, pricing, and sales experiments.
• Learning the basics of product-led growth, pilots, and customer activation.
• Developing confidence in selling.

Startup Legal Factors – Visas, Entities, and Operating Clean: Overview of early-stage legal decisions: incorporation, IP, immigration, and founder agreements.
Activities include:
• Completing a startup legal audit and reviewing case studies.
• Identifying red flags and sharing insights with peers.

Guest Speaker: Immigration attorney & startup attorney.
Learning goals include:
• Understanding visa impact on startups.
• Learning incorporation timing and avoiding co-founder legal risks.
• IP Protection

Storytelling: Crafting narratives.
Activities include:
• Sketching story angles
• Using data to tell your stories
• Complex storytelling

Guest Speaker: Building brands and communities through public storytelling.
Learning goals include:
• Crafting authentic stories.
• Learning to write engaging posts.

Poster Making: Workshop on developing a compelling, founder-driven pitch.
Activities include:
• Filling a pitch structure, centering founder voice, and engaging in peer review.

Live Pitch Sketches (select participants) + Peer Review: Live pitch practice and structured peer feedback.
Learning goals include:
• Live practice
• Receiving feedback

CMU Spring Carnival (no class)

Poster Demo Day Prep & Poster Critique: Refining Demo Day posters for clarity, visual communication, and emotional engagement.
Activities include:
• Engaging in peer critique and revising posters based on feedback.

Live Poster Pitches + Demo Day Simulation: Rapid-fire presentation session with peer and instructor feedback.

Final Event – Demo Day Poster Session: Public showcase of final startup posters.
Expectations include:
• Delivering a series of 60-90 second pitches.
• Engaging with visitors and gathering feedback.
• Networking with founders, funders, mentors, and collaborators.