University of Georgia

Schedule

University of Georgia I-Corps cohort October 2017

Location

Classes will be taught at the Jackson Street Building from 5-7PM on Mondays and Coaching Sessions will also be held at the Jackson Street Building on Thursdays.

Accelerator Schedule

Startup Combine

The Startup Combine (think NFL Combine) is a networking event to match projects in need of help with free agents looking for projects to work on.

Each team will provide a brief (2 min) description of what their technology accomplishes and what their team is looking for.

The Combine will be at Studio 225 and run from 5PM to 7PM.

Preparing for Week 1:

  • Watch the following online assignment: Business Models and Customer Development, Lesson 3 and Lesson 4
  • Prepare a two-slide presentation to briefly introduce your team and your project. All teams will be expected to present the 2 slide presentation on May 20.

Week 1

Class Topics

  • Background and History of I-Corps Program
  • Business Model Canvas Basics
  • Developing & Testing Hypotheses
  • Customer Interviewing Techniques
  • Team Presentation
    • Introductory presentation (3 Minutes, 2 Slides)

Coaching Session Expectations:

  • 10 Potential Interviewees
  • Mock Interview Preparation

Week 2 Homework Assignments & Deliverables

    • Complete the value proposition and customer segments of Business Model Canvas
    • Watch the following: Lesson 6: Customer Segments
    • Complete 10 customer interviews

Week 2

Class Topics

  • Market Research
  • Introduction to Intellectual Property
  • Team Presentation

Coaching Session Expectation

  • Total Addressable Market (TAM), Served Available Market (SAM), and Target Market (TM) Estimates
  • Review first 10 customer interviews

Week 3 Homework Assignments & Deliverables

Week 3

Class Topics

  • Risk and Mitigation
  • Funding Strategies and Sources
  • Guidelines and Example of a Final Presentation
  • Team Presentations

Coaching Session Expectation:

  • Final presentation draft
  • Give a practice presentation
  • Review 10 new customer interviews

Week 4 Homework Assignments & Deliverables

  • Conduct additional customer interviews
  • Prepare fa final presentation draft

Weeks 4-5 Coaching

We are giving two weeks for teams to gather more customer interviews to better develop their value proposition. We will touch base with each group during the usual Thursday I-Corps Coaching times to ensure they are on track and are honing their final pitch.

Coaching Session Expectation:

  • Review new customer interviews
  • Final presentation draft
  • Give a practice presentation

Final Presentation

Final Presentation!

We will be inviting local innovation members, funding agencies and interested UGA community members to a celebration event with each team completing the presentations and networking afterwards. See here for an article from last cohort: Bringing innovative research to market

Your presentations should be no more than 7 minutes:

  • Introduction and 7 words (30 seconds)
  • Technical Background (1 minute 30 seconds)
  • Market (1 minute)
  • Interview Sources/Results (2 minutes 30 seconds)
  • Learnings and Next Steps (1 minute 30 seconds)

Good luck!