The launch path: Step 1
Listen to the Waves
This is where it all begins.
Where do great startup ideas come from? Do they come from deep moments of contemplation, or brilliant moments of inspiration? The mythology is that startup success begins with “thinking up a great startup idea”. But if you look at startup history, it’s actually very difficult to find examples where it was the idea that made a startup a success. Venture investors know this, of course. They know that whatever idea you pitch them is going to fail. It almost always does. So they invest in founders who they believe will figure out a path to success after the original idea fails. My goal with this course is to make you one of those founders.
“Entrepreneurship is the pursuit of opportunity without regard to resources currently controlled”.
Howard Stevenson, Harvard Business School
Classroom Recording:
View classroom recording on Stanford Canvas.
Download my slides.
Bret’s recording of Lecture:
Special guest:
History of Silicon Valley
Main Reading:
Case Study:
Get your Canvas:
Discussion:
- What have you noticed about where great startup ideas come from? Discuss on Slack.
Assignment:
- Write a simple, clear problem statement for your startup and post to the problem-statement channel. Now post one sentence describing your proposed solution to the solution-statement channel.
Founder Interview:
- Caitlin Landesberg talks about how she come up with her idea for a healthy beer startup. Listen now.