ESL - Entrepreneurial Resources

Lesson 1: Intro to startups and entrepreneurship

📕 Articles:

1. 12 Things I Learned From Starting Two 7-Figure Lifestyle Businesses

2. GROWTH VS. LIFESTYLE BUSINESS: WHICH ONE IS RIGHT FOR YOU?

3. What’s the Difference between a Lifestyle Business and a Scalable Company?

4. What Is the Lean Startup Methodology?

5. The Key Principles Of Lean Startup Methodology

6. A Startup Conversation with Steve Blank

7. What is a startup and how is it different from other companies (new and old)?

📺 Videos:

1. Steve Blank - What is startup?

2. Small Business vs. Startup with Steve Blank // Now I Know

3. Startups vs Small Business: what's the difference?

4. Assumptions Kill Startups - How To Quickly De-Risk Them

Lesson 2: Value Proposition & Customer Discovery

📕 Articles:

1. What is a Value Proposition? (Plus 3 Great Examples and 3 Common Mistakes)

2. Value Propositions: What They Are and How to Create Them (with Examples)

3. Why Value Propositions Are Important (And How To Create Them)

4. Customer discovery according to the Lean Startup methodology

📺 Videos:

1. Strategyzer's Value Proposition Canvas Explained

2. Value Proposition Canvas Explained by Alex Osterwalder

3. The art of innovation | Guy Kawasaki | TEDxBerkeley

4. What is customer discovery?

5. The Customer Development Process. 2 Minutes to See Why

6. EMPATHY - BEST SPEECH OF ALL TIME By Simon Sinek

📺 Pitch Videos:

1. DoorDash at YC Summer 2013 Demo Day (What’s the problem?)

2. Unbird Techstars Boulder 2019 Demo Day Pitch (See if you can find the problem)

Lesson 3: Customer Discovery

Subtopics: Pitch Prep - Solutions Slide, Federal Funding Opportunities

📕 Articles:

1. THE CUSTOMER DISCOVERY HANDBOOK

2. 26 Resources to Help You Master Customer Development Interviews

3. Customer Discovery In the Time Of the Covid-19 Virus

📺 Videos:

1. Video #4-13: Steve Blank Customer Interview Series

2. How To Avoid False Positives in Your Customer Feedback

📺 Pitch Videos:

1. Quilt at Y Combinator Demo Day (How is Quilt better than the status quo?)

2. GetAccept - YC W'16 Demo Day (What’s the benefit of using Get Accept?)

3. YC Demo Day Pitch (vote.org) - (Notice how she leads with the solution first)

Lesson 4: Minimum Viable Product (MVP)

Sub Topics: Pitch Prep - Market Opportunity

📕 Articles:

1. How to test and validate your value proposition fast

2. “What is MVP and why is it necessary?”

3. What are Key Minimum Viable Product Examples and How Can They Be Used?

4. 15+ EXAMPLES OF SUCCESSFUL MVPS

📺 Videos:

1. Minimum Viable Product Examples and Benefits (7 min)

2. 3 Awesome Minimum Viable Products (MVPs) (5 Min)

3. Making sense of MVP (Minimum Viable Product) (12 Min)

4. 13 Types of Minimum Viable Product (MVP): Wizard of Oz, Concierge, One Painkiller and 10 more

📺 Pitch Videos:

1. GiveMeTap Demo Day Pitch  -- Are you convinced there is a market opportunity?

2. Unbabel Demo Day YC W14 --- (What market did they start in? Where are they going?)

3. How To Calculate Your Startup’s Total Addressable Market (TAM) The Right Way

Lesson 5: Plan, Test, Measure,

📕 Articles:

1. (MVP) Seek the qualitative and quantitative

2. How To Measure & Analyze MVP Performance

3. What Your Minimum Viable Product Should Be Measuring

4. How To Know If Your Minimum Viable Product is Actually Viable

5. How To Measure The Success Of MVP

6. When, Why, & How to Pivot a Startup Business

7. Everyone Pivots: The Truth About A Startup Pivot

8. A Brief Guide To Startup Pivots (4 Types Of Pivots)

9. What 'Pivot' Really Means

10. What is a Pivot? Know When It’s Time to Pivot

11. The 7 greatest pivots in tech history

📺 Videos:

1. How I: Validated my idea in 2 days (with no code)

2. How to Use the Validation Board to Test Your Startup Idea

3. Pivot or Proceed? How to Decide. 2 Minutes to See Why

4. Eric Ries explains The Pivot

5. Lean Startup Lessons: Changing Course on a Business Idea Without Giving Up

📺 Pitch Videos:

1. Enflux Presenting at YC Demo Day (Why did they start with weightlifting?)

2. YC W19 Pulse Active Stations Network Demo Day (There are 1 billion Indians, why is he starting in train stations?)

3. PITCH DECK MISTAKES: THE GO-TO-MARKET STRATEGY

4. How To Create a Killer Go-To-Market (GTM) Strategy

Lesson 6: Revenue & Economics

Sub Topics: Founders vs. Early Employees, Pitch Prep - Team/Progress, Funding via Angels & VCs

📕 Articles:

1. When, Why, & How to Pivot a Startup Business

2. Everyone Pivots: The Truth About A Startup Pivot

3. A Brief Guide To Startup Pivots (4 Types Of Pivots)

4. What 'Pivot' Really Means

5. What is a Pivot? Know When It’s Time to Pivot

6. The 7 greatest pivots in tech history

📺 Videos:

1. Pivot or Proceed? How to Decide. 2 Minutes to See Why

2. The infamous Pivot: Explained!

3. Eric Ries explains The Pivot

4. Lean Startup Lessons: Changing Course on a Business Idea Without Giving Up

5. Pivot - How to Build a Startup

📕 Founder/ Employee / Contractor Articles:

1. How does a start-up decide whether to outsource or hire an employee?

2. When to Hire In-house vs. Outsourcing to Freelancers for your Agency or Startup

3. Equity 101 Part 1: Startup employee stock options

4. Employee vs. Independent Contractor: How to Classify Your Workers

5. Five Reasons To Consider Hiring A Co-Founder

6. What is the difference between a co-founder and an early employee?

7. Founders, Initial Employees, and Risk

📕 Raising Traditional Investments Articles:

1. The Pros And Cons Of Bootstrapping Startups

2. Bootstrapping A Startup: The Essential Tips

3. How to Raise a Friends and Family Round

4. Friends and Family Investors: The Dangers Startups Must Know

5. The Definitive Guide to Raising Money from Angels

6. Everything You (Don’t) Want to Know About Raising Capital

7. Raising Venture Capital

8. Venture Capital Vs. Business Loans: A Beginner’s Guide to Financing Alternatives

📕 Team Slide Articles:

1. Team Slide - How to Guide

2. The Team Slide: You Had Me At Hello

3. Pitch Deck Month: The Team Slide

📺 Team Slide Videos:

1. YC Demo Day W16-HistoWiz (Do you have any doubts about the team?)

2. Ramp - Demo Day Pitch (He talked about his team slide for 15 seconds. Convinced?)

📕 Traction Slide Articles:

1. Pitch Deck Pointers Part 8: The Traction Slide

2. Traction Slide - How to Guide

3. What To Include In The Traction Slide Of A Pitch Deck

📺 Traction Slide Videos:

1. Flex Tampons Pitch (Has so much progress she leads with it)

2. Coinbase Y Combinator Demo Day Practice (Listen to the coaching when he describes progress)

3. How To Pitch Early Traction to Venture Investors like a Boss! 

Lesson 7: Digital Marketing & Tools

Sub Topics: Funding via EPSCOR + DARPA/ARPA-E, Pitch Prep Summary

📕 Articles:

1. The Easy Guide to the Business Model Canvas

2. How To: Business Model Canvas Explained

3. Business Model Canvas Explained with Examples

4. 5 key benefits of using a business model canvas instead of a business plan

5. How To Fill In A Business Model Canvas

📺 Videos:

1. Business Model Canvas Explained

2. The Business Model Canvas - 9 Steps to Creating a Successful Business Model - Startup Tips

3. Business Model Canvas Tutorial - Uber Business Model

4. Business Model Canvas Tutorial - Lego Business Model

📕 Key Partners Articles:

1. How to partner with a larger company when you’re a startup

2. Why Business Partnerships Fail

3. The power of partnerships: Why businesses are better together

4. Key Partners in Business Model Canvas

5. 13 Examples of Successful Co-Branding Partnerships

📕 Revenue Articles:

1. Recurring Revenue: An Increasingly Important Business Model

2. The 10 Most Popular Startup Revenue Models

3. How to Price Your Products

4. Cost vs. Price: What's the Difference?

5. How To Calculate Customer Acquisition Cost (CAC)

📕 Channels Articles:

1. Marketing Channels Guide: 30+ Different Channels Categorized and Explained

2. The 6 Marketing Channels You Should Prioritize in 2020

3. What is a Marketing Funnel?

4. How to Create the Ultimate Marketing Funnel (Templates Included)

5. The Growth Hacking Playbook: Your Ultimate List of Growth Hack Resources

📕 Customer Relationship Articles:

1. How do I use the Customer Relationships building block of the Business Model Canvas?

2. Customer Relationships – Unpacking How To Fuel Long-Term Growth

3. 8 Excellent Examples of Customer Relationship Management

4. Building Customer Relationships

Lesson 8: Website Building 101

📕 Articles:

1. 15 Quick Pitch Tips for Kick Ass Presentations

2. 9 Things That Take a Pitch From Good to Great

📺 Videos:

1. The SECRET Ingredient to The PERFECT PITCH: How to tell a compelling STORY

2. The SINGLE Most Important Element of Your Pitch

3. Startup Pitch Video: How to Create a Pitch Deck for Investors