Month 2: Product Focus
In the second month, you will take everything you have learned about your market and customer, and think about how you can create value for them. What is your product? How do you know what is your quantified value proposition? What is your competitive advantage? What are your hypotheses, and how do you validate them?
Every great company has a great product or service. You need to be able to clearly define and articulate your product’s benefits and value proposition in order to build a scalable business.
Prepare
Continue to run weekly goal setting meetings
Download a template for the daily standup meeting here.
Set up mentor meetings
Download this mentor meeting preparation template to structure your conversation in the most productive way.
Team check-in on cohesiveness and team dynamics
Set up a 1-1.5 hour session with the entire team to discuss how the team is doing, share thoughts on team dynamics, and come up with ideas for improving the effectiveness of the team.
Cofounder conversations
Now is a great time to have a check-in with your cofounders to see how everyone is doing, and to make sure your goals are aligned. Use this discussion guide from Kit Hickey and Erin Scott, instructors of the highly popular class “Entrepreneurial Founding and Teams”, to help you get started.
Learn
Review Disciplined Entrepreneurship Theme 2
Watch these short videos to review Disciplined Entrepreneurship, Theme 2: What can you do for your customer
Review relevant skills workshops
View the following videos to learn skills that are relevant for this month.
Review relevant master classes
Check out the following masterclasses with content relevant for product definition and product development.
Build
Refine solution and value proposition
Use this worksheet to help define your quantified value proposition.
Review progress towards MVP
Define your minimum viable business product (MVBP) with this worksheet, then review your progress and program plan towards building your MVBP.
Define competitive advantage, core, moat
Use this worksheet to revisit your competitive advantage
Define buyer personas and buying process
Use this worksheet to define the decision making unit (DMU), or buyer personas.
Use this worksheet to define the decision making process (DMP), or buying process.
Reflect
Complete Month 2 rubric
Complete the rubric for Month 2, and reflect on what you achieved, what you did not, what you learned, and how that informs what you will do in Month 2.
Complete personal growth worksheet
Use this worksheet to take inventory of what you have learned as an entrepreneur – and think about how that informs what you do and how you do it in the next month.
Watch stories from the field
Watch this video to hear the story of Spyce, a delta v alumni team.
End of month retrospective and next steps
Use this template to frame a retrospective for the past month, and help you plan the next month.