1. The Entrepreneurial Journey Steps along the way, questions and suggested support at each step

2. Brooding The Plunge Customer Discovery Customer Validation Customer Creation Company Building Re start

3. SEA guides Entrepreneur Journey Using Steve Blanks “ customer development ” method (4 steps to the epiphany), but adding personal touch: engage with thefounder as a passionate human being customer development 3 phases, total process 6 – 24 months: – One-on-one with entrepreneur (brooding, plunge, customer discoverysteps) – Peer learning groups (customer discovery & customer validation ) – Together with VC (growth =customer creation & company building) Start building community of practice, focus on learning aboutlearning, grow based on evidence of success Auroville campus as home ground. Wageningen University as agrichain centre of expertise Pegasus, IIM-B, XLRI, UnLtd India, Presencing Institute, Ashokakey partners

4. Brooding The Plunge Customer Discovery NeedsSupport services Share experience from other foundersNetworking peer to peer Case researchAccess to sector experts, industry networks / opinion leaders Clarity on own purpose / motivation – “am I cut out for this?” Personal coaching (person-venture matching) Critical risk factor: not enough passion for the idea

5. Brooding The Plunge Customer Discovery NeedsSupport services Insight into (personal) riskPersonal coaching (General Physician approach, referral to specialists) Operation details: “what does it entail?”Coaching on critical details Critical risk factor: not enough support to pull off the change in life

6. Brooding The Plunge Customer Discovery NeedsSupport services Managing expectationsCoaching the founding team Speedy feedbackStructure in ideation (using business model canvas) Effective learningScore keeping (critical numbers #) Deal with non Indian culturesCross cultural communication & collaboration training Critical risk factor: not enough patience for research –starting to sell too soon

7. Customer Validation Customer Creation Company Building NeedsSupport services Clarity on customer & business model assumptions Hypothesis & metrics development, prioritise assumptions Early customer database, industry insidersNetwork to access creators Cash to burnSeed capital (!) Deal with non Indian culturesCross cultural communication & collaboration training Critical risk factor: not enough demand for viable business & not enough cash

8. Customer Validation Customer Creation Company Building NeedsSupport services Term sheets, VC’s, early stage investorsTrustworthy valuation, VC introductions Business administration: marketing,Recruit staff, team building Phase II customer accessMainstream buyer contacts Balance growth with founder visionRetreat (either founder/team) Working capitalDebt Critical risk factor: founders not able to transition into execution/scaling mode

9. Customer Validation Customer Creation Company Building NeedsSupport services Term sheets, VC’s, growth stage investorsTrustworthy valuation, VC introductions Balance efficiency with qualityHost retreat to link core values to operations (fractal approach) Guidance in the world of big companiesBoard recruitment, matchmaking Critical risk factor: management drift away from founders values

10. Assumptions to be tested – Is managing the critical risk factors in this process our value proposition? Are these risk factors correct? (Test by trying out each step of customer development) – Does applying customer development actually contribute to clarification of the entrepreneur’s endeavour? – Can we use customer development checklists to determine whether it makes sense to bring startup founders together at some point? (i.e. all “customer validators” meet) – Can we provide enough of an incentive to provide us with equity in return for moving down the development process? – Can return on seed funding work in the social enterprise segment ? How to valuate investment in these startups?

11. First steps into the SEA Start with validation of the brooding and discovery steps, then take a peace meal approach to the next steps. How? For sourcing entrepreneurs we could use: 1.Our network (South India: 10-15 ventures) 2.Conference venues for attracting entrepreneurs (SoCap, Sankalp, Unconvention) 3.Various media doing research into startups (P+, Intelecap, Aarthi) 4.Talk to existing companies about their existing business models We could attract them as earlyvangelists by presenting our methodology. Then we would set-up a kickstarter together with them to crowdfund us through the discovery phase. After discovery we run the startups by a list of potential mentors/investors, who would be interested to take up the company.

12. Value of accelerator programs? Convening power – accelerator programs perform a useful function in bringing together different stakeholders, building networks and catalysing them. How can that be measured – both for individual programs and for the approach more widely? Creating an entrepreneurial culture – as accelerators create success stories, could they convince more people to start businesses and have an impact on the elusive ‘culture of entrepreneurship’ that investors and governments so covet in a region? Mentoring – coaching and mentoring has long been regarded as an important means of supporting entrepreneurship, but little evidence is available on which scenarios are most effective. What do the mentors get out of participating in accelerators? What is the relative value of peer mentoring? Which kinds of mentoring have the greatest impact on company performance?

13. Madhukar’s model