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Big to Small Lab FAQ

  1. What is the Go Big to Small Lab?

    The Big to Small Lab is a ten-week remote Lab designed for aspiring entrepreneurs seeking to gain tangible startup experience in order to launch their own startup, join a startup, or gain a competitive advantage in their day job.

    In 10 weeks you will access over 20 hours of startup content covering 50+ topics,  participate in over 30 live speaker sessions with venture capitalists and successful startup founders, dive into the fundraising process, develop your 100-day plan to launch your idea, gain the frameworks for validating it, and meet potential co-founders.

  2. What is the goal of the Lab?

    Our end goal is to make you smarter, better connected, and more equipped to launch or join a startup. 

    At the end of the Lab, participants will give a pitch on one (or more) of the following:

    • Your startup pitch or 100-day plan to launch your idea
    • If you are seeking a co-founder or FTEs and what you are looking for
    • If you prefer to kill your idea (and why) and support/join a startup
  3. What kind of benefits should I expect?

     In this program participants get access to:

    • Expert facilitated discussions (~4 hours/week focused on peer-to-peer learning.)
    • Exclusive programming with Seattle’s top startup founders, operators, technologists, and investors.
    • 20+ hours of self-paced startup curriculum, deliverable templates, and content that will give you the confidence to launch your idea, join a startup or build a team within your company.

    We’ve designed the program to be:

    • Self-paced and accessible to participants working a full-time day job
    • Private for participants who wish to stay anonymous
  4. Who is this program a good fit for?

    The Big to Small Lab is for aspiring entrepreneurs. Participants can come from all walks of life, but we over-index on working with Product Managers, Designers, and/or Engineers with tech experience stemming from the Pacific Northwest. We seek applicants who are:

    • Aspiring-entrepreneurs seeking to grow their startup frameworks and increase their startup network
    • Have an idea and are seeking support, accountability, or direction to help guide them on their path forward
    • Looking for a potential co-founder
    • Seeking connections and support from the startup community
    • Self-motivated, ambitious, and ready to make an impact as well as pay it forward.
  5. How is the Lab structured?

    This is a fast-paced program that offers 30+ live sessions over the course of ten-weeks.

    Each program event is facilitated by experts who can provide deep insights on startups, a sounding board and the support you need.

    3+ speakers per week in a group setting, including:

    • Monday’s or Tuesday’s (depending on cohort assignment): A facilitated discussion led by one of our Managing Directors, key learnings, updates, and questions.
    • Wednesday’s: VO mentors co-lead a founders’ forum, where participants ask their most pressing questions and crowdsource answers from mentors and other founders. 
    • Thursday’s: A Founder/Investor story. Learn the paths others blazed so you can understand their path to success and avoid their mistakes. 

    The weekly time commitment will range from 3-5 hours, budgeting additional time for networking across cohorts. The program is designed to be completed in tandem with our 8-module startup curriculum, which is self-serve.

  6. What does the program curriculum cover?

    Lab Roadmap:

    Customer Discovery 

    • How to validate a good startup idea
    • How to know when it’s time to kill a good idea?

    Market Sizing and Competitor Analysis

    • How to estimate the size of your market opportunity
    • Build your TAM, SAM, SOM
    • Build a Competitor Analysis
    • Tools for market research and competitor data
    • Growing vs. stagnant markets

    Team and Culture Building

    • Team Discovery – how to find and hire the best
    • Best practices for finding a co-founder
    • Defining roles 
    • Building culture on Day 1

    Customer Validation

    • Building and launching an MVP

    Alternative Fundraising Options

    • Considerations for fundraising
    • Bootstrapping
    • Non-dilutive funding
    • Venture Capital

    Fundraising (VC)

    • What do investors look for in startups
    • Considerations for fundraising
    • How to raise capital
    • The fundraising process and timeline
    • Building an investor CRM
  7. Who are the mentors and speakers? How are they different?

    Speakers will come from:

    • All speakers will be based in the PNW
    • Top tier venture funds
    • Startup Founders and CEOs
    • Domain experts in a variety of technology areas 
    • Executives from big tech companies
    • Founders who have made the transition from Big to Small 

    Past speakers have included:

    • T.A. McCann – Managing Director at PSL
    • Gordon Hempton – Co-Founder & CTO at Outreach, Spot, GroupTalent
    • Xiao Wang – Co-Founder & CEO of Boundless Immigration (PSL Spinout)
    • Diego Oppenheimer – CEO at Algorithmia (Acquired by DataRobot)
    • Susan Preston – Managing Member at Seachange Fund
    • Javier Soto – Angel Investor, Alliance of Angels, Grubstakes
    • Yoko Okano – Co-Founder at First Row Partners
    • Rob Eldridge – Managing Partner at Tapas Capital & Former CFO at Amazon Asia
    • Kirby Winfield – Founding General Partner at Ascend VC & 2X Founder

    And many other seasoned startup operators, investors, and technologists who specialize in helping the best talent in the PNW region at the earliest stages of their startup journey.

  8. What’s the duration?

    10-Weeks of intense network building, community engagement, and drinking through the fire hose. 

     

  9. What are the program dates and times?

    Lab Dates

    Next Lab: October 11th, 2021 – December 16th, 2021

    Applications Due: September 27th, 2021

    Weekly Program Schedule:

    Monday’s or Tuesday’s: Cohort Sessions TBD* (depends on your cohort assignment)

    Wednesday’s: Mentor led Founders’ Forums from 5:00-6:15pm

    Thursday’s: Founder/Investor Story from 5:00-6:15pm PT

  10. How often do you offer the Lab?

    We work with participants twice a year, accepting applications on a rolling basis.

  11. How many people do you accept?

    The goal is to create as much serendipity for you to engage with others, while only bringing in the brightest and most entrepreneurial individuals into the lab. We will select between 50-100 participants.

  12. What is the size of each cohort?

    Regardless of the total number of participants, you will join a cohort of under 20 people. Each week you will meet in both your cohort as well as the overall larger community, providing you with the most surface area to connect with others in the lab.  This will help you foster stronger relationships with a smaller group of people, while still providing plenty of opportunities to know everyone else in the lab.

  13. How are participants assigned to cohorts?

    Cohort-based learning is at the center of this Lab. We place participants into cohorts based on a combination of variables including the stage of idea, domain expertise, and startup type (B2C vs. B2B). The goal is to foster synergy and create opportunities to collaborate in smaller settings all while exposing participants to new perspectives in the larger group activities.

  14. How much does it cost?

    $1,999/startup, no equity. 

    We believe this is more friendly to aspiring entrepreneurs who are still full-time in their day job, at the earliest stages of their journey.

  15. I’m moonlighting. Should I tell my employer that we are participating in this program?

    We recommend seeking advice from an attorney on the best way to approach this and will work with each of you on a case-by-case basis. While we are not attorney’s and this should not be construed as legal advice, we follow the guideline to not use any company property for anything you are personally working on or build a competing product for what your team or larger organization is focused on, as this could be held against you later.  In the program, you will have access to our legal counsel, K&L Gates, for general questions.

Big to Small Lab
A program for entrepreneurs to reach the next level and grow their startup network.