Professional Documents
Culture Documents
Startup School is a practical, how-to course about starting, financing, selling, marketing, growing,
broadcasting and exiting your startup. Startup School is taught by Michael J. Sikorsky.
He has made nearly every avoidable mistake over the last twelve years and has
been compelled to offer this course because simply, it is needed.
The proceeds from the course are invested back into the Canadian startup
scene. With hopes of the capital being deployed into startup school alumni
companies.
Alumni of the school are also granted membership to the startup school online
community. Note: angel investors who take the course will be granted a one
year membership to the syndicate12 angel investors online group. However:
investors must write at least 1-cheque/year into a startup to continue
membership.
Take Aways
In addition to the practical tools learned during the school. Most of the files,
documents, spreadsheets, term sheets, grant applications and presentations
Michael has created over his last 12 years will be provided to the course
participants (under NDA, and with some redacting). Why? You should always
have a starting point and not have to create these assets from scratch. For
example, it is informative to see real presentations/grants that have raised
money, and those that haven’t.
AGENDA
SATURDAY Events
9:00am We’ll get settled in at Cambrian House (map and address), make all the
formal introductions, and go over the plan for the day. Each of us will list our
3 vital objectives we need to be covered over the 2 days.
Prepare for a day of learning and practice, not for lectures. Don’t be shy.
There will only be a few of us and we will get to know each other well :)
4:00pm Break
SUNDAY Events
9:00am Review, F@W, and rest of the work we didn't complete above :)
Walk thru real capital structures, dilution tables, and what a due diligence
and closing documents look like. We will go through real example of an
acquisition and a few due diligences here. Understanding the true risks of
under/over capitalization. How to protect against a down-round. What is a
defensive vs. offensive term sheet clause and how to know what you can
push back on.
Ensure we’ve covered off the 3 vital objects for each person. Here we will
make sure every person got there most important items acted on.
Here we will pitch to each other again and go through the super
confrontation challenge. It is painful – on purpose. The super confrontation
challenge is to force out the issues all your friends and family have been
letting you get away with.
How to make sure you’re building something people want. How to run a
focus group, and a market test, and how to make this automated. Advanced
product management. 1 line split tests. Etc
3:45pm Break.
4:00pm Eric Ries, Reid Hoffman, Paul Graham, Mike Maples, Don Keough, and DHH
models OR WorkShop time.
Topics such as: Battle of the airwaves, customer vs. product development
strategies, 90/10 vs 50/50, Times to doubling, Math tests, 10 ways to fail,
F5,000,000, etc.
How to pick and structure a board. How to run an AGM. Tools all startups
need to know about. Role of accounting and auditing processes.
Final pitch/workshop session and a walk thru of the documents you get on
the CD.
COSTS
The 2 day Startup School on October 25-26 2008 is $1,300.00 + GST. You can pay by credit card,
request an invoice, or cheque. See: Startup School for more detail.
From Jon Lam, CEO and President of Ph03nix New Media Inc. makers of ‘Curse of the Pharaoh’
"Besides being one of the smartest guys I've met, MJ has also had the experience of a startup
entrepreneur. In our meetings, his insights have catapulted us light years ahead in terms of business
thinking. I‘ve learned a lot from his experience , and I don't think it's an exaggeration to say that he will
save us tens of thousands (if not millions, hopefully) of dollars down the road."
From Matthew Toner, CEO and President of Zeroes 2 Heros Inc. on Startup School
In terms of the start-up school, this is a really important idea. Especially for Canada: I'd worked with
Canadian start-ups for years before doing my own and there has been a persistent gap between "idea"
and "business". It stems from not understanding the mechanics of a start-up... as opposed to the passion
for doing one. And this is a huge difference!
Start-ups in the Valley, for example, don't seem to suffer from this lack: the experience seems more
ingrained. My guess is that there are plenty of people whose career looks like this: developer at StartUp
A; director at StartUp B, C-level at StartUp C. Plus these companies live in an eco-system that is pretty
well stocked in terms of information, advice and the like. Life for our southern cousins seems a little
easier.
The start-up school would seem to bridge this gap, at least partially. When you first mentioned the idea
and the price point, I instinctively thought about the usual inspirational weekends that are low on
tangible deliverables. To me, not much in terms of value: I don't need to be enthused. ;-) Once you
explained the mechanical approach you had in mind, I had a very different mindset.
From my perspective two years into an unsupported start-up, I would have *gladly* paid for someone to
take me through the various details (how to set a valuation, how to make a Telefilm pitch). When I think
of the time/stress of figuring some of these things out for the first time... oy! Time is the one single
commodity that just cannot be replaced. Spending a weekend and a couple of thousand is nothing... if
you know and appreciate what you're getting into.
It's really an investment in the early success of your company: to get escorted to the 80% threshold is
really a big break. That last 20%... well, that's the magic part, isn't it?
FAQ
Q: Why the weekend?
A: To allow people who currently work full time or already have a startup and don’t want to lose
momentum during the week.
Q: Why so much?
A: Short answer: it is a filtering exercise and a math exercise (in particular can you apply the
equity equation we go over in the course?). Also, proceeds go back into a Canadian startup –
hopefully an alumni company!
Q: What if I don’t have a startup? I’m an independent consultant or I already own my own
business?
A: No startup, no problem. Same if you already have a business. Startup School is about
building great companies. If you’re an independent consultant looking for a way to scale your
time you’ve found it.
CONTACT
Please contact Michael at mj@cambrianhouse.com , call +1.403.617.8836, or visit Startup School.