<aside> 🧡 Helloooo!
Welcome to Week 1 of SpeakUp Ventures! Super cool to have you here for our 2nd cohort. Here are your classmates for the next 5 weeks. Feel free to reach out to each other if you want. There will be plenty of opportunities to meet and get to know each other as we go through the program.
My goal for this program is to help you start your entrepreneurial journey by sharing some of what I know and bringing in some cool friends who’ve made entrepreneurship an actual career path. Towards the end of the program, we will bring on some investors to show you a different side of entrepreneurship, specifically for those interested in building a scalable company.
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<aside> 💛 When brainstorming ideas, start with the problem. The solution will change many times, but the problem will almost always stay the same. Begin with the problem!
Think about the problems you personally face. What are some issues, big or small, that you have struggled to overcome? Chances are, others are facing similar problems, and you can help. Look at the people closest to you: your friends, family, that strangers on a bus, or those people on TV. What problems have they faced, and how can you help make their lives better? The best problems are ones where you can feel the pain. That’s empathy. ❤️
You may notice a pattern here—it’s all about helping others. Start adopting a mindset of being useful and helpful to others. Personally, I think that’s what entrepreneurship is all about: helping others overcome problems and achieve their goals.
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<aside> 💙 As you list the problems you're interested in tackling, don’t judge whether they are good or bad, big or small. Just list as many ideas as you can. After a minute or two, start prioritizing the top three ideas that excite you the most. Now pick the idea you can see yourself working on for the next five weeks.
When deciding which idea to choose, consider your goals. If your goal is to make money, have a prototype, and have customers, but you have no background in physics, trying to build a rocket ship, for example, will be extremely hard, …. but not impossible. You’ll just have a steep learning curve, so you’ll need to put in more time to catch up.
Once you have a problem, make it short, concise, and easy to understand. Ideally, less than 50 characters. For example: "Immigrant Chinese parents can’t read or understand their emails written in English." Avoid vague descriptions like "Immigrant parents are illiterate."
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<aside> 💚 Getting specific about the problem you want to solve will make things easier for you in the long run. You’ll have an easier time building your first prototype and explaining to people what you’re working on. Have a broad vision for what you hope to accomplish, but start very, VERYYY small.
To start a business, you just have to start. Don’t wait for feedback or advice or permission from me, industry experts, or people more experienced. Talk less, think less, and do more! Just go find your potential customers, learn about their problems, and find ways to be helpful to them. Don’t overcomplicate things.
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That’s it for now. Feel free to message me if you have any questions. See you guys next week! 🤗