How to design and execute experiments to consistently test assumptions in your business
How to figure out and define who might be a customer or user of your products or services
How to create the most meaningful traction for your venture: traction that continues with time
How to determine what are the most important levers and numbers in your business
How to set near term goals for your business while taking an infinite game strategy
Yes! At the moment, we are currently only through Zoom.
No. Not at all. We just won't be talking about investors.
Idea to just starting to get early traction. Feel free to apply if you're later stage, but the focus will be on earlier stages.
Absolutely not. For some ventures, they make total sense (ex. bio tech) to be involved. For most ventures though, investors don't make sense.
Scalable, non-VC backed ventures have a tremendous value in the communities they impact, yet, we rarely ever talk about them. Entrepreneurship programs are consistently teaching people how to raise funding and that’s just wrong. Venture capital funding is not a foundational piece to entrepreneurship.
You should be working on your venture for at least 10 hours per week.
We'll meet virtually for 60 minutes and there will be prep work that takes no more than 60 minutes. Additionally, there will be time to chat with others in your cohort outside of sessions.
No. These sessions are active and engagement is required. Camera on is HIGHLY encouraged.
I’m Matthew Gira. I'm an entrepreneur, creator, and currently the Director of Student Programming at the Tsai Center for Innovative Thinking at Yale. Previously, I was one of the co-founders of Fathom, an underwater drone company. We raised over $190,000 on Kickstarter, participated in Techstars, and even pitched to Daymond John from Shark Tank.
While that was going on, I helped build entrepreneurship programs at Hope College and Grand Valley State University as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. I’m passionate about being an entrepreneur and building entrepreneurial ecosystems. At the moment, I'm focused on helping others create scalable, non-VC backed startups.
