This document discusses finding fundable business ideas and developing an initial pitch. It emphasizes that ideas are solutions to problems and should be something the founder cares about and understands personally. The document provides tips for generating ideas, including paying attention to problems encountered over 4 weeks and discussing them with a mentor. It stresses the importance of creating a simple pitch deck to clearly convey the problem, solution, market attractiveness, product advantages, and founder's qualifications. The 3 key questions the deck must answer are: what makes the market attractive, what makes the product/service superior, and why is the founder uniquely qualified to execute on the idea.

1. WV Academy: Finding Fundable,
Executable Business Ideas
An Innovative And Dynamic Approach To Venture Capital And Incubation

2. Academy.wasabiventures.com @wasabiventures
All ideas suck.
TK

3. Academy.wasabiventures.com @wasabiventures
It is all about execution.
TK

4. What Are Ideas?
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We are talking about business ideas
They are a solution to a problem
They are NOT a business
They DO NOT have to have a business model
They have to be something you care about and understand

5. Where To Get Your Idea
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*** NOTE: This is only true if you are building a “fundable” company. Lots of great non-fundable
ideas for businesses turn into great businesses. But that is a different presentation!
Ideas Should Be Personal
You should have personal
experiences that allow you
to identify them
Ideas need to be definable
In 2 sentences, can you
describe the problem and your
solution?
Ideas need to be able to
change the world***
Can an idea turn into a
solution for a large
problem?

6. TK’s 4 Week Trick
Take the next 4 weeks and pay
attention…
List all of the things you wanted to
do and couldn’t do easily
Ask yourself these questions:
Sit down with a mentor(s) and vet
the list
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Why couldn’t I do this?
Why couldn’t I find a
solution?
Was anyone else also trying to
do this?
Would I pay to have made this
easier?

7. Build A Simple Pitch Deck For Your New Idea
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1
2
3
4
Decks help you hone your message
Makes it easier to talk to strangers
Doesn’t have to be pretty but has to answer the 3 absolute
essential questions
This deck is not about raising money, it is about telling a story and
getting smarter.

8. The 3 Questions
Academy.wasabiventures.com @wasabiventures An Innovative And Dynamic Approach To Venture Capital And Incubation
What makes your market attractive?
What makes your product/service a killer app?
Why are you uniquely qualified to do this?

9. Market Attractiveness
If Yahoo, then Google;
if MySpace, then Facebook
Academy.wasabiventures.com @wasabiventures An Innovative And Dynamic Approach To Venture Capital And Incubation
10% of a $1B Market =
$100M/year = IPO, baby
Financials will do anything
for an advantage
Don’t bother creating a new
desktop OS
SIZE
WILLINGNESS TO TRY
NEW THINGS
OPENNESS
SUCCESSFUL
ANALOGOUS STARTUPS

10. The Killer App
Magic
Like nothing that came before (iPad)
Academy.wasabiventures.com @wasabiventures An Innovative And Dynamic Approach To Venture Capital And Incubation
A major pain (especially in the wallet)
Aspirin, not vitamin (VMware)
A new crack (cocaine, not plumber)
Viral and/or addictive (Facebook, Angry Birds)
An affordable indulgence/convenience
Same, but not the same (Macbook Air)

11. Unique Qualifications
An Innovative And Dynamic Approach To Venture Capital And IncubationAcademy.wasabiventures.com @wasabiventures
Relevant,
successful prior
experience
General startup experience
Team has the
complete set of
required skills
The first…the
leading…the only…
Relationships with
key market players
Academic degrees
Unrelated prior
experience

12. “I Have No Ideas!”
DON’T PANIC!
WV has over 200 to choose from!
If you are selected to be in our EiR
program, we will give you some to choose
from.
Academy.wasabiventures.com @wasabiventures

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If you are interested or know some
interested in the class, email
wvacademy@wasabiventures.com