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ACCELERATOREDU AND

GOAL SETTING

E N G A G I N G | A U T H E N T I C | E X P E R I E N T I A L

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ACCELERATOREDU & GOAL SETTING

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Welcome to ACCELeratoredu! In this guide, founders (that’s you!) will complete exercises to begin setting goals for your business.

By the end of this guide, you will be able to do the following:

Learn the different areas of the ACCELeratoredu program.
Learn how you will be assessed in the ACCELeratoredu course.
Define the key components of an accelerator ecosystem.
Update your Financial Model based on lessons learned since pitch.
Update your BMC based on lessons learned since pitch.
Use the updated BMC to set goals for your business.
Define what end-of-year success looks like for your business.

”

What is an accelerator?

An accelerator is a fixed-term and cohort-based program that aims to accelerate the growth of a startup through education, mentorship, and connections. The ACCELeratoredu program is modeled after startup accelerators like Techstars and Y Combinator.

EVIDENCE OF LEARNING

Updated BMC

Updated Financial Model

Mentor/Team Agreement

Startup Status Worksheet

Business Goals

4 HOURS

INTRODUCTION

5 minutes

SUPPLIES NEEDED

Sticky Notes

Whiteboard

Dry erase markers

Timer

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COURSE OVERVIEW

GOAL SETTING

ACCELeratoredu fosters startup development, transitioning your business founded in INCubatoredu into a sustainable, functioning business. This includes growing a customer pipeline and customer processing, submitting legal documents to become a recognized entity at the state and federal level, creating contracts or terms and agreements for customers, developing the typical operating systems for the business, and continuing to build, test, and iterate the product or service.

COURSE OVERVIEW

ACCELERATOREDU

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HOW DO YOU BEGIN?

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Not quite sure how your ACCELeratoredu story begins? Let’s have a moment of introspection. Where do you fall?

“

NO

YES

NO

Interview for other teams.

Identify personnel gaps and interview students looking for a team.
Find pitch competitions & grants.

ShapeShifter
INCubatoredu Teaching Assistant
Student Mentor/Coach
Consultant/Researcher for other teams

Use knowledge and resources from INCubatoredu to build a new business on an accelerated timeline.

TEAM WORK

30 minutes

DO YOU HAVE A BUSINESS IDEA?

DO YOU AND/OR YOUR BUSINESS

HAVE MOMENTUM?

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BUILDING YOUR FOUNDATION

Much like a house, if you do not have a good foundation, your business will not be strong. The Startup Status Worksheet will give you grounding as you start this course. Additionally, the BMC and your financial model remain very important as you develop your business. Keep these updated as you pivot and learn.

DIRECTIONS

Complete the Startup Status Worksheet to the best of your ability. You may have blanks, but that’s okay!
Review your BMC and Financial Model, and make necessary updates.

BMC Review

Startup Status Worksheet

TEAM WORK

continued

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ORDER AND PACING

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This class is far from your typical class. In fact, for ACCELeratoredu you will map out your learning!

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FOUNDERS GUIDES

ACCELeratoredu & Goal Setting

Time & Project Management

Banking & Finances

Customers & Sales

Legal & Business Regulations

Marketing

Solution Development & Feature Testing

Staffing

Technology Planning

The Next Chapter

LEARN

10 minutes

The ACCELeratoredu program is designed to ensure your team is efficient and accountable. The class is laid out such that we will work through the first two guides together. From there, your team will determine your unique sequence of learning and task execution. You will utilize a project management structure where you will set goals, create a learning plan for your team. create action plans, and present your progress in two-week cycles.

In total, the guides will take approximately 42 hours to learn/plan. You have approximately 120 hours, leaving plenty of time to execute your learning! Don’t waste it!

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ORDER, PACING, AND THE LEGEND

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Since each team needs different resources at different times throughout the year, success is up to you and your team! Therefore, it is important to understand the set up. Below is a list of common features and notes you will see throughout the guides and course materials.

”

LEARN

continued

Each slide has a banner in the top left corner instructing you to the type of task and estimated time needed. This is only an estimate, so adjust accordingly. Tasks will either be learning or participating in team work.

When you see a checkbox, there is a deliverable (i.e., something that needs to be done).

Throughout the guides, you will see these icons in the left hand margins. Many link to external resources that will be helpful to your business. They represent in clockwise order: external links, articles, and videos.

This icon represents an assignment or template available. Your teacher will have information on how to locate these documents.

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ASSESSMENTS & GRADING

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Throughout your career, you may be assessed. It’s a great way to recalibrate, pivot, or iterate your ideas and self! For ACCELeratoredu, here are some ways you and your team will be assessed.

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LEARN

continued

Bi-Weekly Sprints

Every two weeks, your team will develop and submit a sprint plan, manage progress, and share outcomes.

Self and Co-Founder Evaluations

Every month, you will reflect on your progress and that of your co-founders.

Quarterly Investor Sharebacks

Each quarter, prepare a shareback to your investors and/or Board of Advisors.

Founder Portfolio (semester one)

This is a collection of your work, compiled, and presented at the end of each semester.

Investor Showcase (semester two)

This an end-of-the-year event at which you will present and celebrate your business.

30%

10%

20%

30%

10%

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MENTOR EXPECTATIONS

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It is important to reflect with your team and mentor to ensure that the mentoring relationship remains mutually beneficial. If you need additional or different mentoring, reach out to your ACCELeratoredu teacher!

Mentors should receive weekly communication and meet with your team twice a month, at minimum. Since you may have established norms and routines with your mentor in INCubatoredu, you may continue with these rhythms if they work for everyone!

”

TEAM WORK

15 minutes

Mentor/Team Agreement

Review or create a Mentor Agreement.
Prepare a proposed mentor schedule that addresses the following:

Mentor meeting schedule
Location of meeting

How you will communicate/prepare meeting agenda
Share the proposed schedule with your mentor for confirmation.
Confirm availability for meetings, and save the dates/times on the calendar.

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Planning and goal setting is fundamental to success. Goals will help you and your team stay on track and accountable. At times, this section may be overwhelming. If you engage, you will end with a long list of things to be done. Take a deep breath, and know that you have your ACCELeratoredu cohort and your team to help you through this experience! You got this!

GOAL SETTING

COURSE OVERVIEW

GOAL SETTING

ACCELERATOREDU

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NOTE AND VOTE

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Let’s think of all the feedback you were given during and since your final pitch. We are going to use this to set goals for the school year and beyond!

BRAINSTORM

Using one sticky note per response, answer the following questions:

What feedback did you receive during/since pitch?
What is your vision for your company at the end of this school year?
What is your vision for your company in five years?

First, do this silently and individually (one minute per question).
Then, share reflections as a team to build a team vision through voting.

Start the process to the right with the first question; then repeat the process with the second and third questions.

VOTING PROCESS

Share and Post (3 min)
One at a time, each founder shares his/her sticky notes. Founders should keep each share short - no detailed explanations.

Vote (2 min)

Each founder quietly votes for the most insightful/actionable response by adding a check next to the note.

Rank and Capture (2 min)

One person will tally and rank the votes. There may be ties; a complete consensus is not crucial here. The team can select their top 3-5 responses and record them in a digital document or take a picture of the sticky voting area.

Note and Vote

TEAM WORK

60 minutes

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TEAM VISION

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Now that you have a better idea of how to “Note and Vote,” let’s do it again for developing a team vision!

BRAINSTORM

Using one sticky note per response, answer this question.

What do we need to do (using discoveries from the previous exercise) to accomplish our TOP end-of-school-year or 5-year vision?

Share reflections as a team to build a team vision through voting.

TEAM WORK

continued

VOTING PROCESS

Share and Post (3 min)
One at a time, each founder shares his/her sticky notes. Founders should keep each share short - no detailed explanations.

Vote (2 min)

Each founder quietly votes for the most insightful/actionable response by adding a check next to the note.

Rank and Capture (2 min)

One person will tally and rank the votes. There may be ties; a complete consensus is not crucial here. The team can select their top 3-5 responses and record them in a digital document or take a picture of the sticky voting area.

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MIND MAPPING

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A mind map is a diagram used to outline information visually. A mind map begins with a single word or text placed in the center (i.e, central theme) to which associated ideas, words, and concepts are added (i.e., associations).

Mind Mapping

LEARN

10 minutes

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MIND MAPPING

ASSIGNMENT

As a team, create a mind map for one of the visions you identified from the previous brainstorm.

After you have finished the map, take a photo of the mind map and save it to your team’s shared files.

DIRECTIONS

Put the center theme in the middle of a dry erase board.
Add associations to the center theme needed to meet the goal.
As associations are created, you may add branches (second associations) to each of them.

TEAM WORK

30 minutes

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SMART GOALS

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Mind mapping lets your mind run free in a creative way. Now, we are going to take what we learned from mind mapping and transform it into actionable items.

SMART GOALS

SPECIFIC	The task has to be specific so you know what it is. “Revise web site based on feedback” isn’t specific. “Change to new color scheme and headers” is specific.
MEASURABLE	A simple done/undone task, like “Take out the trash” or call ten new prospects” is measurable.
AMBITIOUS	If the goal is boring, you won’t want to do it. Challenge yourself a bit, but not TOO much that it is not realistic.
REALISTIC	For a task to be realistic, it needs to be something that you will do. For example, if you have never prepared your taxes, “Prepare form 1040″ is not a realistic goal – “Send tax paperwork to accountant” is the real equivalent.
TIMELY	A timely task is one that you’ve assigned a deadline. You can’t just say “some day.” Someday never comes.

SMART Goals

LEARN

10 minutes

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SMART GOALS

DIRECTIONS

Looking at your mind map, �identify each first-level association.
Write a SMART goal for each first-level association.
After writing the goal, highlight the branch.
Repeat this process until you have a completely highlighted mind map.

AFTER EACH GOAL, ASK …

Can I “do” this? What is the verb?

Is it specific?

Is it measurable?

Is it ambitious?

Is it realistic?

Is it timely?

TEAM WORK

30 minutes

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THE EISENHOWER MATRIX

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The Eisenhower Matrix is a decision-making tool that helps you make the distinction between tasks that are important, not important, urgent, and not urgent. It splits tasks into four boxes that prioritize which tasks you should focus on first and which you should delegate or delete.

DECIDE

DO

DELEGATE

DELETE

Important, but not urgent tasks. Even though they are not urgent, you should have deadlines for all tasks in this quadrant to hold you accountable.

Important and urgent tasks. Can we operate without it? Is there an alternative? If the answer to these questions is no, then the task belongs here. Otherwise, it likely belongs somewhere else.

Not important and not urgent tasks should fall to the lowest priority, possibly deleted or given a farther deadline.

Not important but urgent tasks. One example that may fall here is “updating meeting minutes.”

Eisenhower Matrix

LEARN

10 minutes

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EISENHOWER MATRIX

You are going to plot your goals into an Eisenhower Matrix to determine the priority of what your team needs to do.

As a team, write each of your goals on individual sticky notes.
Sketch and label the quadrants on a whiteboard.
Take each sticky note and put it in a quadrant based on how important and how urgent (time sensitive) the goal is.

For example, if an action is both urgent and important, it should be placed in the “DO” quadrant.

Once all goals have been placed in a quadrant, discuss with your team if there are any that need to be moved.
After the team agrees upon the prioritization, document the priorities alongside the previously captured goals.

TEAM WORK

30 minutes

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What questions do you still have after completing this guide?

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