Maven

Building & Scaling Startup Culture

Marc Randolph

Co-founder of Netflix

Gagan Biyani

Co-founder of Maven

Dive into lessons learned from building Netflix's culture and what Marc would do differently today.

How to build a startup culture from scratch

Discuss the cultural and operational trade-offs you'll make as your startup grows.

How culture evolves as you scale

Learn what to do when your early high-performers don't quite scale with your company.

How to manage great people who no longer fit

If you are :﻿✔️ An aspiring entrepreneur who wants to build a world class technology product✔️ An existing founder who wants to maximize their runway✔️ A startup founder who is building a tech startup but lacks technical background✔️ A startup founder who wants to explore outsourcing This is the single most valuable resource for you. In my career spanning 17+ years I have been fortunate to have played the role of a startup founder who wants to build his MVP as well as of a technology consultant who works with startup founders to help them bring their startup dream to fruition. I have used this unique mix of experience from both sides of the table to assist multiple startups successfully traverse their 0 to 10 startup journey. I have now distilled all of this experience in to a concise and actionable learnings in the form of this course. This course is specifically built keeping in mind the needs of a new startup founder who if bogged down with huge amount of content telling them the theory of building their startup and MVP but does not provide them the tools and actionable items which they can start using immediately. Once you have completed this course you would have learned how to : 🏆 Clearly define a truly lean and minimal MVP.🏆 Get feedback from your ideal customer profile without needing to write a single like of code.🏆 Take key technical decisions about your product which have the potential to make-or-break your startup.🏆 A framework to identify the correct partners for you, be it hires or outsourcing agencies.🏆 Avoid common mistakes/gotchas that could end up as a huge drain of your time, money and effort.🏆 Have complete ownership over your IP while working with multiple third parties🏆 Actionable checklists, frameworks, templates and references to jumpstart your startup journey. I want you to immediately get to work towards building your startup MVP as soon as you finish this course. That is the guiding principal of how this course has been designed.

Jumpstart your startup journey by building your MVP the right way. 

Provide a brief description for each module as a way to sell the value of what students will be learning throughout the course.

First Module

Second Module

Third Module

Course syllabus

The course will be conducted over a span of 2 days with 4 hours sessions on both the days.

Thursday and Friday

The next cohort goes live on Oct 3rd 2024 and will start at 8:AM EST

Oct 3, 2024

We will practice all that we learn, as we learn, in the form of a do-along case study. In this we take existing popular, complex startup product and go through the complete journey of building the MVP together.

Do-Along Case Study

Course schedule

Aspiring entrepreneurs who want to build a technology product by do not know where to start.

Existing startup founders, bootstrapped or funded, who want to maximize their runway.

Non technical founders who want to build, manage and scale a successful technology product.

Dreamers who are planning to build their startup soon.

Who is this course for

What you’ll get out of this course

This course is much more than explanation of concepts and dos and donts. My goal is to equip you with tools that you can start using the very same day to start building your dream startup. I will provide you with actionable checklists, frameworks, legal templates and contacts.

Get actionable checklists, frameworks, legal templates and references to supercharge their startup product building journey

What used to take weeks can now be done in days (any many times hours) using the powers of GenAI. I will tell you how you can use AI tools to significantly speed up your MVP development without breaking the bank

Use GenAI to significantly speed up all aspects of MVP development

You will not have to wait for the final MVP to be built before you can get feedback from your target customers. I will teach you how you can build prototypes quickly so that you can collect valuable feedback quicker and course correct faster. Without writing a single line of code

Learn to get feedback on your idea without spending a single dollar on development

Converting ideas in your mind to actionable specs is an art that I have perfected over the last 17 years. I will teach how you too can build specs that are extremely cost and time efficient and will be loved by your designers, developers, contractors and you.

Convert ideas to actionable specs faster without ambiguity. Specs that your developers and partners will love.

A new founders journey is full of decisions, all of which can make or break the startup. I will teach you the framework using which you will maneuver decisions like which contractors to choose and how to hire your team making sure that you do not lose valuable resources and time.

Learn to Identify the correct partners to build your startup. Make informed decision on whether to hire devs or find agency.

Working with others is hard. Its even more challenging when you are a new fonder with not enough time and funding. I will simplify and codify the process for you so that you can ensure a smooth working relationship with partners while maintaining complete indemnity and onwership

Learn to avoid the common pitfalls when working with third parties, safeguard your IP and avoid unnecessary hiccups in your startup journey

MVP is just the beginning. You want to build a product that will scale with time as you grow. Something that will make prospective investors comfortable when choosing to invest.

Build a scalable and investable business.

I will teach you how you can maximize your capital efficiency by simply tweaking some product development decisions and significantly improve your runway. This is even more crucial if you are a bootstrapped founder.

Increase your runway significantly

Leverage GenAI to fulfil your startup dream by learning to validate your idea, translate idea to MVP & find right partners for your startup

Akhil Gupta

Cohort 2

Cohort 3

Most people think that corporate partnerships are about selling and pitching, it’s really about listening, planning, and collaborating. Position your startup to work with corporates and win that first pilot, proof-of-concept, or deal.

Stop pitching and start listening

<ul><li>Knowing who is the customer is not always as easy as it seems and picking the right markets to focus on is life or death for your startup.</li></ul>

What markets do you want to reach?

<ul><li>You'll be able to identify key decision makers in your target customer and tailor your message to speak directly to them. </li><li>﻿You'll practice finding and listening for keywords that point to their biggest pain points which keep them up at night.</li></ul>

How do you map stakeholders?

<ul><li>See what it takes to get people over the hump and try before they buy. </li><li>Find ways for you to introduce new concepts and behaviors into a big company culture.</li></ul>

De-risking your solution

<ul><li>Demonstrate the case studies or proof points you need to keep growing and eventually scale!</li></ul>

Get the social proof to scale

Let's plan to test, learn, and iterate right away in your business.

Weekly projects

Course Schedule

Founders and CEOsYou want to be more strategic in your approach when identifying the best markets and industries.

Business DevelopersYou want to find the right decision makers and establish traction by partnering with big companies.

Marketers and Product ManagersYou want to make progress even if you don't have product-market fit. We'll focus on how to get going.

Key outcomes

Be more strategic when it comes to market size and sectors, find the best industries and decision makers who need their products, then understand how these prospects think.&nbsp;

Get the right strategic footing

Conduct world class customer development. Everyone's got problems in big companies. So are you good at identifying them? That's the secret to great customer development that makes your product better and creates new channels for your business.

Solve Valuable Problems for your Future Customers

How do you ask people to take a bet on you? I'll share the importance of building a pilot program. Together, we'll go create one. You will de-risk your startup's product/service for decision-makers so they will advocate for you.

De-Risk your Solution for Decision Makers

You'll need social proof to succeed. Turns that first win into a compelling case study for others to follow

Develop Results that Produce Momentum

Discover the secrets to influencing decision-makers and designing a pilot program that gets a YES. (Now in a one-day workshop).

Vijay Rajendran

20+ years of investing in and supporting entrepreneurs on their journeys

Cohort 7

Cohort 8

In 6 weeks you will learn from years of experience condensed into actionable content, 1:1 advisor sessions and resources we have built (such as our AI-powered growth experimentation tool).

Create a go-to-market strategy, build your AI tech stack, then run experiments 

A weekly live session every Tuesday.

Tuesdays

Ongoing

Schedule items can also be used to convey commitments outside of specific time slots (like weekly projects or daily office hours).

Startup founders - looking to take their new product to market.

Growth leads - looking to upskill their team in growth marketing and set a structured process.

Growth marketers - looking to learn a new process and use our AI-powered experiment tool.

By the end of the programme...

Through our weekly content sessions

Define a clear growth marketing strategy

Through our advisory and coaching sessions

Establish a cohesive growth mindset across your team

Through weekly growth sprints within our AI tool

Operate a tried and tested growth experimentation process

Turn your chaotic marketing activities into a structured growth marketing process. Build a growth strategy then execute growth experiments. 

Tom Dewhurst

Founding Partner

Tristan Gillen

Alex Outlaw

November 

Kick off the new year with a bang and set your team up for success by joining our 4th Growth Cohort.

January 2025

Getting from zero-to-one is hard enough! Once you have found product market fit, you need to switch to building a growth engine - with special emphasis on building repeatable GTM and a scalable business model. While keeping a strong differentiated positioning in the market.&nbsp; In this course, you will learn the Product Market Growth framework [in three parts: Growth Foundation/Frames/Fulfillment] to help you build a stepwise go-to-market plan.&nbsp; You will: - Evaluate the strength of your current GTM strategy. - Create a growth focused positioning,&nbsp;build on the firm foundation of your customer, product, and category/competitive factors. - Identify top GTM strategies to fulfill your customer and market needs. - Build the right pricing and packaging bundles within the frame of a scalable business model - Learn how to sequence and orchestrate additional direct &amp; channel pathways. - Generate testable GTM sprint plans to guide your growth efforts This cohort-based course includes live teaching by Anurag and feedback from your peers, plus video-based tutorials, case studies, detailed worksheets, and weekly projects. *The Product Market Growth Framework is based on identifying and scaling growth patterns across Customer, Product, Category, GTM &amp; Talent factors. It has been field-tested by tech founders, product managers and GTM leaders across six industry verticals in dozens of B2B/AI product categories. I write about it here https://www.anuragwadehra.com--------------

Learn to build a stepwise GTM plan, anchored in a sharp new positioning

Learn the Five Factors Framework and how to apply it in a stepwise method to build a smarter GTM plan&nbsp; Pre-work: Videos, ReadingsProject: Framework for GTM plan

Intro to stepwise Product-to-Market framework

Begin with a baseline assessment of&nbsp;your current GTM. Pre-work: Videos, ReadingsProject: How good is your current GTM

How good is your GTM today?

Apply Five Factors framework to build a thesis for how to grow your GTM Pre-work: Videos, ReadingsProject: Your GTM growth hypothesis

Build your GTM growth hypothesis

Learn how to build a story that captures your customer value using both the inside-out method (“product magic”) and outside in method (“a new category game”) Pre-work: Videos, ReadingsProject: How to create your value story

Create your new value story

Identify &amp; target your Early Adopter growth segmentChoose your GTM pathways - PLG, Sales etcAssign your GTM growth team Pre-work: Videos, ReadingsProjects: How to identify, target &amp; segment for growth; How to set GTM pathways and build a plan

Create your GTM growth plan

How to test your plan to lower your risks- and increase odds of success Pre-work: Videos, ReadingsProject: How to build a GTM Risk Mitigation Plan

HOW to test your GTM growth plan

One live sessions per week with instructor and peers

Thursdays

Before Each Live Session~ Study 1-hour of async material beforehand (videos + readings) to learn concepts During Each Live Session~ Engage in 1-hour live session<ul><li>Recap of async materials</li><li>Group Exercises</li><li>Solo Worksheets &amp; Projects</li><li>Case Studies</li><li>Q&amp;A</li></ul>~ Bonus materials (optional)

Eight Weeks

You are expected to learn the core concepts through videos and worksheets BEFORE you come to each session. We recap the material briefly in class but you spend most time on hands-on exercises (group &amp; solo), case studies and live Q&amp;A to make progress on your GTM.

Async Pre-work (videos & readings) before each session

<ul><li>You will get&nbsp;projects&nbsp;for each module to improve your GTM plan - in private</li><li>You are expected to share your insights &amp; get feedback from the instructor &amp; your peers in class</li><li>While not mandatory, you are expected to share your GTM plan in the last session.</li></ul>

Bite-size Projects

Tech Founder | CEO building B2B GTM engine Are we firing on all growth cylinders?&nbsp;Sales led, product led, marketing led? Should we be?

Go-to-market or Commercialization Lead looking to add discipline to growing new products in market.&nbsp; Are we ready to grow in a new market?

CMO or Product Marketer ready to position &amp; launch a new or revamped product in a new market Are we positioned to grow?

A stepwise GTM plan to test and grow in a new market

You will begin by a comprehensive assessment of the strength of your current GTM in the market.&nbsp;

A baseline assessment of how strong is your current GTM

You will learn how to reassess your Ideal Customer Profile, from first principles, using B2B archetypes. You will also assess your product offerings and review the competitive dynamics in your category.

Start with a solid foundation of your customer, product & category factors

 

 

Based on this foundation, you will re-position your company as well as your product - using a combination of inside out (tech first) &amp; outside in (customer-first) approaches.&nbsp;

Sharpen positioning of your company & product for growth

You will explore multiple growth pathways - direct &amp; indirect - for your product. From Product-led to Sales-led to Channel-led, etc. You will define the right pathways and the sequence in which to test and scale them.

Set the right GTM strategy 

You will assess and build the relevant pricing and packaging&nbsp;bundles for your GTM pathways - and tie them to your business model.

Build the right pricing and packaging bundles for your GTM

You will build a smarter GTM plan ready to test in market for growth

Lightning Lessons

Building & Scaling Startup Culture