trendpreneur

I recently idly tweeted an idea which flitted through my head while considering the pros and cons of “E-School”, the Founder Institute. People asked for more, so here it is!

To build a business you need to build a product. While technical types often find the process of knocking up a quick demo webapp a walk in the park, one way a non-technical person can quickly gain feedback and respect is to build a prototype themselves.

If you have an idea for a web application – whether it’s a shopping site with a twist, an iPhone app that shows you nearby tweets, a game to teach children about finances, or a global treasure hunt – chances are you can build an early version to get the idea across quite quickly, even without much of a background in computer science.

Today’s tools are accessible and almost universal, but they can be really daunting if you don’t know where to begin. The value of creating your first prototype yourself in terms of feedback, understanding the problems you’ll have, and even the exercise of trimming down the feature set and figuring out the MVP (minimum viable product) is far, far greater than the time saved outsourcing it to the Philippines.

But where are the tools to teach you how?

There’s stuff to turn hackers into entrepreneurs, but connecting entrepreneurs with the tools hackers have at their fingertips seems much less common.

Here are some of the ideas I have around creating a resource (offline workshops? week-long intensive? online course? incubator? unconference? wiki? website/blog? book?) to help people without a technical background build a prototype of their idea quickly, and get feedback on it.

Methods

• How to design, structure and plan a web application (see below for how to build)
• Rapid prototyping, iteration, and agile development (i.e. build it quickly, get feedback, change it)
• Minimum viable product and how to figure out what should be in your prototype
• Ways to test out your application; how to find initial users and get feedback (Real stories)
• Feedback channels for prototyping before you’ve written a line of code
• How to pull off an awesome investor demo (Interviews)

Technology and Tools

• Product and feature design techniques
• How to make the most of paper prototypes
• What’s wireframing and why should I bother? Won’t the designer do that?
• Designing an awesome user experience
• Visual design basics (Analysing/Breakdown of beautifully designed prototypes)
• How to make things look good and feel polished without a degree in graphics
• Readily available tools and products you can use to speed this along

Getting Help

• Ideally, build everything yourself; it really helps your credibility and teaches you a hell of a lot along the way. If this isn’t an option for whatever reason,
• How to outsource the building of a prototype
• How to find a developer and/or designer
• Once the prototype is built and you’re happy, how to find the right rockstar lead developer to take it forward

I’d love to hear some feedback on this idea and information on areas you particularly want to learn more about (whether I included them or not) — and how you’d like to consume the information.

Cheers,
Jen

Disclaimer: I reserve the right to change my mind.

The Founder Institute’s Bay Area semester is coming up, and I initially started frothing at the mouth at the chance. After all, it’s opportunities like this which drove me to Silicon Valley in the first place… right?

Maybe not.

The Founder Institute’s programme looks fantastic. And very useful. Educational. Focusing. Intensive. An invaluable way for an entrepreneur to get a full picture of the business side of startups, the real driver behind the roadmap, etc.

It also looks extremely familiar.

In Edinburgh I have to admit I was a training junkie. I did EPIS, NESTA, the Ken Morse workshops, Ignite Cambridge, and Astia (UK and US). Plus some fantastic one-off sessions such as Bill Joos’ pitch training workshop which will undoubtedly be the reason I successfully raise capital.

But at some point, the wheels have to come off, and you gotta put all the training to work.

Reviewing the Founder Institute’s curriculum, there’s stuff in there I’ve seen time and again in the past. (Which is encouraging, rather than offputting.) There’s actually sessions missing that I think would be interesting, such as focusing on lean methods like customer development and metrics-based iteration, though a lot of it is common sense once you know the basic principles.

The main value of doing a programme like this one – especially this one, as it’s compatible with a day job – is forcing you to put aside time and focus on your startup, to make it a reality. And, primarily, the fantastic networking (and investment) opportunities. But, you know, I have those through Astia – and I haven’t used them yet, because I’m not ready to.

So, for me personally, the only real gain I might get from the Institute is a cofounder and mentor. I could definitely use a mentor, but there are ways to reach out to people that don’t involve a fee and equity, and a huge time commitment that I would rather not have right now.

So, dear Founder Institute, don’t take this the wrong way. It’s not you, it’s me. Maybe we can catch up in a year or so? Great. I’ll call you.

(Aside: If you’re not me, especially if you have a solid idea and little real exposure to the business side of things, you really should do the Founder Institute or something similar. It looks to be very useful, for the right person. And if you think I’m deranged and should change my mind, feel free to comment.)