This morning 15 plus startup mavens representing 6 companies arrive into the American Underground for a 90 day rocket ride.  It’s like the 1st day of school in terms of my excitement and I feel pretty confident that they feel the same way.

But it’s not school. I hate that metaphor. At LaunchBox Digital our program was set up to be like a mini-MBA.  If Y-Combinator is about building features, and Techstars is about building product, we would be about building a company.  A startup MBA in 3 months.   I think we missed the mark and an opportunity.  Our goals were sincere just mis-timed.  School is not what is needed right now for these companies and founders.

TSF is more today than tomorrow. Today is about product validation and product-market fit.  Nothing else matters right now. No product – no company. That is why the shift from MBA to product.   These guys can’t afford to think about what is good for the company – they have not earned that right yet.

So today, we will start breaking down the assumptions around the company in order to uncover key customer insights and begin testing these target customers with variations of the product.

Was that the school bell I heard?