It all started with the #milvalchal where we promised to invest $5,000 in ANY startup, site unseen, at a $1,000,000 valuation as long as they did 100 customer development interviews. That experiment is still alive and well, and we have moved on from RISKIEST ASSUMPTION #1 (will anyone actually do 100 customer interviews in 50 days) to RISKIEST ASSUMPTION #2 (will the interviews have a net positive effect on the startup — or our fund, as measured by…?)
That experiment was limited, by design… because
- we didn’t have a million dollars to fund teams
- we wanted to illustrate the notion of a high hurdle MVP in order to filter for true early adopters
As I said, that experiment continues as a research project. 100 interviews is probably more than necessary from a learning standpoint, but it is certainly not hurting any teams — and it is a good filter for US.
The current experiment that we are conducting in order to advance our mission, “funding for ANYONE — literally any team in the world no matter what, as long as they are essentially practicing lean startup ie how we define it at Pearson, being customer centric, solving for efficacy not just profit, willing to focus on the problem before the solution, willing to run experiments, willing to make incremental investments based on learning”… has a lower hurdle (but it comes with a lower valuation).
Our new model is more transparent, and the high hurdle has been lowered. We have also pre funded the account with $25,000 and we are in talks with private investors, accelerators, and sponsors to match the funds as needed.
We are now paying $100 to any startup in the world who shares one of their hypotheses on our trello board.
The $100 is a gift, a grant, a marketing cost… We’ve found companies from our existing network, from blab calls, and from adwords and twitter. Now we are doubling down on this model.
You get the $100 automatically, as long as we do not have a PRE-SELECTED CARD (there are only 7 of them) that explains why you end up in column 2 of the board. (to claim your funds click here)
If you end up in column two we have a Facebook group, a list of mentors, and all the twitter handles from the folks who have made it to column 3 to help you. That’s how this scales.
Once you are in column 3 you have the opportunity to start running real experiments for real investment.
- We will fund your first experiment for up to $1,000 at a 100k valuation. (up to 1%, but less depending on how much you need.
- We will fund your second experiment up to $2,000 at a 200k valuation (another 1%)
- We will fund your third experiment up to $3,000 at a $300k valuation
Currently, our riskiest assumptions are: (coming tomorrow)
