Week 3 of UGA’s Summer 2020 I-Corps cohort kicked off with the teams splitting into three breakout groups led by I-Corps teaching staff. Each team presented its business model canvas, hypotheses and lessons learned from its customer discovery interviews conducted thus far, then received feedback from I-Corps teaching staff.

Kevin Wu, engineering catalyst, used a case study to further explain how teams can refine their value propositions, emphasizing that strong hypotheses are quantifiable, relevant, specific and testable and should always be seen from a customer’s perspective.

Following the value proposition lesson, Tim Martin, associate director of the UGA startup program, talked about market size and the opportunities that exist for different businesses. When conducting research, Martin said, it’s important to define a market and its customer segments, identify the product features that may limit the potential market, and ask customers for their thoughts and perspectives on the market opportunity.

Martin also explained the differences between dilutive and non-dilutive funding sources for product development and proof-of-concept work. Non-dilutive sources include grants, prize money and crowd funding. Dilutive sources include angels and venture capital. Martin concluded class by highlighting the cohort assignments for week four, which include testing additional hypotheses, conducting additional interviews, calculating market estimates, and updating the business model canvas.

The UGA Summer 2020 I-Corps cohort recap next week will spotlight three teams.