Antler - Day 4

Starting out with a summary of key learnings from yesterday. If you've been following along, you know what my perspective is.

Design Sprints/Bootcamp

• You won't be working on the idea that you came into Antler with, you'll be working on another idea in pre-formed teams
• This is an exercise to let you come together in groups, design something, and then pitch it at the end

Sprint 1

• Find a billion-touchpoint solution to a billion-touchpoint problem
• Something that affects 1000000 people 1000 times a year
• In your solution, think about all aspects, make it technology driven, and have a value proposition/differentiation if there's an existing solution to it

Next steps and deliverables

1. Find your team
2. Brainstorm with your team
3. Start with your problem, then the solution
   • Who are your customers?
   • Who are your competitors?
   • Think about your business
   • Think about your team; why are you the team who solves this problem
4. Present your pitch. Encourage to come up to the front and do at least one slide per person

Considerations for feedback:

• Think about the problem you've identified
  • Will the solution you have address your problem?
  • Will it scale?
  • How well did you sell it?

A helpful structure might be to select a moderator. Try to get everyone involved, consider the quiet people. You need to put together a pitch deck, and submit slides to the master pitch deck.

DO NOT WORK ON YOUR OWN EXISTING IDEA RIGHT NOW

The point here is the exercise of ideation -> proposal -> pitch deck. This is not time to work on your existing ideas, see how team formation works for you.

Out of Context Notes from the Presentations

• There is such a thing as Toilet Finder. I had no idea. Whole new meaning to "CPO" and "CSO".
• We have two edtech proposals pitched back to back, with the same addressable market figures, some competitors in common, and very similar approaches. We swear we didn't talk to each other.
• ValueVillage's costs are mostly inventory sorting and op-ex. Their profit is a tiny sliver of what they make.
• Water damage to your unit might not get covered by the flooders' insurance, and you might be on the hook for it
• Loneliness is possibly the biggest problem facing modern humanity

Presentation Lessons

• Duplicate ideas happen sometimes, and the people you're typically pitching to have heard literally everything, sometimes more than once
• You need to be able to roll with punches and maintain enthusiasm, despite knowing this
• Not all of it is about the idea; a lot of it is about the team, a lot of it is about luck, and a lot is about confidence.

The Winners

Wait, there were winners? Yes, as chosen by the judges.

Third: What the Fake Second: Agewell First: StyleSustain (proud winners of a bunch of Antler stickers :p)

Keynote - Venture Partner, Chris Carder

• Venture partner with Antler
• Every cohort, there are amazing companies and lifelong friendships that form here (some of them at the same time). So congratulations on being here!
• He works with Schulich (students, grads, faculty), and also the wider York school and associated network
• His parents didn't really get entrepreneurship until he started working in an academic context

"Be Fearless and Think Differently"

• Started as a newspaper delivery boy. Newspapers are these paper versions of instagram, Google finance and kijiji they had back in the day.
• Is currently 52
• Story from his professor, of Jimmy Breslin covering the funeral of JFK. A bunch of different journalists came, interviewed the same people and wrote the same stories. Breslin woke up at 4:00am rather than waiting for the funeral proper, and interviewed the two gravediggers at 4:30am. The piece is considered legendary.
  • The thrust is two-fold: be willing to work harder than your competition, and also, consider neglected angles of attack on your problem.

"What are you willing to do to find the person you need?"

• First moment of resiliency spent four days in front of a White Pages.
• He was looking for someone he had a vague description, and relatively common last name of.
• This was before social media, so he got a Toronto White Pages and took four days to go through and call all the people with that last name, describe the person he was looking for, and ask if they'd seen him.
• On day four, he dialed the guys mom, who the friend was living with at the time.
• Ended up hiring him, and starting a web-based newspaper.

"You can't hide in the back"

• Talking to people, having conversations, is unavoidable. You have to do it to form connections.
• Encouraging us to be relentless and building relationships in a very deliberate and consistent way.

"Don't Stop at 'No'"

• Disclaimer: Don't do this today. Security will probably have words with you and it won't go well.
• At one point he needed a business loan, but no one was talking to him.
• so he decided to just ride the RBC golden tower elevator until he had $100k to start payroll
• He told himself, I'm going to ride that elevator and I'm not coming out until I have $100k
• Took 8 trips; at that point he lucked out. The person who got in and heard his pitch saw him speak for a library charity event the week before
• Warm connection led to getting a line of credit, despite not technically having all the appropriate documentation (another part that probably wouldn't happen today)

"Be Kind to Strangers (Share the Ice Cream)"

• There are moments of immense luck involved, and making your own luck involves being good to people. Showing up, being enthusiastic and helpful, and genuine. Leave a positive experience.
• Got called in to a bid on Coca Cola Japan
• This is a 10-way bid, so it's not just a pitch to the client company, it's also a pitch in front of the other 8 competitors
• The other competitors were all ~200-5000 person companies from out of town (sometimes out of the country)
• They were a 15 person team at this point, and were feeling out-gunned. So they decided to work over the weekend and finish the proposed website by the proposal submission date.
• When he dropped the proposal off (in person, for the human touch), he found out that the employees had a bet going about whether any of the teams would do this. The person he was talking to made $50 betting on him :p
• Also, the opportunity came to him because of a good deal he'd given a previous random customer, who made some family connections and caused his company to get included in the list of bidders

"ALWAYS GO"

• Bias for action. If there's a big opportunity around, take it up, see where it goes
• Don't neglect mission critical work for random flutters, but if Yohan asks whether someone wants to go to a Schulich VIP event, just go.
• A lot of the game is showing up. Not all of it obviously, you need to have the skills and product, and there's also a lot of luck. But part of exploiting all of those advantages is put yourself in position to use them.

Questions for You:

• Did I update my job title on LinkedIn?
• Am I sharing my Antler Canada journey?
• Have you connected to me on LinkedIn?

General Lessons

• Have a bias for action
• Be deliberate, kind and positive-sum about cultivating connections
• Maximize your surface area for luck, and be ready to take advantage of it when you get the opportunity.

The next day is a holiday, so this marks the end of Week 1 of the Antler program.