{"id":13664,"date":"2014-07-23T05:00:26","date_gmt":"2014-07-23T11:00:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/tested-neuron.flywheelsites.com\/?p=13664"},"modified":"2015-02-17T13:26:21","modified_gmt":"2015-02-17T20:26:21","slug":"lessons-from-the-2014-unreasonable-institute","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/lessons-from-the-2014-unreasonable-institute\/","title":{"rendered":"Eight Key Lessons from the 2014 Unreasonable Institute"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>The\u00a0fifth Unreasonable Institute has come and gone<\/strong>. We have since synthesized what we learned and are already sharpening our\u00a0offerings for the\u00a0next few programs. (Coming up: Unreasonable Artisan in October.) This post details what we learned and how that highlights\u00a0what we need to get right in the future.<\/p>\n<p>First, a quick look at how we did this year, in graphs! These come from\u00a0a 68-question survey that our entrepreneurs completed at the end of the Institute. (1 = poor or very unlikely; 5 = excellent or extremely likely.<br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"13668\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/lessons-from-the-2014-unreasonable-institute\/development-as-an-entrepreneur\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Development-as-an-entrepreneur.png\" data-orig-size=\"650,384\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Development as an entrepreneur\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Development-as-an-entrepreneur.png\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Development-as-an-entrepreneur.png\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13668\" src=\"https:\/\/wary-sunlight.flywheelsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Development-as-an-entrepreneur.png\" alt=\"Development as an entrepreneur\" width=\"650\" height=\"384\" \/><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"13670\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/lessons-from-the-2014-unreasonable-institute\/how-we-did-on-5-areas\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/How-we-did-on-5-areas.png\" data-orig-size=\"650,532\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"How we did on 5 areas\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/How-we-did-on-5-areas.png\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/How-we-did-on-5-areas.png\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13670 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/wary-sunlight.flywheelsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/How-we-did-on-5-areas.png\" alt=\"How we did on 5 areas\" width=\"650\" height=\"532\" \/><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/wary-sunlight.flywheelsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Recommending-the-Institute.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"13669\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/lessons-from-the-2014-unreasonable-institute\/recommending-the-institute\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Recommending-the-Institute.png\" data-orig-size=\"650,408\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Recommending the Institute\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Recommending-the-Institute.png\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Recommending-the-Institute.png\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-13669\" src=\"https:\/\/wary-sunlight.flywheelsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Recommending-the-Institute.png\" alt=\"Recommending the Institute\" width=\"650\" height=\"408\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>While there are definitely some things we can improve upon, I am extremely proud of the Unreasonable team for pulling off such an incredible Institute this year!<\/p>\n<h2>The\u00a0Key Lessons from 2014<\/h2>\n<p><strong>1.\u00a0The\u00a0entrepreneur should be in the driver\u2019s seat.<em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong>We\u2019ve been hearing for years that some of our entrepreneurs simply don\u2019t follow up with mentors and funders they meet at the Institute. We found this bewildering. So after considering feedback from previous mentors and entrepreneurs, we made the following changes:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><em>Clearly defined roles (for us, the mentors, and the entrepreneurs)<\/em>. <a href=\"https:\/\/docs.google.com\/a\/unreasonableinstitute.org\/presentation\/d\/11M_SR1cgVNYCoz2mWRNIXCSmbRU9RMYZROpLOeFC0DE\/edit#slide=id.g34afb91e5_0359\">You can see the presentation<\/a> that Banks Benitez, our chief entrepreneur officer, used to help clearly articulate the role of the entrepreneurs during the institute. And our single core message to the entrepreneurs: \u201cYou are in control. It\u2019s your job to lead, follow up, frame, and ask the right questions. If you\u2019re ever wondering whose job it is to make something happen with a mentor, we\u2019ll make it easy for you: It\u2019s <em>always<\/em> your job.\u201d<\/li>\n<li><em>An entrepreneur workshop on engaging with mentors.<\/em> This followed our <a href=\"https:\/\/wary-sunlight.flywheelsites.com\/skills\/build-strong-friends\/\">18 keys building relationships wth mentors and funders.<\/a> We had the entrepreneurs practice how to start a conversation, explain their venture, draw it on a piece of paper, and explain the next steps. We even <a href=\"https:\/\/wary-sunlight.flywheelsites.com\/skills\/the-7-emails-you-need-to-know-how-to-write\/\">showed them how to write effective emails<\/a>. (Our method for following up actually got <a href=\"http:\/\/www.inc.com\/jessica-stillman\/how-to-pester-someone-without-being-annoying.html\">featured in Inc. magazine<\/a>.)<\/li>\n<li><em>Regular check-ins with entrepreneurs\u00a0<\/em>to ask them about how they were approaching mentors and to offer them guidance.<\/li>\n<li><em>Thank-you note card stations<\/em> to encourage entrepreneurs to follow up.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>These efforts, simple as they may be, seem to have worked. Mentors told us they had never seen a batch of our entrepreneurs so good at following up. And the entrepreneurs appreciated the extra effort we put into framing and told us they wanted even more.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2. Curation\u00a0trumps serendipity: Why we\u2019ll change some of our community events and end others. <\/strong>We carefully curate our mentor and funder networks and match relevant people to the entrepreneurs during the Institute. But to protect against the fact that we can\u2019t possibly know everyone who might be valuable to an entrepreneur, we host two events that we are open to anyone who wants to buy a ticket: the <a href=\"http:\/\/vimeo.com\/unreasonable\/videos\">Unreasonable Launchpad<\/a> (formerly the Climax) and the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eventbrite.com\/e\/the-2014-unreasonable-scrimmage-tickets-11176724885\">Unreasonable Scrimmage<\/a>. The Launchpad was open to the public and welcomed nearly 800 attendants who came to hear the entrepreneurs\u2019 six-minute talks. The Scrimmage was a chance for the entrepreneurs to work with skilled professionals in the Boulder Community on specific problems in their venture.<\/p>\n<p>This year\u2019s entrepreneurs told us that these were our least helpful events. Some felt that they did more for Unreasonable Institute than for themselves. They posited the reason for this was that \u201cthe right people weren\u2019t in the room,\u201d leading to little benefit, especially considering the work they put in.<\/p>\n<p>On the other hand, we put a lot of energy into curating mentors, funders, and other partners for our entrepreneurs, which were hailed as very high-value relationships for our entrepreneurs. Take a look at this chart, taken from a survey of the 18 entrepreneurs at the end of the Institute. (1 is poor, 5 is excellent.)<br \/>\n<a href=\"https:\/\/wary-sunlight.flywheelsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Mentor-quality-chart.png\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"13671\" data-permalink=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/lessons-from-the-2014-unreasonable-institute\/mentor-quality-chart\/\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Mentor-quality-chart.png\" data-orig-size=\"650,384\" data-comments-opened=\"1\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Mentor quality chart\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Mentor-quality-chart.png\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Mentor-quality-chart.png\" class=\"aligncenter wp-image-13671 size-full\" src=\"https:\/\/wary-sunlight.flywheelsites.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/07\/Mentor-quality-chart.png\" alt=\"\" width=\"650\" height=\"384\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Moving into 2015, if we do events like the Launchpad and the Scrimmage, we will likely aim for smaller, more tightly curated events. In some ways, this is sad for us, because the community in Boulder so loves the Unreasonable Launchpad. However, we are here to serve the entrepreneurs, and this event just doesn\u2019t produce enough value for them.<\/p>\n<p><strong>3. Bringing 30 mentors to the Institute in one weekend works<\/strong>! For the second year, we hosted \u201cMentor Weekend.\u201d This took place two weeks into the Institute, right after the Launchpad, and brought the bulk of our mentors to the Institute. They participated in speed dating as well as deeper one-on-one sessions with our entrepreneurs and\u00a0forged a lot of strong relationships. This was much better organized and attended than last year\u2019s event, making us confident\u00a0in this structure moving forward.\u00a0Its effectiveness may also give us the ability to shorten the Institute a bit, making it\u00a0accessible for more entrepreneurs.<\/p>\n<p><strong>4. Mentor teams are better than mentor relationships. <\/strong>We\u2019ve evolved from an organization that matches entrepreneurs with mentors to one that helps each venture build a tailored, well-rounded mentor team. Wherever the entrepreneur needs support, we try to assemble a team of two to four dedicated mentors with skills that address the gaps in the founders\u2019 experience. This team commits to working with the entrepreneur for a minimum of six months before a re-evaluation.<\/p>\n<p>Mentors are more motivated when they know the context in which their expertise fits. And the team format creates a sort of \u201ccoopetition,\u201d as the mentors all want to add at least as much value as their peers, if not more.<\/p>\n<p>Nine out of 11 ventures<sup><a id=\"ref1\" href=\"#fn1\">1<\/a><\/sup> left the Institute with a committed mentor team. Considering the fact that our goal was for 80 percent of our ventures to leave with committed mentor teams, we are delighted!<\/p>\n<p><strong>5. Mentorship needs to localize. <\/strong>We also noted that ventures whose mentor teams had large contingents of local mentors were stronger, as they were able to hold more regular meetings. Moving forward, we plan to dramatically increase the proportion of local mentors in our mentor pool. This learning also validates the model of our Institutes in Uganda and Mexico (which will consist more heavily of local mentors).<\/p>\n<p><strong>6. The middle of \u00a0the Institute is not the best time for\u00a0entrepreneurs to raise funding. <\/strong>We usually run an investor event as part of each year\u2019s program. But this year we decided to detach this event from the Institute and schedule it for three months later.<\/p>\n<p>The main reason for this decision is that we think our entrepreneurs need time to deconstruct before they reconstruct. During the Institute, mentors poke holes in the entrepreneurs\u2019 core assumptions. Our Financial Architects (who are offering a new service to entrepreneurs this year in helping build their financial models) tear apart financial models. Our Capital Partners (funders who also serve as\u00a0mentors) perform \u201cfunding reality checks\u201d for our entrepreneurs and show them how far away they are from being considered investable.<\/p>\n<p>This is clearly not the best time for an entrepreneur to meet with investors. Indeed, few of our past ventures have secured capital during this step. (Though the vast majority did a few months later.) So we\u2019ve decided to offer them support as they reconstruct, then host Investor Days in October, three months after the close of the Institute. We\u2019ll bring in 100 carefully chosen funders, using the <a href=\"http:\/\/www.enableimpact.com\/\">remarkable database<\/a> that our venture funding lead Tyler Hartung built, along with Philip Berber.<\/p>\n<p><strong>7. We need to distribute power rather than consolidate it.\u00a0<\/strong>Given how much meticulous\u00a0one-on-one matchmaking\u00a0goes into creating an Institute experience that is valuable for the entrepreneurs, we suspect that we often get in the way of thousands of potential relationships. Over the past few years, we\u2019ve seen how effective the matchmaking can be if we share responsibility for it. A great example is the\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/unreasonableinstitute.org\/coaching\/\">Unreasonable Coaching<\/a>\u00a0program,\u00a0led by the\u00a0amazing <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/profile\/view?id=3793570&amp;authType=NAME_SEARCH&amp;authToken=a7-A&amp;locale=en_US&amp;srchid=212844251406001044935&amp;srchindex=1&amp;srchtotal=8&amp;trk=vsrp_people_res_name&amp;trkInfo=VSRPsearchId%3A212844251406001044935%2CVSRPtargetId%3A3793570%2CVSRPcmpt%3Aprimary\">Ren\u00e9e Freedman<\/a>. Ren\u00e9e has built a remarkable network of trained and experienced executive coaches, whom she matches to our entrepreneurs after understanding their needs. It\u2019s one of the most highly lauded parts of Unreasonable Institute!<\/p>\n<p>Thanks to Ren\u00e9e, our entrepreneurs have access to a whole new network of support. Traditionally, we have relied on only one person to build our mentor network and another person to build the funding network. Moving forward, we plan to empower multiple people\u2014from inside and outside the organization\u2014to help us recruit and match mentors and funders, as well as accountants, lawyers, designer, and others who have the skills our entrepreneurs need.<\/p>\n<p><strong>8. We can make a much bigger difference with earlier-stage organizations. <\/strong>The average 2014 Unreasonable Venture was much earlier stage than last year\u2019s. And the success of the 2014 class validates our assumption that we\u2019re better suited to earlier-stage ventures.<\/p>\n<p>Over the past few years, we\u2019ve experimented by working with ventures at different stages. In 2010, we took idea-stage ventures. In 2013, we took profitable operations with strong evidence of their impact. 2011 and 2012 represented gradients in between these extremes. While nearly all ventures found value in the Institute, the entrepreneurs who have found it to be an absoulte gamechanger were those at the prototype or early-revenue stages (roughly the kind of venture we accepted in 2011).<\/p>\n<p>Part of the reason that we pushed later stage in past years was that funders in our space tend to seek more traction and evidence before they\u2019re willing to invest. But our 2011 ventures raised more money on average than our 2013 ventures, despite being earlier stage. Yes, they have had more time to raise money since the Institute, but most of the 2013 ventures were about two years ahead of 2011 ventures.<strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<table class=\" aligncenter\">\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"36\"><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"79\"><em>Ventures in class<sup><a id=\"ref2\" href=\"#fn2\">2<\/a><\/sup><\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"79\"><em>Number that raised funding<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"83\"><em>Percent\u00a0that raised funding<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"80\"><em>Total\u00a0raised<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"112\"><em>Average raised (total \/ number\u00a0that raised funding)<\/em><\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"36\"><em>2011<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"79\">26<\/td>\n<td width=\"79\">22<\/td>\n<td width=\"83\">85%<\/td>\n<td width=\"80\">$17M<\/td>\n<td width=\"112\">$772,727<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td width=\"36\"><em>2013<\/em><\/td>\n<td width=\"79\">12<\/td>\n<td width=\"79\">11<\/td>\n<td width=\"83\">92%<\/td>\n<td width=\"80\">$7.91M<\/td>\n<td width=\"112\">$719,090<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Funding aside, the ventures that have grown the most coming out of the Institute arrived at the institute at a very early stage\u2014in many cases pre-revenue.<\/p>\n<h2>Conclusion<\/h2>\n<p><em>Target Venture: <\/em>Prototype or early-revenue stage<\/p>\n<p><em>Role of the Entrepreneur:<\/em> The entrepreneur needs to be in the driver\u2019s seat and must\u00a0master the art of building deep and authentic relationships with mentors and funders.<\/p>\n<p><em>Roles of the Institute: <\/em><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Teach entrepreneurs how to engage with mentors and funders<\/li>\n<li>Distribute the responsibility of curating tailored networks of mentors, funders, and partners for our entrepreneurs<\/li>\n<li>Deconstruct the entrepreneurs\u2019 core assumptions so they can reconstruct with the guidance of a committed mentor team and financial architects in preparation for Investor Days three months later<\/li>\n<li>Host more curated events like Mentor Weekend and fewer uncurated events<\/li>\n<li>Build stronger local networks of mentors (as well as funders and other supporters)<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>We can\u2019t wait to apply these lessons!<\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"fn1\">1. [Of the two that didn\u2019t build a team, one team didn\u2019t speak English well enough to cement relationships. We need to be stricter about this criteria moving forward. The other turned out not to be sufficiently coachable.]<a title=\"Jump back to footnote 1 in the text.\" href=\"#ref1\">?<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n<p><sup id=\"fn2\">2. [You\u2019ll notice that the 2013 Class had less than half the number of ventures in the 2011 Class. We made the decision to accept fewer ventures to the Institute per year in order to more deeply customize the program to our entrepreneurs and to invite teams (rather than simply one leader per venture). However, having honed our methodology for curating the right mentors and funders for our ventures over the past two years, we believe we can work with more ventures per Insitutte and plan to design our 2015 Institute with a larger class size in mind.]<a title=\"Jump back to footnote 2 in the text.\" href=\"#ref2\">?<\/a><\/sup><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The fifth Unreasonable Institute has come and gone. We have since synthesized what we learned and are already sharpening our offerings for our next few programs. Here&#8217;s a look at what we learned and what we need to improve.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"spay_email":"","footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[476,1495,1511,1538,1129,1553,1528,1558],"tags":[2247,1397,450,556,32,586,290,349,311,1400,17,192,1408,113,383,119,365,993,245],"class_list":["post-13664","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-article","category-education-tags","category-failure","category-institute","category-2014_institute","category-metrics-and-evaluation","category-scaling","category-team","tag-article","tag-bfp","tag-career","tag-education","tag-failure","tag-institute","tag-leadership","tag-lessons","tag-mentorship","tag-metrics","tag-money","tag-networking","tag-profile","tag-scaling","tag-starting","tag-success","tag-team","tag-ravilochan","tag-values"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v26.8 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Eight Key Lessons from the 2014 Unreasonable Institute - UNREASONABLE<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/unreasonablegroup.com\/articles\/lessons-from-the-2014-unreasonable-institute\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Eight Key Lessons from the 2014 Unreasonable Institute - UNREASONABLE\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"The fifth Unreasonable Institute has come and gone. We have since synthesized what we learned and are already sharpening our offerings for our next few programs. 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