FoundersDoor Week 2 🚀 - Issue #2

Welcome to your regular update on the progress of FoundersDoor, the YSYS pre-accelerator for 18-24 year old, underrepresented founders in London; supported by OneTech Talent, a provider of The Mayor of London Digital Talent Programme and NBS Ventures.

Want to offer your support to FoundersDoor or just generally connect? Drop me a line: kwaku@thisisysys.com

Good morning {{first_name}}! Hope you’re having an awesome week. First things first… I apologise. In last week’s issue I completely forgot to give you a little background into our first cohort - how rude of me! Startup ideas are in very varied fields, but if you think you have some insights that could help with any do reach out! The founders had a few more specific asks below. Without further ado:

The aim for Munch is to create an app where people can input their dietary requirements and receive a customised menu for a restaurant of their choice.

A marketplace where opportunity seekers and providers meet with a focus on helping people from disadvantaged backgrounds jump start their careers.

Feedback Swap is a Web platform to get unbiased feedback in exchange for giving it to others.  We aim to build a community of entrepreneurs and empower them to build products that solve problems.

Connecting Afro-Caribbean consumers with stylists and products that work for them. Think Uber, but for Afro-Carribean consumers.

Novus Ardem 

A FashTech brand built on the ethos of ‘Art wouldn’t exist without the viewer’. Collaborating with Artists, Photographers and Galleries all over the world to create ‘Wearable Art’ as limited pieces which reflect the Phenomenal Works by our Partners.

FoundersDoor is now in full swing and here are a few of the highlights of last weekend’s activities:

Week 2 was distinctly more product focused with an awesome workshop ran by Kay Kukoyi on Creating Innovative Business Solutions. This session was jam-packed with advice on recognising what the startup teams’ value propositions and ensuring that they match prospective customers pain points.

From this some interesting value statements cropped up:

“Finding jobs are hard.” - Spiela

“Reservations without reservations.” - Munch

“Reclaim your good hair.” - The Good Hair Co.

“Our only true freedom is Art.” - Novus Ardem

This led to the founders hypothesising what the key features of their products should include, which they will be looking to validate over the next few weeks.

We also had a guided meditative session ran by Muhammad Malik with the aim of fostering customer empathy through visualisation. It is fair to say that there were a few skeptics in the room! However, a number of founders attested that the exercise helped them to establish a more holistic customer profile.

Shout out to ChopWell who provided a bountiful lunch to refuel our hungry founders - I happily collected the leftovers :D

We’re looking forward to next week where Founder of Metier Digital, Nana Parry, will be delivering a session on creating MVPs and validating product concepts, with teams drilling down on market testing!

Spiela have designed a research form for their customer discovery. If you have involvement in the recruitment for your company, please fill out this form. Any feedback of their website?

Munch are planning to run a focus group to learn more about their customers. Do you have an allergy or food intolerance and happy to take part in their focus group? Email: questions.munch@gmail.com

The Good Hair Co. have set up their socials and mailing list - if you want to join their community go to their website and sign up.

Feedback Swap are keen to test out some of their assumptions about potential customers. Are you a startup founder or have some in your network? Shoot them an email - andrewdao.w@gmail.com

Norvus Ardem really want to speak to anyone with knowledge of smart technology, art, fashion or the intersection of all three? Reach out to Haris if you have someone in mind - hariskiani1@yahoo.com.