 I will just tell you a brief background sign. You heard what we do. We help early stage startups to grow and I've been with sign for the last six years and primary look at incubation related activities. Most of my day is spent in reviewing startup pitches. So I've seen pitches ranging from an idea stage to company looking at scaling up in the US. So it's a journey and it's a learning process and I also learn even now in terms of how to make a pitch, what are the crucial elements which needs to be there. But the foundation is about the customer. What does the customer need and how do we build a product that the customer will eventually buy or pay for. And so if you look at the newspapers, many of the news is in terms of startup funding. And that's what most of the newspapers cover. 30th Unicorn, the second Bitcoin-based cryptocurrency startup, Kuber, it was the 30th Unicorn which got added this year. Prior to that was Lycius, it was the 29th and Guptchamp one of our incubators was I think number 20 odd. So we've seen Unicorns every day, but that's what the newspaper gives us. Startup is all about funding, but more importantly, startup is all about identifying the right product that you need to build. And so very recently I spoke with one of our startups and he was, I was like, are you looking at raising funding? They're like, no, we are raising funds internally. And I asked, what does that mean? No, we are getting funds from our customers. I said, that's the right way of looking forward too. Because the more you kind of grow organically, the less you would need to dilute your company or share the pie to other investors. And the early you do, you share a larger pie because whoever takes a higher risk and typically at an early stage, anybody takes an early risk in investing, they would take a higher reward. So they take a larger piece of the pie. But if the company falls, the pie is no more. So it's very crucial for investors as well as for startups to understand when and what should be involved and how to be communicate. So communication is the key. And before that is research. So with that kind of background, I would quickly take you through a short presentation on lean model canvas. You would help me in building the canvas. I'll quickly introduce what the canvas is. And we will go together and building a canvas for one of the startups, which is very familiar to us. Lean canvas was actually from a modification of the business model canvas. And it was founded by an Indo-American called Ash Maurya. And the sign had the privilege of speaking to him last week. In fact, he had a proposition for our startups in terms of his software or identifying early stage startups, giving them training, etc. So we spoke to him, in fact, last Friday. And so this is the background in terms of the lean canvas. Lean canvas, we feel that it is more suited for early stage startups. Why do you think startups fail? What are the top 20 reasons? There are top 20 reasons identified by CB Insights. But can you just put in chat or tell what are the main number one reason why startups fail? Yeah, we did discuss this. So I think one of the reasons why startups fail is, you know, the product that you are making, there isn't a need or there aren't users in the market present for that. So I think that is one of the reasons why it could fail. Absolutely. There is no market need. You're building a product, but nobody wants to buy it, right? And that is the major reason why startups fail. And that is where and why we need to do our research in terms of finding out what do people need and build a product based on that. And so that's what the lean canvas really helps you. It helps you verify your product or an idea that you're building helps you focus on the customer. And they have something called as a sell before you build methodology. So the actual methodology is called the loop of build, measure and learn, wherein you kind of build a hypothesis, you test your assumptions before actually, you know, building a product. So you build certain experiments and then make something called as a minimum viable product. You must have heard about MVP. One of our, my colleagues, he kind of helped in visualizing what an MVP looks like. So you don't bake the entire cake, but you cut it and show a piece of the cake so that you can see the different layers in it. And probably somebody can test the flavor, et cetera, before it is actually, you know, fully, fully made. But that's, it's complex in terms of different domains that you're in. But the idea is to go out to the market, collect feedback, build a little bit about it, measure it in terms of doing an analysis in terms of doing a customer survey without actually telling what your product is, you kind of get feedback on what are the different features probably you would like to see if I'm making, for example, a smart stethoscope. So you go to a doctor, the startup idea that, in fact, Professor Shakur was telling you guys discussed yesterday from Professor Biravi, they went out into the market. And in fact, the very first product, the prototype or the MVP that they created had headphones like these, right, or the earphones. And immediately the doctor said, you know, that removes our identity. And they said, what do you mean? So they said, the doctors are known by the way we put our stethoscope on our caller. And if they see a headphone, they were like, okay, it doesn't look like a doctor, it looks more like a DJ player than a doctor, right? So they immediately took the feedback and they said, we're not reinventing the stethoscope we would build. In fact, they kind of pivoted their idea of actually building the whole stethoscope to a connector, which can convert the analog to a digital stethoscope. Had they not gone and found this important feedback at the beginning, they would have probably built the stethoscope with the headphone module, and they would have only realized later on that this is not going to sell. That would have been the lack of market, no market need, the very first reason for why startups fail. And now they have built a successful product because they continuously heard the voice of their potential customer, right? And that's the sell before you build methodology. It's a capsule. So that's why I'm going a little fast. And so we will look at the canvas, we'll break it down into nine different small boxes here. That's how the canvas is being built. Usually there is a way of filling the canvas and it always starts with the customer, as we have been seeing in all these sessions. So first is you list down your target customers, right? And so if you're building a product just in your mind map, you list down who your customers are. And that's your assumption that this person would be your customer. But very often we've seen startups coming and tell us, I remember a startup who showed a globe when you asked about the customer, I said the entire world is our customer. And I was shocked to know that they haven't done that kind of deep drilling down into what their exact customers would look like. And so you need to identify your early adopters. So there is an extra innovation curve which starts from your early adopters to early majority, late majority and the laggards. Basically, when an iPhone was launched first, everybody didn't buy it, right? There were tech enthusiasts who wanted to try something different. They were the early adopters. So these will be your ambassadors for your startup or your product. They will refer it, they will give word of mouth. And that's how it kind of diffuses. That's the innovation diffusion curve. It diffuses and then more people start buying. And I would say I was more of a laggard and when it came to iPhone, it was by the time iPhone 6 got released that I really bought it. By the time iPhone 8 was released. So I was really a laggard in terms of, so multiple people come in at different stages in your product innovation. So identifying your customers, list them down. That would be the first step. Number two, what would be the top customer problems, top three customer problems and list that down and identify which are the existing alternatives for these problems. So we'll just listen to the different building blocks of the canvas here, but we'll take the example of a startup after this. Identify which are the existing alternatives and then how are these problems currently solved today? List that down. And after that, for each problem that you identify, identify which is the revenue streams for the different sources of revenue. Sorry, I would just, in fact, go here. For each problem, you would go identify a solution to each problem. That would be the next step. And then identify what would be the revenue sources for each of these solutions. How much will the potential customer pay for it? Then comes the unique value proposition. So this is the order that, in fact, Ash, the founder has actually mentioned, but you can choose any model which you prefer. Prefer with some people, go with problem solution model. Some people start with customer, but this is the textbook definition of how it should be. But you don't have to do this, but I'm just telling in terms of the building blocks. Identify what your unique value proposition is. Basically the USP of your product. What is that which is very compelling, which your competitor is not offering? And then how do you reach your channels to customers? Meaning, how do you communicate that you exist? For early stage startups, it becomes very difficult. But now, thanks to digital media, there are multiple ways in which you can, in fact, almost at a very minimal cost, you can reach out to customers. There is social media marketing, and digital media, and then influencers, and viral videos, which can really take you up that curve very, very fast. And then identify what are your key metrics. In fact, then different numbers that tell that how your business is doing. If you make an app, it will be a number of downloads, which you had a number of active monthly users who would be using it, a number of hours they're using it, etc. So these are metrics or measures that tells that your business is progressing. And then what would be the cost structures for this? There is fixed and variable cost. And then finally, this is something you can fill in at the last usually, what is the unfair advantage, which cannot be easily copied or built? It could be the IP that you have, or the team that you're building, or the advisory board, or anything which your competitor can't easily copy. It is also called as the MOTE MOAT, which basically means if there is a castle, there is a kind of an embankment around it, which prevents the enemy from attacking easily. And that's why it's called an entry barrier, or unfair advantage, or MOTE. So this is in terms of the lean canvas. These are the different building blocks. And now we will kind of do a short example. So these are the numbers, as I said, based on what Ash Maria had mentioned, it starts with a customer, then problem, etc. So guys, based on your startup that you have, you can either go from a problem solution fit, that is typically what at sign, also we kind of tell startups that you identify a problem, and then work on that, build a solution. But these two should be done in parallel. In fact, you should be building a product that a customer would buy. And that should be the focus. Now, what we'll do is we'll get into an example of Uber. That's pretty simple, and that's with 10 minutes that I have, we can probably build this up. So let's start, and please one of you should help me in filling this canvas. Who would be the target customers for Uber? People who commute from one place to another. Offices or otherwise, I think. Anybody else? People who are not on their own vehicle. Yeah, sure. So let's see. Maybe people in like tier two and three cities, perhaps it's all available everywhere. Sure. So roughly it comes under commuters, office goers, passengers. Anybody else that Uber is targeting as their customer? Tourist. Yeah, sure. Who else uses it? There are two different apps for Uber. One as passenger uses Uber. So it's a different segment. One is a particular segment. This is another segment, the drivers. Now, let's look at the customer problems that these people have. What do you think are the problems that Uber solved for them? Or the problems that was existing before Uber came into existence? The transport reaches your house or like it reaches your location instead of you having to go somewhere and find it for you. So. Yeah, send me names. You can pay for something. I'm able to find text to your family. Easy to contact driver. Problems. What were the problems on the solution? I'm able to find text to cities. Sorry. I'm able to find the parking positions in metro cities. Yeah, okay. Parking was one, sure. Pricing. Taxes were expensive. I remember that when I came to sign for my interview, I got pleased by the drivers at Mumbai airport. I had to pay around 1000 rupees from Andheri to Dubai. That was my first time in Mumbai. So there is no control. They just tell a random price and you go ahead with it. Reliable. Reliability. Yeah. Time consumption has reduced. Security. Yeah. Sure. Less risks. Sure. It's more secure. So that's in terms of your customer segment, which is in bold. What about the ones which for the drivers? Navigation. Employment. Yeah, odd time employment and employment. Yeah. Resisted income. Income, yeah. Easier for them to find the customers like they can now find in different areas. Yeah. Drivers also don't need to own a car. They can also operate without them. Yeah. So these are the problems, right? And what were the alternatives which was available? For example, like public transport, right? Or Kalipili, right? There is competition. Yeah. We can probably put Ola and other ride sharing apps. So this is probably when Uber started, okay? And lean model canvases usually built when you're starting your business. It's really to identify whether you're right in terms of your you know, your business plan that you have or should you pivot or should you persevere? It's helping. It's for identifying that. So let's take this probably five years back when Uber started off rather than looking at it now. Yeah. It's for identifying that. So let's take this probably five years back when Uber started off rather than looking at it now. Yeah. I can hear my echo for some reason. Okay. Cool. What is the solution that Uber offered? Some of you already told that it is convenience. So yeah, we're looking at the solution part of the canvas. One in terms of Uber. One was the convenience part of it. Second, it was somebody said it was cheaper. Any other solution that Uber is offering? So this is in terms of the passengers. Now let's see in terms of drivers, what are the different ways in which Uber is helping them? I wouldn't say ownership of private vehicles also be a problem or like a solution in this case and the rise of ownership of private vehicles. Yeah. So at least model right. The reason I'm trying to show this is because there are two set of customers which are different and the problems for each of these is different. So we need to target. So when you do the customer discovery, when you go out and speak to people, you should identify the different. People have also written some options in the chat if you would just take it. Got it. Got it. Navigation, payment options, safety of passengers. Yeah. Perfect. Yeah. Payment options will come in fact here. All right. And then there is ratings which on both the sides will go there as well as here. You've got the idea, right? Why it is important that you identify two set of customers whose needs are different. Great. And now let's look at the revenues. What are the different revenue sources? It's usually a percentage, fixed percentage of right. If you're running out of time, so I'll just quickly tell. I think it's around 25 percentage or something. And now let's look at the difference. So what is the value proposition that Uber is really giving? That's a single compelling message that states convenience is one major thing. It's one app. What else in chat? Exact time of coming live feedback. Yeah. It's convenience, right? Basically Uber is selling convenience. And then saying it's safe. And then for the driver's part of it, it would be flexibility. And then navigation. So in short, if you say kind of an elevator pitch for Uber, it'll be like, we like taxi, but cheaper, safer and flexible. That's kind of the one line description. And we like one line descriptions. Investors like one line descriptions because it's so much easy for us to understand what you're doing if it is in a capsule of telling what it is. A lot of time students or others, when startups approach us, they keep telling about the technology and we would like wondering, what are they actually building? What is it? They say it's computational fluid dynamics, there's that. And we were wondering, what is that they're building? So it should be in terms of the value offering to the customer that should come out first. And it takes time in building that. And the more and more feedback you get from people around you, that's how you build your kind of elevator pitch. Now, how do you reach your customers? Moving on to the number six on the slide now. What are the channels in which Uber kind of reaches the customer? Yeah, sure. But before they came onto the app, how do you know that they exist? Word of mouth? Perfect, word of mouth. Right, what else? You get paid if you refer a customer, Rs. 125. These are the first initial, almost all e-commerce and apps do that. Initial free rides, I think, which were offered to customers. Yeah, free rides, okay. But it's very difficult for a startup to give anything for free and we tell our startups don't give anything for free. Cool. What else? Now, and now we come to the metrics. How do you know you're doing well? Pretty straightforward rides, number of rides, number, and then user downloads. And since it's an app, there's something called ARPU, average revenue per user, MAU, these are all terminologies, monthly active users, average revenue per user, et cetera. What is the main cost that Uber has here? Purchasing cars. Technology. Uber doesn't purchase cars. Technology. Yeah. So, the bear interface. Yeah, sure. What else? It's fixed cost and variable cost. Yeah, customer care training. Yeah, customer care is important. Salaries. Yeah, that's your variable cost. Sorry, your fixed cost, which is fixed every year. Now, unfair advantage. They have access to data. They have access to drivers and cab applications. And they have some people own fleets, which is entirely dedicated to Uber. Some people are now, Uber has their own set of cabs as well. And now it comes to branding. This is basically in terms of how you build your canvas. Very important to modify the canvas as and when you receive feedback from your customers. So, this is the same set of steps that we use at sign. We ask the elevator pitch. We ask for the team. The problem opportunity. Solution. Current status. You ask for a demo. That's like the MVP to be displayed. The unique value proposition. Competitive landscape. You know, this is how competitive landscape is usually demonstrated. You have different parameters, which is common and unique to you and the different companies, which are your competitors and how you fare vis-a-vis them versus yours. The market segment, market size, channels, revenue model, costs, metrics and validation. You know, all these we discussed in the lean model canvas. It's like a snapshot of your business plan. Interestingly, we stopped using business plans ever since 2015 because that is something which the investors ask you to do and they never read it themselves. And so we started pushing towards breaking it down into small modules or building blocks and making startups to think and write and rewrite the business model canvas over time. And slowly, you know, we started the lean, then slowly moved to the business model canvas, learn insights and then constantly improve. All right. It's 12.25. Okay. Yeah. Questions here, guys? Yeah. Sir, like this is like one of the very, you know, very common things when I invest to ask you, what is that something you're doing separate from what the Ola is doing right now, right? Because that's like one of the factors why he would think of investing. And if like from the point of perspective of what we wrote on the lean canvas, it was very much common that the problem statement and the USP that we have been selling or the Uber and Ola has been selling. So in that situation, how would you, you know, how would you differentiate these two things and how would you take a hold on that at that stage? I won't like just because this is an example that you have been telling that's why I just came up with this. Sure. Right. So one is you see how big the market is and how many players can can be there, right? And then, you know, it's constant improvement over time. And then looking at the taxi aggregator market at the point in time, it was pretty huge and it was anybody's game. We need deep pockets to kind of be there. And it is getting a point wherein there will be aggregation within the aggregator market itself, right? So why is Flipkart getting fun? I mean, sorry, Flipkart was being acquired by Walmart, but there was already Amazon and all these players. People want to consolidate and investors want to take a bet wherein, you know, there'll be one person standing and they will get their exit from other customers, other investors probably would buy out from one startup. So that's a different mindset altogether in terms of aggregators coming back to the tech startups unless you have and since if and for tech startup, you mostly play in a niche game, right? But the market is also less. So we're moving out for a market which is wide and open to tech startups wherein you provide solutions for a distinct set of customers who are needing a particular solution. There if you have multiple players, the pie itself is small and you are seeing that multiple players are coming into it. And if you are a MeToo player there and for a startup which doesn't have a deep pocket, that could be detrimental if you don't do your customer analysis or your competitor analysis to identify that the market is growing at probably let's say a single digit per year. And these are my customers. So these are my competitors doing exactly similar to what I'm doing. If I am not at the top of my game, either I would be an acquisition target. I hope I would be an acquisition target. If not, you know, I will lose our customers and it'll be like a red ocean. It's called a red ocean where you kind of are in a segment where competitors are actually at each other. And so that is not a right segment to enter. And that's why it's very important to kind of understand early itself, whether you should persevere or prevent, otherwise you would perish in the market. That's why we keep telling people to go out and meet and speak to people. For a tech startup, it's very important to kind of differentiate that at the beginning itself. Yes, Riya. So my question was that when we are planning the lean model canvas, or we are presenting it to potential investors, let's say we want to also discuss our further expansion and scope of the startup. So what should we do that at this stage or should we wait? Because since you also mentioned that a lean model canvas is a right fit for earlier startups, young startups. So let's say if you want to mention our expansion and scope, how should we go about it? It depends on who you're asking your money from and what stage. If you're at the stage wherein you kind of tell that I'm building my product, expansion is still in the air, right? You're just not sure, especially if it is medical devices or depending on the domain, there is a lot of de-risking which needs to be done, regulatory is one, or if it is any certification which is required, or a crucial part of the product development which needs to be developed before you kind of reach that. So you kind of break down your journey into different milestones. And you tell investors very frankly that I am looking at this particular stage, I am looking at funds to go from A to B. But my vision, you should always sell your vision to the investor. My vision is to build this product and if it is built, and I'm sure to be built because I have a strong team. I'm from IT Hydroverse. I've got people in my team with complementary skill sets, business, tech, etc. who are taking the same risk with me. And there are oftentimes when you tell people that I left my job in Accenture or whatever because I want to pursue this because I'm so much convinced that this is going to work. So you sell your vision to the investor in early stage and you decide how much you need. Don't quote that you need a crore or a 5 crore at the beginning itself. They would see if you're a realistic entrepreneur or not because they've seen multiple entrepreneurs and many times, I think let's say 8 out of 10, they bet on the team, the founder than on the technology itself. So to answer your question, whether you need to show the expansion plan itself, but break down your entire plan, small chunks and tell that this is what I'm going to achieve through this and these are the following. This is my vision. So sell that to the investor. Thank you. I also got another question while you were answering it. So you just said we already have a sum in our mind when we're pitching for investment. So do we show them our entire budget or should we show them our entire financial plan and then say, out of this, this is the percentage we would like to pitch for investment from you all? Yeah, so there are different ways of doing it. One is that in your milestone, you break it down. If it is product development, so much IP is this much. Some of these are parallel, some are sequential. Parallel activities, you need to be sure that you would be achieving that at the end of six months. List down those parallel activities until that it's like a stage gate model. This is a stage, there is a gate that needs to be opened and moved to the next stage. Put it down and tell it to the investor over a period of six months, this is what I'm looking at. This is the short-term vision, but my long-term plan for a period of 18 months, it needs 5CR and this is how fall-on funding would come through. These are my advisors who is helping me. This is the incubator which is incubating me, this is my alma mater, this is my professor. All these would give more confidence to the investor. Obviously, it's a conversation. Not any investor is not going to put in money in the right beginning itself. There's something called a due diligence process. It's a long process of it takes a minimum of two months to kind of do, so yeah.