Skip to content
Startup Secrets Sandbox
  • Pages
    • icon picker
      Welcome to YOUR Startup Secrets Sandbox
      • About Startup Secrets
      • About this Sandbox
      • FAQ - Frequently Asked Questions
      • Creative Commons Attribution
    • Customer Value Proposition
      • Synopsis: Customer Value Proposition
      • Frameworks
        • DEFINE the Problem or Opportunity
          • MVS - Minimum Viable Segment
            • Beware: Don't Overlook Your MVS
            • Demandware case study & video
            • MVS compared to a beachhead
          • 4U
          • BLAC and White
            • BLAC and White moves
              • Market timing
            • YouTube: A Case Example of BLAC and White
            • Netflix, Spotify and JioCinemas in India
          • Whole Problem
        • EVALUATE the Solution
          • 3D
          • Gain/Pain
          • DEBT
            • Apple Pay case example from WSJ
          • Whole Product
            • Tesla DEBT
          • Partnerships
            • Strategic partners
        • Assemble Your Value Proposition
        • YOU: Founder-Market Fit
        • Applying Your Value Proposition
      • Customer Value Proposition AI
      • Slides
      • Video Recording
      • Articles
      • Worksheet / Canvases
      • Example Tools
        • Customer Discovery & Interview Script
    • Customer-Centric Business Model
      • Frameworks
        • Business Model as a Disruptor
        • CORE
        • Multipliers and Levers
          • Products that SLIP
          • Package for Pull
            • Bundling
              • 4 Myths of Bundling
              • Bundling Tooklit
              • Podcast
          • Co-Create a Win-Win
            • Acquia's Story
          • 3Up
        • Customer-Centric Models
        • RSVPD
      • Workshop Slide Deck
      • Video Recording
      • Business Model Examples
        • Stories and a Startup Secret from decades of business model innovation
    • Build a Product That Scales Into a Company
      • Perspective: Building Products into Companies
      • Frameworks
        • The Product-Company Gap
        • Design for Product-GTM Fit
          • Value Proposition
          • Minimum Viable Segment
          • Repeatable Products
        • Architect Your Business Model
          • Products that SLIP
            • Simple to Install and Use
            • Low to No Initial Cost
            • Instant and Ongoing Value
            • Play Well in the Ecosystem
          • Package for Pull
          • Whole Product Partnerships
      • Slides
      • Video Recordings
      • SLIPPERY related to PLG
    • Vision, Mission & Values: Create an Authentic Culture
      • Frameworks
        • Founder-Market Fit
          • What are you uniquely qualified for?
        • Elements of Culture
          • Vision
          • Mission
          • Culture
            • Values
        • Operationalize Your Culture
          • Communicate
          • Reinforce
          • Evolve
      • Slides
      • Video - What It Takes: Vision, Mission, Culture
    • Hiring and team building
    • Go to Market
      • Framework - GTM overview
      • Video and Slides - GTM
    • Perfect Your Fundraising Pitch
      • Workbook: Perfect Your Fundraising Pitch
      • Frameworks
        • Business Overview
        • Team
        • Key Problem & Opportunity
        • Solution
        • Vision: Why Now? AND For The Future.
          • Balancing Vision and Execution
        • Traction & Proof Points
        • Business Model
        • Market Size
        • Competitive Landscape
        • Fundraising Needs & Milestones
      • Slides: Getting Behind The Perfect Pitch
      • Video: Getting Behind The Perfect Pitch
      • Article: Elevator question
    • Funding strategies to go the distance
      • Funding Market Fit
      • Questions arising
    • Personal Entrepreneurship
      • Problem solving
        • Elon Musk, Tesla, SpaceX
      • Are you curious what mindset it takes to be a successful founder?
      • Have you got what it takes?
      • Roadmap to success
      • People First
      • Mutual Mentorship
        • Peer Mentoring (Founder-to-Founder)
        • Mutual Mentorship (Mentor–Mentee Relationships)
        • Master Mentorship (Mentoring the Mentors)
        • Mentorship Resources for Startups
      • Founders Can't Scale: Fact or Fiction?
      • 3 Examples of Why You CAN Afford to Fail
    • Glossary for learning
    • How to comment in Coda
      • What is Coda?

Welcome to YOUR Startup Secrets Sandbox

The Journey Begins with your Questions. Not our Answers.

Entrepreneurship isn’t about following a roadmap - it’s about creating your own.

Bold entrepreneurs break new ground, chart new territory, rewrite the rules, reach previously unimaginable heights, continuously snatching victory from the jaws of defeat along the way...


Welcome!

Startup Secrets is on a mission to inspire and empower innovators and entrepreneurs like you to solve more of the world's problems.
Originally created for the Harvard Innovation Lab to help students build their ventures, it has spread globally reaching over 10 million viewers. You can read more here and and how to use it.
We want to encourage you to take your own unique journey through the workshops, at whatever pace you choose.
megaphone
We believe there’s no good advice for your startup until it’s your own...
Simply click below to jump into a module, or navigate through them on the left. Or just use the Search bar at the top (on desktop) to seek out any help you want. If you want to follow our recommended order it is as follows:
(including fundraising)
Hire the Really Right Talent, Fit to Build a GREAT Company:
And check out this new section, under development by popular demand
that includes some popular workshops and articles on things like:
This section also raises the all important question for you as a founder:
And discusses the .

In the meantime if you’d like to view prior classes from the past 10 years see the Harvard Innovation Lab recordings,

below to get updates and notification as more workshops and materials are added and refreshed:

* We welcome your feedback and comments directly in this document. See


CleanShot 2025-10-27 at 09.33.10.jpg
Want to print your doc?
This is not the way.
Try clicking the ⋯ next to your doc name or using a keyboard shortcut (
CtrlP
) instead.