The Entrepreneurs with Ben Lehnert & Derek Lidow

Sprint 21: How to think about funding your startup

Funding decisions can make or break you as an aspiring entrepreneur, even before you launch. Funding decisions need to be made thoughtfully by every aspiring and practicing entrepreneur. In this sprint we go over the fundamental strategic decisions that prescribes which of two different paths you will likely be taking in funding your startup, whether it is for-profit or not-for-profit. We lay out how to think through whether you will want to use bedrock or high-risk funding methods to get the funds you will need. While data shows that 97% of all entrepreneurs go bedrock, many bedrock and high-risk entrepreneurs inadvertently use techniques suited for the alternate strategy, causing unnecessary rejections, wasted time, and sometimes unnecessary failures. This sprint helps you understand the choice – including for entrepreneurs interested in non-profits. The two following sprints go into details of how you prepare for one or the other type of funding.

Sprint 20: How to name and differentiate your brand

Every entrepreneur needs to be acutely aware of what other brands their customers invite into their lives, why and how to set themselves apart from other brands. In this sprint, Ben and Derek walk you through how you get this deeper understanding and can then intentionally make decisions to differentiate your brand in the market. First, we teach you how to create a visual brand map that will help you developed the detailed knowledge of other brands you’re competing with. Then we walk you through how to pick a great name for your brand. Find all our free sprints for founders at https://www.theentrepreneurs.io/sprint-library [https://www.theentrepreneurs.io/sprint-library] Join our membership for 1:1 mentorship and coaching: https://www.theentrepreneurs.io/membership [https://www.theentrepreneurs.io/membership]

Sprint 19: The basics of planning a brand

Founders need to understand what a brand is and how it is developed and formed. A brand takes time to develop and cannot be fully formed until your core team is in place and you have introduced your product or service broadly. In this sprint, Ben and Derek challenge you to start thinking about the branding process so that you do not make any naïve missteps along the way. This is not a one and done exercise, as a brand will develop and evolve as your enterprise forms and its products or services are introduced and evolve. Listen to more sprints like this on www.theentrepreneurs.io [https://www.theentrepreneurs.io/]

How to create a relationship with a potential mentor

Mentors are often life changing for entrepreneurs and founders. But reaching out to someone who you see as a role model but don’t know can be scary. In this week’s episode, Ben and Derek discuss how you successfully create a relationship with a potential mentor. This episode prompts to you also listen to Sprint 8, 9 and 10 to learn the basics skills of relationship building.

Sprint 18: Starting to plan the future of your startup

Almost all entrepreneurs either over plan or do not plan at all. In this sprint, Derek and Ben describe specifically what level of planning and anticipation of the future makes most sense for an entrepreneur once they feel their idea has potential. As the entrepreneur now wants to invest some time and money in working out how to turn the idea into an actual product or service a customer is gladly willing to pay for, they need to make sure the needed money, time and people will be there when needed.