October | 2010 | Usman Sheikh

First Sessions at Founder Institute

The last few days have been quite a blur! I arrived back in Singapore the day of our first session. Before the start of the session, I was fortunate to get a 45 minutes, one on one meeting with Adeo Ressi & Phil Libin, to discuss the ideas I will be working on. Those 45 minutes were truly insightful! It is at such times that you understand how great a role experience plays and how quickly and effortlessly someone with experience is able to break down an idea and recreate it based on models that actually work in the market place. Those initial 45 minutes set the ball rolling to prove that the next few months were going to be, not just a ride of a lifetime but a truly great experience.

During our first presentation we were told to refrain from excessive and specific blogging or tweeting on matters discussed during the classes. This is primarily because the mentors and your peers share a fair amount of confidential information regarding their own experiences and the lessons they have learned over the years, which quite understandably are not always for public consumption. I will do my best to update this blog and more so my twitter feed with insights that can be shared, within the above framework.

The first couple of sessions were primarily about the program and then it dived right into setting up your vision and values for the ideas you are working on. Every session has it’s set of homework assignments, failure to complete them has fairly punitively drastic consequences on your eligibility to continue. The work load is significantly higher than I expected it to be. I was under the impression that it would be around 15 hours a week. However, I think it is more like double that estimate taking into account assignments, readings and work group meetings.

The first big deadline that we have is Nov 9th, by which date we need to have crystallized our pitch and got enough support from peers and mentors to move forward with it. The two concepts that I am currently working on are:

1. Reevolo: A web service that aims to assist employers hire Gen Y effectively.

2. Lean Sparks: A web service for entrepreneurs to record and validate their ideas.

Lean Sparks has just gone live in it’s alpha stage. I would like feedback, as also readers of this blog to use it and if possible provide me with feedback on what you think. Also, if you had to decide on more information about the two ideas mentioned above, which one would you choose? What would you want or like to know?

My next posts will talk about certain topics that are discussed in class and I will do my best to share as much as I possibly can. If you have any questions or feedback please do let me know.

Founder Institute: I got in!

Usman,
The Founder Institute is proud to announce that you have been accepted into the Fall 2010 Singapore semester. Congratulations!

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This is the email I got up to this morning! I am currently over the moon! I do believe The Founder Institute represents a critical point in the journey of an entrepreneur. The guidance and mentorship from individuals who have done it all before has to be a defining experience. This has to be the fastest way to accelerate one’s own learning, break down existing assumptions and world views and recreate them with the assistance of individuals who have achieved the success that we are all in search of.

As I had written in my earlier post, I will be using this blog and my Twitter feed (Please follow me on Twitter) to provide as many tips and my own personal learning curve on this course. This will serve as a guide for individuals who are looking into entering the program in the future, as well as a place for myself for future reflection on what I will learn during the span of the next 16 weeks. With the first class starting on the 10th of October we have already been emailed our first assignments.

The first class is set to discuss our personal strengths and weakness and how we leverage and compensate for them in our business. The class also requires us to set our goals for the program, as well as what we hope to accomplish through it. Both these components are critical in one’s self evaluation and provide a basis for the path we want to pursue. Far too often careers and life paths are chosen without the knowledge of one’s strengths and weaknesses and no end goal is set up. Both these factors and the misguided or misdirected paths taken result in a lot of confusion about life goals. I strongly suggest that all readers take a strengths inventory test and clarify their end goals, aligning them with their desires/passion.

I look forward to sharing my journey with all my readers. If you would like specific information, please do get in touch with me and we can work out how I can help.

I would like to thank the Founder Institute for accepting my application into the program and look forward to documenting my journey in the upcoming weeks through this blog & twitter.