The Knowledge Shop

By Tori HansonBusiness Entrepreneurship

The Knowledge Shop episodes

September 09, 2021Seeing is believing - make your startup ideas tangible, you'll be amazed the effect it has
Episode 11 - hello again from the wardrobe (closet for those on the west side of "the pond").
What a crazy week - forgot to say on the recording, but hope everyone celebrating had an amazing Labor day weekend and or Rosh Hashanah.
Key learnings this week (amongst many many of them):
Reminding myself i am a deadline person, and as much as it's stressful, having something to work towards, really helps focus me and leads to a better outcome.

Play to your strengths! I am a generalist yes, but that does not make me the best designer. This also means that my weakness however is also that i am a generalist - as i can do most things. So choosing when to outsource, what not to do can be hard. This is definitely compounded by the “scrappy startup” mentality / persona of feeling you need to do everything yourself. It took me a while, but remember the trade off's - do you want an“ok” or an expert outcome? Do it yourself vs outsource? I am slowly remembering, that just because i don't have an immediate team around me, it doesn't mean i have to do everything myself.

Procrastination and fear is a genuine thing. When i self-doubt, am afraid of doing things wrong, i procrastinate. For me, i end up getting something to eat or cleaning (hello empty dishwasher). I don't think this is something you solve over night, but am hoping that by being aware / sharing this (posted on Linkedin too), that it will help me and others.

Brainstorming on other people’s ideas, can improve the outcomes of your your own project. The exercise of problem solving, and thinking of ways to help others builds and engages your creative muscles. This then benefits The Knowledge Shop too, because mentally I'm then in a better place / more engaged and able to hit the ground running.
Deep dive: Having something tangible will give you a boost
More wireframe / prototype talk yes, but bear with me.... (ps - good reminder, for startups taking years, not weeks to develop).

To now, most of my ideas for TKS in my head - or shown with a few flow diagrams. But for the accelerator final, they want the pitch to be less powerpoint, more product focussed (which i can understand). Problem - I had nothing.

So - I drew with a pencil some very rough sketches of the most important aspects of the TKS user experience. Then found a designer to turn them into beautiful works of art.

Wow - the feeling of pride, when i saw the designs - they really brought The Knowledge Shop to life. I was so proud.

Moral of the story - with hindsight i wish I'd had designs made sooner. I think it would have helped to get user feedback, and explain my idea. Plus of course, it's something tangible to show for your entrepreneurial efforts.
If you don't know how to find a designer, this is what i did....
Used Fiverr (others like Upwork are available)

Looked for designers with nice looking portfolios

Filtered by price, whether they could deliver in my timeframe, and geography (i couldn't loose a day due to timezone differences).

Then waited........

After hearing from a slightly dubious person, met "Christi" (hoping not too many people find her, but credit where credit is due), and wow. amazing speed and ability to decipher. I could literally have used what she gave me immediately, without any tweaks (although i did of course ask for some).

Now you have somebody else you can turn to for future projects (I am already working with her on more)
17 min
September 02, 2021 The bitty life of an entrepreneur - research and accelerators
What a different a week makes! Last episode heat waves, this week - just gone through a tropical storm.
Feeling very schizophrenic this week - so many little things going on, and less one big focus area. I think that comes from juggling two sets of research. But fascinating nonetheless.
So, what did we learn?
1. Entrepreneur Daniel Gross on a webinar said "Starting a business is an irrational act". So true, you are taking a leap of faith and hoping that your motivation and product traction align. Very comforting to hear that if a successful entrepreneur thinks this, that i am not alone.
2. Co-founder dating - great way to meet interesting people and learn from them. Remember you'll likely need to meet a few before you find your prince, but enjoy the journey (don't forget YC's co-founder matching tool)
3. Research research research
a) Prototype interviews - interesting, but hard managing conflicting views. Will keep going with a few more, and then make some decisions eg how to communicate? SMS, Slack, Whats'App...
b) Accelerator research (MBA dissertation) - how is the industry evolving? How might it evolve? Increasing importance of ongoing support / community, being niche (not just generalists), more becoming funds?
4. Make the ask - if i hadn't, then no accelerator research interviews. Don't think, just do (now going to keep reminding myself of that).
That's here - here are some links - happy listening....
Startup communities / Resources - Pioneer & Startups.com
Ps - should have mentioned and didn't - strawberry jam wins out over dentists in marketing material. Use that learning from me.

15 min
August 26, 2021Entrepreneurship and Dentistry - more similar than you'd think.
Should have called this episode New York hot! But thought dentist might be more catchy (or seriously put a load of you off). On the basis, that it didn't, here's a run down of today's episode....
Retrospective:
More listener feedback. Thank you for giving me your time, and i am so glad to hear the stories are resonating, and that you are enjoying it. Will keep being open, honest and short, so it's not a heavy lift.

Made it to the finals of the accelerator program i am on. Can not believe it, but so excited. Keep an eye out for more info, as there is a people's vote, and i'll be sharing across social.

Co-founder dating. It's a thing! Found via the YC startup school. Great for finding people to help build your idea, or for you to join others (or even as a pipeline for later hires), or to just build your support network of other founders.

Launchpad book - behind the scenes of Y Combinator! An oldie from 2011, but completely normalises the stresses, direction changes that founders go through.
Deepdive: Prototypes
We have progress! It was hard, but stuck with it and built a product flow - originally in Jambord, now in Canva (looks so much better)!

Used dates on the diary as a forcing mechanism, but also didn't want it to be so disgusting i lost credibility.

Have started prototype interviews (two so far), first was yesterday. It was so interesting.

Like when i started customer interviews, it wasn't so scary once i started. Have a sense that the more i do, the easier it will become.
General Thoughts
Make sure to keep telling people your story and asking for help. Think about how people get speaking gigs, jobs, tables at fully booked restaurants. If you don't ask, you don't get.
Resources
Launchpad book - https://www.audible.com/pd?asin=B009IS9FD8&source_code=ASSORAP0511160006
Lunchclub - https://lunchclub.com/
YC Co-founder matching - https://www.startupschool.org/cofounder-matching
Canva - https://www.canva.com/join/hxp-scg-srb.
18 min
August 19, 2021Think this is the most scared I've been talking on an episode yet. But figuring things out slowly.
So this week's episode was pretty personal for me. Before I dive into that, here are some quick reflections on what I’ve learnt this week.
Use hooks to grab people’s attention in marketing. For me that was strawberry jam on Linkedin, previously bagels in my episode names. Now wondering what other hooks I can use, to increase engagement / awareness?

Found that posting on Linkedin around 12, gets me the most interaction - perhaps a good split between east coast US and UK / Europe? Test to find your time, and avoid re-sharing content on Linkedin. The algorithm hates it. The content will never be seen. Oh and use tools like Buffer, if you are posting a lot, it will help you manage the content.

Audience feedback. Apparently I am not alone in some of my inner critic / self-doubt thoughts/ Thank you for letting me know. It’s really hard when you’re recording and talking to yourself, but I do believe strongly that others have similar struggles, and so I really appreciate, hearing from you that my hunch is correct. I hope this helps, and will continue to help

Find your tribe. Who emulates what you are trying to build / want to become? Find where they live, and go join them. You will pick up their habits / learn from their wisdom / avoid mistakes. For me that’s surrounding myself with other entrepreneurs / VC’s, for you it could be musicians, C-suite execs, developers. Happy to help brainstorm how to find them for you, If its useful. This came up in “Grit” again, and I realised that I naturally surround myself with people, so this is proof I should keep doing it, and you should too!
Deepdive: Why building my prototype was so hard (read why I was procrastinating so much).
Because I was scared! It is a direct reflection of me, and I didn’t want to disappoint people, let you down, and or put something out that was so bad it changed your opinion of me. I was holding on so tightly, because I felt it needed to be perfect.
That was a big realisation. And that realisation, then made It easier to figure out how to move forward. (You’ll be pleased to know I have now build my user flow prototype, and going to start showing it to people).
In case they are useful, here are some tools that finally pushed me over the edge to actually make it happen……
First - think “ACT” - thanks Reid Hoffman, and your Masters of Scale Course.
A - Ask questions. What is wrong in this situation, how can I improve it. As your potential customers their views.

C - Connect with your network. Run your ideas by them, get their feedback. Would they back it?

T - Take action - what can you do right now? Don’t over think it, make that call, send that email, just do it (Nike were really onto something there).
Still struggling? Combine with Mel Robbins 5-second rule. Count backwards in your head (or out loud). To get you to take action. Think rocket ship taking off. Have an idea, count down NOW and do it!!!!!
So - that was a lot for this week, but I hope the vulnerability and the tips will help you keep going on your entrepreneurial journey. Please reach out with ideas, and where you are stuck. This founder journey is lonely, it doesn’t have to be!
Tori
Resources Mentioned
Buffer https://buffer.com/

Grit - https://angeladuckworth.com/grit-book/

Masters of Scale Course - https://join.mastersofscale.com/freeweek/PNI5Kdd02qr0nxi

Mel Robbins - 5 second ruke - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nI2VQ-ZsNr0&t=6s
19 min
August 12, 2021Strawberry jam and toast - perfect entrepreneurship marathon food
This is the chest infection episode (but clearly that's not as fun as strawberry jam on toast). Pretty sure I'm not contagious through your headphones.
This week despite being laid low for most of it, still have updates (some positive, some more "real").
Food named episodes seem to appeal, i hope you like this name as much as the "Bagels with purpose" one?
On the positive side
Spoke with a person on a VC's portfolio success team, who recognised the need for The Knowledge Shop, and offered to share the MVP with some of their companies when it is ready. Now i feel real urgency to make it!
On the "real" side
Struggled with imposter syndrome still, i think that's going to be an ongoing theme, and reminding myself the question "what would i do if i wasn't afraid"?

Balancing being sick, and listening to your body with wanting to do things. It's tough, but i think just talking about it live helps.

Remembering this is a marathon not a sprint, i hope will help (coupled with the strawberry jam).
So that's it for this week, I'm off to take more drugs, but couldn't leave you hanging.
8 min
August 05, 2021Loud cars and trains don't help with video pitches, and getting unstuck for my MVP
Retrospective:
Last time we talked about:
Accelerators appearing to increase the gender funding gap for startups. That is not good, and definitely want TKS to help tackle this.

And working on my pitch deck, which helped solidify my value add - which was by helping “unlock” founders thoughts and getting them out of their own way, they can achieve real progress.
This week: I made my video pitch deck what did I learn?
Tried Loom - but likely due to driver error, I couldn’t get it to record just the deck, and not my whole screen (including my messy desktop and notes - not good).

Canva has a built in recording feature (hooray) which allowed me to do it. So re-jigged the design so my face didn’t block the content, and off we went.

Make sure you are somewhere quiet recording very loud trains / boy racers are not conducive to good video pitches.

Creating a deck helped solidify my thoughts re the problem that TKS is solving, which is a founder’s biggest obstacle can be themself. I want to help unlock all the potential, by overcoming self-doubt, self-sabotage etc, and help make meaningful progress.
Deepdive: Prototype / MVP
Battling my head is still the toughest part of this entrepreneurship journey (I wonder why I feel so strongly that the world needs The Knowledge shop 😉.

Creating my prototype / MVP has been full of issues like overcoming perfectionisms, what-if isms, don’t want to waste people’s time.

However, I knew what I needed to do. Just my making little progress each day has helped, and watching the MVP video from YC reinforces what I knew, to get me to take action.

So the MVP will be an SMS based solution, checking in with founders to see how they are doing, and help get them unblocked when stuck, by giving relevant content to boost mood, tools to keep them going, and maybe intro’s to people too.

Looking at an IRL aspect too, to act as a mental jog and keep people motivated / on track.
Resources
Canva roadmap templates
Y Combinator MVP video
18 min
July 29, 2021Memphis hot! Research tips, early adopters, prototyping and pitchdecks
The grand tour continues - hello from Memphis. It is soooo hot right now.
This episode covered a lot of ground, so best jump in and buckle up.
The week in review:
I am nervous recording today. I have listeners. This is getting real.

According to Anchor, all of the listeners so far are women (not sure about Apple), but that's interesting. What does this mean? Does the subject just appeal more to women? Does Anchor / Spotify just have more women listeners? Are the men all listening on Apple? (i know my husband is).

Accelerators appear to be widening, not narrowing the funding gap (amount of equity raised) between male and female-led startups. According to the World Economic Forum, the gap increases from 2.1x to 2.6x difference, after the accelerator? WHY!!! Surely accelerators are supposed to level the playing field?

How can i help. what are you struggling on? Don't keep it inside, email me and tell me how i can help (or if you want to be part of the prototyping / MVP guinea-pigs).
The Deep dive: Customer Research / Analysis
Tools
Otter.ai - record / transcribe recordings

Interview analysis. Added themes from interviews onto Google / Excel Sheet.

Grouped founders as "Wannabe" and "Doing it"

Pulled out their biggest challenges, and then categorised them eg mental (self-doubt, imposter syndrome, loneliness etc), skills based (need to learn new skills) or expert (they wanted to speak to an expert to help with eg hiring, accounting etc).

Findings - wannabe's biggest challenges were internal, those who had started still looking for support there, but also wanted experts to talk to as well.

The initial prototype will therefore focus on providing emotional / psychological support to founders. This will test the hypothesis that if you can support founders emotionally (instead of just academically), startup success rate will be significantly higher / founders will be more diverse.

Full disclosure, i still got stuck doing this. I would highly recommend having a project / deadline to help focus you.

Currently finishing a pitchdeck for the CitySpark accelerator programme i am in through my business school. It reminded me to think through the problem, solution, early adopters, market size etc. It got me out of my head!!!!
Pitchdeck templates
Thank you Finance PM - can edit in Canva.

Inspired by an early Uber template on Slidebean, to see how they pulled out key facts.
21 min
July 22, 2021Hi from Omaha, prototyping, accountability and thank you
The theme of recording in a new location each episode is continuing, as i come to you from Nebraska!
Retrospective of week
This week, the podcast became "Linkedin official", and so i wanted to start by saying huge thank you's to everyone who has shown their support for what i am doing. You really blew me away, and i was totally surprised by that.
To everybody who is listening to this as a result, thank you for making the trek over. I hope you like it, and please let me know what i can do better for next time, any guests you would like featured (you can nominate yourself), and areas you'd like for a deepdive.

I don't know which customer to prioritise first. Prototyping is where i am trying to get to, but struggling with which audience to prioritise first, founders who have just begun, or those who want to start. I'm analysing research, will do some business model canvas, and then choose one, and start prototyping around that. Watch this space.....
Deepdive - Why and how to choose an accelerator, and what went into DayOne
For me priorities were
Missed community / collaborative working

Needed deadlines / accountability

It needed to start soon

The people had to be nice

Right size - learn from people, but not so big i was just one of a number

How much structure? Content vs freeform self-paces

Cost - could i afford it, did i think i think it delivered value for money.
Considered the following, and thought Day One was right for this time, still very open to the others too. People often do multiple accelerators.
https://joindayone.com/

Ondeck

Tacklebox

Labs
As always reach out, like, ask questions at [email protected]
20 min
July 15, 2021How Bagels and purpose can drive your business | Democratising Entrepreneurship, The Knowledge Shop
Today's podcast covered:
A retrospective on the past week

Deepdive on purpose, and how it helps you go beyond
The retrospective:
The lost Apple episodes, may want to listen on Spotify if you want to hear earlier episodes

No matter how little time you have, keep putting yourself out there, all steps are progress.

Don't undervalue your skills. You have more than you think. Recognising them now, will help you find complimentary skills sets when it comes time to growing your team
Deepdive: On Purpose:
Purpose, is one of the pillars of grit (according to our friend Angela Duckworth, of Grit fame)

When you are working towards something bigger than yourself, you will go beyond

This was very nicely illustrated this week on a hunt for bagels! Suffice it to say, i went further on the hunt because they were for my husband, than if they'd been for me.

So ask yourself, what is your purpose? It doesn't have to be grand, but it will help you drive further than you would without it.
Resources:
GSV Ventures, a specialist Ed-Tech focussed female-led venture capital fund. They run bootcamps, to help people advance their ideas.
13 min
July 08, 2021Beating 500k other podcasts, resilience and productivity | Democratising Entrepreneurship, The Knowledge Shop
Back for episode two. And The Knowledge Shop is already ahead of 500k other podcasts.
I know this, because i read a stat that 26% of podcasts have only one episode, and that's about 500k, so i am taking that as a win.
Resilience
You need to be resilient to succeed as an entrepreneur, but are some people's personal set ups more conducive to entrepreneurship as we traditionally think of it? What about people who have less time, other commitments? We'll return to this more in coming weeks.
Publishing a podcast
Anchor publishes across other platforms too eg Google / Apple. It can take time (research shows about 7-10 days). Still waiting on Apple, and keeping finger's crossed.
Productivity
Notice when you are most / least productive

How are you feeling, what is the environment like around you?

Can you replicate that? Eg music, location, having a powernap?

Allow yourself to rest / think. Maybe you just need to take a walk?
Next Week
Talking about customer research / early learnings

Thoughts for prototype ideas
Resources i mentioned:
Tools
Anchor - publishing podcasts

Better than 500k other podcasts, Amplifimedia.com
Resilience
Grit, by Angela Duckworth. Yes, you need it to succeed, especially in entrepreneurship, but you can cultivate if it doesn't come naturally. Will be covering this topic more in the coming weeks (as i finish the book).
Productivity
Delta waves concentration music, Spotify. Helps keep you focussed
11 min

About The Knowledge Shop

From the publisher's feed

A podcast following my journey launching and building a startup - the highs, lows and the many many challenges on the way.

Share The Knowledge Shop

Sign up to save your podcasts

The Knowledge Shop

The Knowledge Shop episodes

About The Knowledge Shop