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We're half way through our initial pilot program 😲 and our fellows--and us--are learning so much! Eric Ries, author of The Lean Startup, maintains that the #1 goal of early-stage startups is to learn. And boy, are we all learning!
What the fellows have been up to
In the first few weeks of the program, we got to know our fellows and they got to know us. Laura & Siobhan from Thanks a Ton want to decrease CO2 levels through carbon removal while providing an alternate way to gift than shipping more "things" (most of which no-one really wants or will ever use), and Schaffer has his sights on supporting corporations to decarbonize their supply chains--a hugely difficult and incredibly important problem!
Our fellows completed an amazingly impactful workshop led by our expert Laurie McGinley last week on finding their why and how to communicate their ideas effectively. Schaffer remarked after the workshop that he doesn't know if he's ever gone that deeply into the emotions and passion for why he is working on this problem. We believe in Simon Sinek's work on how finding your why is the most fundamental & crucial step in building a successful startup, and we can't wait to see how this workshop will enable our fellows to build support for their ventures! Our fellows have also attended workshops on problem discovery & running empathetic customer interviews, how OKRs can keep them making progress on the things that matter, and how to change your mindset to find amazing cofounders.
The learning for them has just gotten started! We've identified over 100 content areas that early-stage founders need to learn to build hugely impactful companies. As they continue their founder's journey, we'll continue to teach them actionable strategies and tools to become corporate leaders and innovators in the ClimateTech space.
What we're up to
The past six weeks have been full of learnings for Icademy as well! We're so excited to be learning more about our fellows--not just about their business ideas, but about their passions, their ambitions, and their needs.
Based on Chad & Brett's experience, and the experience of our 25+ experts in our community, we knew that we could provide tremendous value for our fellows. We're running experiments and gathering feedback to determine things like when is the right time to introduce new tools and in what order do we teach fundamental concepts. There is so much that early-stage founders need to learn, and we're working hard to continuously provide value without overwhelming--and distracting--our fellows. We're also learning how to effectively marry self-directed online learning with powerfully actionable workshops, and how to run those workshops to provide the most value in a limited amount of time.
As we bring on more fellows, we'll continue to learn & refine our program with the goal of providing exceptional value to early-stage ClimateTech founders.
What's next
We're super excited to announce that our second wave of fellows will begin their journey with us on April 4, 2022!
Do you know an early-stage ClimateTech founder who could benefit from a transformational program designed to craft them into tomorrow's leader? Let them know that there are five spots left for our next program starting on April 4. Schedule a time with Chad to learn more and reserve your spot.
