Question $2$: Building the Founding Team

$1.$ Defining your vision and values are critical prior to building out your team.

a$)$ How does your vision contribute to the creation and performance of your team? $(1$ mark$)$

b$)$ How do values contribute to creating a cohesive and high performing team? $(1$ mark$)$

$2.$ Alignment between founders is absolutely crucial. Name two likely causes for lack of alignment between founders and explain how each cause can negatively impact the founders$$ relationship and the business. $(2$ marks: $0\mathrm{.}5$ mark for each cause, $0\mathrm{.}5$ mark for an explanation for each cause$).$

Total $4$ Marks.

Question $3$: Business Models

$1.$ Alex Osterwalder describes a business model as $$a blueprint for a strategy to be implemented through organizational structures, processes, and systems$$ and suggests that new ventures use the Business Model Canvas to map it out.

a$)$ Why and how should a new venture use the Business Model Canvas instead of writing a business plan? $(2$ marks$)$

b$)$ When is the time to write a business plan? $(1$ mark$)$

$2.$ Why do we not give the right and left sides of the Business Model Canvas equal importance in the early stages of the new venture? $(1$ mark$)$

$3.$ Business model innovation.

Discuss an example of a company that delivered a substantially similar product or service to that which already existed, but through significant innovation in one or more other parts of its business model was able to disrupt the market. Explain the innovation and how it disrupted the market $(2$ marks$).$

$4.$ Two Sided Markets.

Two sided markets facilitate transactions between two distinct but interdependent groups, usually buyers and sellers. Identify and discuss at least two characteristics that successful two sided platform must have in order to sustain high growth and low churn? $(2$ marks$)$

Total $8$ marks.

Question $4$: An Investment Decision

You are considering making an investment in a new venture. In your conversations with the Founder CEO you are pleased to hear that they are doing a lot of things right: The founder is driving customer discovery and initial sales, has a technical co$-$founder who is converting user stories into an MVP$,$ they are keeping cash burn low and have a small group of initial customers.

You are interested because of these facts and because the market has the potential to be large. The key to your investment decision is whether the company is close to a revenue inflection point. Identify two key questions you need answered to determine whether the business is close to this break out? List your questions and discuss why they are important.

Total $4$ marks.