Draper University Certificate Program Complete: Data and Thoughts

1669 days have passed since we (Seth and I) launched Leyline Corporation in March of 2017, give or take a day. If you've ever had the privilege to start a company then I hope you realized early on that the path of validation has milestones: customers, team members, Friends and Family, Grants, IP (sometimes), Angels, Incubators, Accelerators, Venture Capitalists and Corporate VC, alpha enterprise customers, and so forth unto Private Equity, Family Offices, and perhaps beyond. If you self-fund, then your case is probably the exception rather than the rule. Every step along the way helps an Entrepreneur or Founding Team to demonstrate additional traction, pick-up, and readiness while extending the network and sometimes operating resources of the organization and individual to appeal to a broader and more mature mix of stakeholder profiles.

I joined the Draper University Fundamentals of Entrepreneurship Accelerator not with Leyline.io, but as an individual, and for a couple of reasons. At Pre-Seed and Seed stages of company development feedback loops do not always return a value, sometimes leaving operators in the dark about how to proceed. Since we had experienced a mixture of success and failure, I sought an objective data assay by proxy to indicate what caliber of Entrepreneurial skill and leadership existed outside my little world. I speculated that the relationships built at Draper University would be helpful in the future, in the vein of contextualizing known unknowns. So I made an intentional decision to take some time off from Leyline.io because I knew that my company and I would be better for it.

I rated all the programs highly. Sessions were personalized and interactive. The experts went out of their way to make documents and learning accessible. Though I felt conflicted about one of their practices because prior to being admitted to the program I signed a waiver with a confidentiality clause regarding "session content". Assurances only go so far normally and though everyone generally wants the best for each other, I do not like to put my marketing aspirations at odds with contractual liability that could be created from a breach of integrity or professionalism. Perhaps I am my own harshest critic, but if you remain curious, then you can certainly find out more from the people I mention or the likes in this profile's LinkedIn activity history or through your own perspicacity. I do not judge and am thankful for the understandings and connections created by their trust outlay. I hope the program's administrator and general counsel will modify the blanket Waiver to better align program expectations with practices encouraged during the sessions to ensure a proper functioning of the program and a small legal budget line item for participants. As the saying goes, Trust, but verify. That'd be one helluva class action though eh Tim? Fix the waiver bro.

The skill and knowledge areas covered by the certificate are publicly available:

• Idea Generation
• Term Sheets
• Pitch Decks
• Prototyping
• Product Development
• Sales & Marketing
• Futurology
• Leaders & Managers
• Lean Startup Methodology
• Finding Your Why
• Scaling Your Business
• Power Of Networking
• Disruptive Innovation
• Leadership
• Branding & Storytelling
• Business Modelling
• Fundraising
• Pitching
• Perfecting Your Elevator Pitch
• Company Structure
• Critical Success Factors
• Nurturing the Entrepreneurial Mindset
• Negotiations
• Teamwork
• Multitasking
• Thriving In Pressure

What I can say beyond that is that the participants are extraordinary and we collaborated extensively throughout the program to great effect. We left a lot of ideas on the field. I'm proud to have been a member of the cohort and hope we build on those small beginnings. It was memorable.

Special thanks to my Hackathon teammates on the Wonders group. Our team placed 1st in the competition out of 9 competing. We do not know the judging criteria, but it WAS a bit of a surprise. Several other teams contributed excellent efforts or had more validation. The experience did not remind me of the movie "The Intership". The team members were assigned in a way that appeared random to participants. We were thus: 5 dudes from Berlin, Taiwan, Canada, and the US. A gentleman, Mr. Beau Brannan, from Pepperdine University's Seaver College agreed to join the group as an Advisor on same day weekend notice. He previously contributed thought leadership about what the future may hold for the education sector as pertains to NFT marketplaces, certifications, and technology. The group members decided to carry the concept idea forward beyond the accelerator by self-funding the initial $500k to $1,000,000 and supported contributions of their time and energy. Fantastic experience. I learned a lot from them.

Many of the entrepreneurs in the program will go on to find great success or already have, and I'm happy to have had the chance to be a part of the experiment. I return empowered and recommitted to Leyline Corporation.

Thanks to everyone, staff, mentors, cohort members, and of course, to Tim Draper, and especially to the hard-working Suffiyan and Mohammed who made it such a fun, valuable, and unique experience.

Dagan Kiran Bora