Forming Habits, Projecting Finance, and Protecting Privacy

Welcome back to another edition of the Start-up Scale-it Newsletter!

Every week, we strive to provide you with the most actionable and relevant advice to propel your entrepreneurial journey.

This week, we’ll explore:

• Building habit-forming products using Hooked model tactics
• Step-by-step guide to creating financial projections
• Founder-approved review of privacy platform Cloaked
• Bright ideas for family privacy businesses
• Time-sensitive funding opportunities

Whether you're at the ideation stage or rapidly scaling, my mission is to equip you with the insights and resources to turn your big ideas into thriving ventures.

Ready for another week of breakthroughs and progress? Let's dive in!

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???Startup 101

Building Habit-Forming Products

Nir Eyal outlines a comprehensive model for creating habit-forming technology products in his book Hooked. The key components in his model are triggers, actions, variable rewards, and investments that drive user engagement.

Triggers are notifications or prompts that cue a user action. These actions relate directly to the core functionality of the product. To sustain ongoing usage, variable rewards introduce unpredictability through surprise mechanics that engage our innate human motivations.

Finally, increasing user investments in the product, like time spent curating an Instagram feed or building a profile, elevates the stake and drives habitual usage. Digital products like Instagram apply this model effectively by leveraging triggers to post and scroll, providing variable rewards through likes, and facilitating personal feed investment over time.

Building habit-forming products requires intentional design focused on creating dopamine-releasing feedback loops between user actions and rewards. Tactics like progress bars, onboarding checklists, and visual streaks further cater to our deep human desire for achievement and consistency.

Responsible product developers should be aware of ethical risks in overly addictive experiences that disrespect user attention and agency.

???Scale Up Step-by-Step

Step-by-Step Guide to Creating Financial Projections

1. Forecast the total addressable market size for your solution space by researching the industry, competitors, and market trends. Consider factors like market growth rates, geographic reach, customer demographics, etc.
2. Estimate reasonable market share capture potential across annual periods based on your go-to-market strategy. Set aggressive but achievable targets.
3. Project the number of customers required to hit revenue targets by determining average deal size or customer spend. Break this down by customer segment if serving multiple.
4. Calculate associated revenue forecast based on price point. Factor in pricing tiers, discounts, upsells, cross-sells, and any price differentiation across customer segments.
5. Model cost structures for projected sales activity over time. Include things like COGS, marketing, sales commission, R&D, G&A expenses. Scale costs appropriately with growth.
6. Combine assumptions from market size forecasts, market share targets, customer segment analysis, pricing, and cost structures into integrated P&L statements, balance sheets, cash flow statements, etc.

??Founder Approved

Protect your privacy with Cloaked

Managing online privacy is exhausting yet essential in the digital age. Cloaked aims to be the unified solution for easily generating unlimited secure identities to use across online accounts instead of exposing your personal information.

This privacy platform automatically creates disposable and fully encrypted email addresses, phone numbers, passwords, and payment details on demand. It links all your virtual IDs together into one integrated dashboard you control. Users can toggle between identities or dig into communication history with context preserved.

Founders fixated on empowering people with control over their data privacy should explore Cloaked’s capabilities. The system shoulders the work of generating and managing secure identities so you can focus on your digital activities worry-free. Switching between alter egos for different services takes a single click.

While privacy concerns grow, seamless security seems elusive. Cloaked impresses with its commitment to fundamental encryption anchoring the company’s comprehensive, convenient solution aimed at putting users in the driver’s seat. Those wary of privacy pitfalls online may find refuge in Cloaked’s unified identity dashboard.

(Disclaimer: No affiliation with Cloaked, just highlighting a promising privacy-first platform.)

???Bright Ideas

Preserving Privacy - Family Edition

This week's Bright Ideas highlights promising opportunities specifically tailored to families looking to uphold data privacy across their household's connected experiences.

Family Privacy Kits

• Description: Privacy Care packages for families with tools like VPNs, password managers, and secured cloud backup.
• USP: One-stop shop to protect entire household's data.

Child Online Privacy Service

• Description: Platform that provides kids with a safe online experience without tracks or targeting.
• USP: Preserves children's privacy while letting them explore digitally.

Family Burner Subscription

• Description: Monthly burner phones for each family member to use for discretion.
• USP: Removes links between personal devices and certain communications.

Home Network Encryption

• Description: Service that installs encryption protocols across all connected devices in the home.
• USP: Blanket encryption to ensure privacy on the entire home network.

Family Digital Detox Retreats

• Description: Resorts tailored to families that want a device/tech-free getaway.
• USP: Provides kids/parents time away from tech to reconnect.

Let the ideas flow but stay focused on addressing real problems experienced by families. Research the market landscape and tailor your concept to provide a better solution!

???Opportunities Spotlight

Deadline - 1/10! That’s Today!

Havard Business School Black New Ventures Competition

• Offer:?Up to $200,000 total cash prizes for Black pre-seed and seed-stage entrepreneurs
• Apply Here

Deadline - 1/12

Generative AI for Accessibility Grant by Microsoft

• Offer:? Funding, Azure credits, and access to Microsoft’s Accessibility Innovation resources
• Apply Here

Deadline - 1/15

Better Workplaces Challenge Cup Startup Track

• Offer:?Up to $50,000 total cash prizes for early-stage startups in the workplace, HR Tech, and the future of workspace
• Apply Here

Deadline - 1/15

Ford Fund Fellowship

• Offer:?Up to $40,000 development stipends, 16 weeks of programming and virtual workshops
• Apply Here

Deadline - 1/15

The Pop-Up Grocer Fund

• Offer:?A combination of cash and services for under-resourced and underrepresented founders
• Apply Here

Deadline - 1/16

Headstream Innovation Accelerator

• Offer:?Up to $30,000 non-dilutive stipend, 16 weeks of programming and network facilitation
• Apply Here

Deadline - 1/17

Girls Into VC Fellowship

• Offer:?10-week educational venture capital program dedicated for young women
• Apply Here

Seize these golden opportunities and elevate your business to new heights! ????

???That's A Wrap!

That wraps up this week's newsletter!

I hope you found value in the carefully curated tips and resources. My goal is to provide you with that slight edge and fresh perspective to stay ahead.

Please let me know your biggest takeaway or any suggestions for future editions!

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Eager to dig deeper? Check out my blog for extended versions of articles, guides, and thought leadership content on entrepreneurship.?Visit Blog

Remember - the only way to fail is to stop taking risks. So stay curious, be bold, and continue chasing those big dreams.

Until next week,

Oluseun for Start-up Scale-it