Lecture I will be delivering to Manchester Business School's MBA Students on 28th Feb 2025.
About Techcelerate Ventures
Tech Investment and Growth Advisory for Series A in the UK, operating in £150k to £5m investment market, working with #SaaS #FinTech #HealthTech #MarketPlaces and #PropTech companies.
mailto:%20manoj.ranaweera@techcelerate.ventures
https://techcelerate.ventureshttps/deallite.ukhttps:/skilledup.life
https://techcelerate.ventureshttps/deallite.ukhttps:/skilledup.life
https://techcelerate.ventureshttps/deallite.ukhttps:/skilledup.life
Turning ideas into
thriving businesses
Building Tech Companies since 2004
Helping Tech Founders since 2006
Manoj Ranaweera
manoj.ranaweera@techcelerate.ventures
+44 07769734491
https://techcelerate.ventures
https/deallite.uk
https:/skilledup.life
Contact
About Us
Service
Home
Product based
Typically, tech startups
are product based digital
tech companies which
attempt to build a
scalable product that
could be sold many times
without any
customisations.
Business Types
Service based
Service based businesses
leverage knowledge of its
team by offering services
and tend to undertake
projects.
Uncertainty is bare
minimum but scalability
is hard to achieve.
Other types
Many businesses do not
fall into product or service
based, e.g. engineering
and manufacturing.
Some require significant
capital, e.g. building and
operating a power
station.
Contact
About Us
Service
Home
Idea Validation
1
2
3
4
5
Problem
Ideal Customer
Current
Solutions
Market
Opportunity
Your Solution
The deeper you understand the problem, the greater the chance of developing a winning
solution. Whilst the problem may remain the same over time, the ideal solution keeps changing
due to technological advancement. Hence the need for continuous innovation.
Who’s Problem?
Yours
Having an itch that
would not go away
how hard you try.
Someone
else’s
Were you trying to find
a problem to solve?
Domain
Knowledge
How much do you
know about the
domain?
Domain/Founder Fit wins
Zero to Hero
Problem
Tech startups fail due to
lack of teams to turn ideas
into thriving scalable
technology businesses.
Can’t get the dream job
due to lack of experience
and demonstrable skills.
Existing
Alternatives
5Dhub
Internshala
WayUp
Solution
2 sided market place
Key Metrics
MRR
Customer growth
Volunteer growth
Volunteering growth
Unique Value
Proposition
SkilledUp Life is a two sided
market place where 55,000+
skilled volunteers meet
hundreds of early stage tech
companies looking for
volunteer talent to build their
tech companies.
High Level
Concept
Turn ideas into growing
tech startups.
Develop high performers.
Customer
Segments
Solo founders
Less than 10 staffed tech
startups
Early Adopters
Techcelerate Tech
Startups.
Unfair
Advantage
Founder has extensive
tech startup knowledge.
Exclusively for tech
startup.
Not venturing into
eduction or job markets.
Channels
Accelerator Partners.
Education Partners.
Cost Structure
Hosting fees
Software tools
Bare minimum staff costs
Rent
Revenue Streams
Subscriptions
From one
person
team to
100+
Think Big, Start Small,
Learn Fast and Execute
well
Building a business is hard
Building
Ready to give up next
5 to 10 years of your
life? Be ready to learn
through failure.
Growing
Ideas are not worth a
penny. Execution is
what matters. Growth
require patience.
Timing matters
Scaling
Scaling becomes
impossible if you pick
the wrong business
type. Early decisions
matters.
Founders need to eat. Protect your personal revenue channels.
It’s on you! Can you handle it?
Are you a starter or a finisher?
Everything takes 3x longer than your worst case scenario
You will be tested for your commitment and resilience over and over.
Are you ready to face failure aftere failure?
If you can get through, life-changing reward could be waiting for you.
Execution is the only thing that matters!