Picture
Join the class group to start the conversation: on Facebook, on VK.
Fill in your startup info here: http://bit.ly/nu-startups-2
List the pain points / problems you experience in life (this can be a source of great startup ideas): http://bit.ly/this-is-broken

News
UPDATE. On the week of Dec 2 we're not meeting on Tuesday, Dec 3 (as the 5-103 is occupied), but meeting on Wednesday, Dec 4 at 7pm. See you there!

Office hours
Book office hours with Arman Suleimenov: http://www.doodle.com/v6xxc3ca4h54hg6q
Book office hours with Nurzhan Bakibayev: http://www.doodle.com/hehbvvhy3tmddnyg
Book office hours with Kairat Aitpayev: http://www.doodle.com/v435bc6y2zvxkbir
Book office hours with Chingis Alekenov: http://www.doodle.com/cumfv4zbbkedhn7i

Course Summary
'The Art of Startup' is a 4-week blitz course we offer at Nazarbayev University (open to both students and general public) within the framework of activity of Nazarbayev University Technopark and under the organizational support of Nazarbayev University Research and Innovation System (NURIS).  It's the kind of course I wish I had taken before I got involved in the startups world. The goal is to show you all the aspects of starting your own tech company. The course will cover:
  • how to come up with the startup idea
  • how to test your idea with the market
  • programming tools to actually move fast, build and break things
  • mistakes young entrepreneurs make
  • hiring and building the team
  • venture capital vs bootstrapping
  • failure and success stories
  • and a lot more
In just 4 weeks by the end of the course, given your dedication and hard work you will build something which already makes money or makes meaning (depending on what of two you choose). 

The Video
The world's technology and entrepreneurship titans inspire young entrepreneurs in Kazakhstan to build something epic. Featuring Vinod Khosla (founder of Sun Microsystems, Khosla Ventures), David Heinemeier Hansson (37signals, author of 'REWORK', creator of Ruby on Rails), Tony Hsieh (CEO of Zappos, author of 'Delivering Happiness'), Wendy Kopp (founder of 'Teach for America'), Brian Kernighan (author of "The C Programming Language"; Unix, AWK, AMPL), Qi Lu (Executive Vice President at Microsoft leading Bing, Skype & Microsoft Office), Gregory Olsen (space tourist #3 in history; founder and chairman, Sensors Unlimited Inc) and many others.
Philosophy
We can talk all day long and not accomplish anything, so there will be homework. The good news is it will be fun (as each of them will lead towards your final project). The course will conclude with the demo of your final project. For those who are not interested in tech: the final project doesn't have to be mobile or web application. It can be the first chapter of the book you're writing, a short movie you've made, a small business which already makes money, the precise plan for the conference you want to organize, the painting you wanted to paint, just about anything.

There will be 0 lectures as I believe in the 'socratic' method of teaching. There will be presentations I prepare for each class, however.

Goal
The goal is to kill a wantrepreneur inside you and actually build something useful.

Time and place
We will meet twice a week (on Tuesdays and Thursdays at 7pm) for 4 weeks. 
Course starts - November 19 (Tuesday, the first class)
Course ends - December 12 (Thursday, the last class)
Room 5-103

Price and availability
0 KZT. Open to everyone (not just students from Nazarbayev University).

Who will teach the course?
Arman Suleimenov is the founding team of Collections (Mountain View, CA; Collections is the YCombinator alumnus). Arman graduated from Princeton with an MSE in Computer Science. Before that, he studied CS at Purdue and Lomonosov Moscow State University. He was formerly an avid contestant at programming competitions (ACM ICPC World Finals 2009 and 2011). His current eclectic pursuits include writing essays (in English, in Russian), interviewing world-renowned entrepreneurs and professors for Princeton Startup TV, practicing martial arts, learning Japanese, analyzing the choreography of kung-fu movies, and reading books and blogs on personal growth, entrepreneurship, and life hacking. Social profiles: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, VKontakte. More at http://www.cs.princeton.edu/~asuleime/

Recommended (optional) reading
  • Essays by Paul Graham (if you were to read one essay, read 'Startups = Growth')
  • Notes from Peter Thiel's class - CS183: Startups
  • Book. 'The Learn Startup', Eric Ries
  • Book. 'The Startup Owner's Manual: The Step-By-Step Guide for Building a Great Company', Steve Blank
  • Blogs by Fred Wilson, Chris Dixon, Mark Suster
  • If you want to be productive without stress, my favorite blog is 'Study Hacks'. Its author Cal Newport wrote 3 books, PhD defense at MIT and 6+ peer-reviewed papers while not working after 5:30pm.
  • My Twitter: @suleimenov (On average, I share 5 interesting startup articles a day)
  • My blog: 'No Water, No Moon' (I try to consistently write one post a day - mostly on startups and life hacking)
  • My recommendations for the best startup/entrepreneurship channels on Youtube

Prizes
I am going to give away prizes in the following categories (all the prizes will be presented on October 10):
  • The startup with the biggest profit (all the students' startups are here: http://bit-ly.com/nu-startups-2).
  • The startup with the best product.
  • The most promising startup.
  • The 'Audience's choice' by the number of votes.
  • The startup with the biggest fanbase (e.g. followers on Instagram, Twitter, Facebook, VK, etc.).
  • The person who listed the biggest number of problems here: http://bit.ly/this-is-broken
  • The most insightful and clever blog by the number of votes (all the students' blogs are here: http://bit-ly.com/nu-blogs).
  • The most liked instagram picture taken during the course (hashtag - #artofstartup).
  • The most retweeted/favorited tweet related to the course (hashtag - #artofstartup).
  • The most liked status on Facebook/VKontakte related to the course (hashtag - #artofstartup).

Schedule

Date

Nov 19, Tue

Nov 20, Wed. 19:00












Nov 21, Th




Nov 26, Tue

















Nov 28, Th












Dec 4, Wed (on Tue the room is occupied)







Dec 5, Th



Dec 10, Tue




Dec 11, Wed, 18:00






















Dec 12, Th

Topic

Round I recap. Course Overview. 

Idea Pitch Day












The Startup ABC playbook. How to test your idea with the market. Programming tools: from novice to master. Venture Capital vs bootstrapping. Incubators/accelerators.

Startups present their progress. 1 minute per team sharp (now fore sure!). What is more important: idea, execution or market?















Market research. Useful tools. Building wireframes. Copywriting principles. Design for non-designers. Guest speaker - Sanzhar Altayev, CEO & founder of ALMA Cloud.









Startups present their progress. 1 minute per team sharp. How we got our first 10,000 users. 





Trends. Venture capital vs bootstrapping. Mobile, social, local. Virality and growth.


Teams share their progress. 1 minute each sharp. Local services continued. Venture capital and bootstrapping. The biggest challenges startups face.

Rehearsal Day. Each team will practice presenting its 2-minute presentation for the Demo Day.




















Demo Day. It's time to shine and share what you've built / how much you earned / how you made the difference.

Homework

Show up in class with the startup idea you're going to pursue. 
  • Fill in your startup info here: http://bit.ly/nu-startups-2
  • Prepare to present your startup idea. 2 minutes for presentation. 1 minute for Q&A.
  • Come with 3-4 startup ideas
  • Be ready to answer the following questions: what problem are you solving? market size/competition? how do you get users? how do you make money (if applicable)? what do you plan to accomplish in 4 weeks?
  • Make the landing page using weebly.com (1-min video is the plus).
  • Talk to at least 10 customers asking for their feedback. Take their feedback with the grain of salt, however. 
  • Start building your fan base. In parallel to your current idea launch an interesting public profile (where you post interesting & engaging content) on FB, VK, Pinterest, Twitter or Instagram to get a large network of engaged users (1,000 followers until Dec 12 is a good target). 
  • List the pain points / problems you experience in life (this can be a source of great startup ideas): http://bit.ly/this-is-broken
  • Build your product and talk to customers. 
  • That's it!
  • Get your 2nd & 3rd paying customers. Do a concierge service for them.
  • Prepare to answer these 19 questions about your startup: http://bit.ly/nu-questions
  • Iterate on your product, talk to users and maximize your progress (# of users, amount of $)
  • Book your 10-min rehearsal appointment here: http://doodle.com/suyg684cpcxsgp72
  • Put down the link for your presentation in column #5 of this spreadsheet: http://bit.ly/nu-startups-2
  • 10-slide presentation of your startup:
Slide 1 – Logo & Subtitle
Slide 2 – Problem Definition
Slide 3 – How do you solve the problem?
Slide 4 – Market Size
Slide 5 – Competition (optional)
Slide 6 – How do you get users?
Slide 7 - How do you make money?
Slide 8 - Current progress
Slide 9 - Team Bio
Slide 10 - Call for action
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'The Art of Startup II: from idea to product in 4 weeks'