Waverly Deutsch

Yep. Right? Yep. Then you have at the other end of the spectrum... The young entrepreneurs who are so excited about their product and they've showed it to their friends and their friends are so excited about their product. And they're like, if you give me $200,000 to put this product into the market, I will be a billion dollar company in five years. This is going to go viral.

Yep. Right? Yep. Then you have at the other end of the spectrum... The young entrepreneurs who are so excited about their product and they've showed it to their friends and their friends are so excited about their product. And they're like, if you give me $200,000 to put this product into the market, I will be a billion dollar company in five years. This is going to go viral.

Everybody's going to want it. It's going to just catch fire. And you say, okay, how does that happen? Can you show me an example where for so little money, somebody has been able to get so big, so fast because the product was so exciting and they'll say Groupon got to a billion dollars in a year. And I said, yeah, Groupon had tens of millions of dollars of venture backing.

Everybody's going to want it. It's going to just catch fire. And you say, okay, how does that happen? Can you show me an example where for so little money, somebody has been able to get so big, so fast because the product was so exciting and they'll say Groupon got to a billion dollars in a year. And I said, yeah, Groupon had tens of millions of dollars of venture backing.

They got there that fast by acquiring a lot of companies that took a lot of money. So what makes you think for a very small amount of money, you're going to be able to do it? That's a case where you're bringing the logic into it. In the case of, we are only going to get to $7 million, you've got to bring the emotion into it, the excitement, the thrill, the FOMO, as it's called in Silicon Valley.

They got there that fast by acquiring a lot of companies that took a lot of money. So what makes you think for a very small amount of money, you're going to be able to do it? That's a case where you're bringing the logic into it. In the case of, we are only going to get to $7 million, you've got to bring the emotion into it, the excitement, the thrill, the FOMO, as it's called in Silicon Valley.

Fear of missing out. With the... A younger entrepreneur, you've got to bring the logic back into it. What's the step-by-step? Has anybody else done it? Is there a path that you can follow, a playbook you can follow? You're definitely bringing different things in. With the full-time and part-time MBAs, it can be a little bit of both.

Fear of missing out. With the... A younger entrepreneur, you've got to bring the logic back into it. What's the step-by-step? Has anybody else done it? Is there a path that you can follow, a playbook you can follow? You're definitely bringing different things in. With the full-time and part-time MBAs, it can be a little bit of both.

I'll give you an example that I've used many times, and Caitlin, forgive me if I'm getting this wrong, but I'm going to talk to you about the conversation that I had with the founder of Simple Mills, Caitlin Smith. Thank you. Caitlin came to Booth because she was working on a startup. She was working on making gluten-free baking mixes for people who suffer with celiac and gluten issues.

I'll give you an example that I've used many times, and Caitlin, forgive me if I'm getting this wrong, but I'm going to talk to you about the conversation that I had with the founder of Simple Mills, Caitlin Smith. Thank you. Caitlin came to Booth because she was working on a startup. She was working on making gluten-free baking mixes for people who suffer with celiac and gluten issues.

And she had created... using nut flour instead of many of the other gluten substitutes. A really fabulous muffin mix. I mean, it was delicious, and I hate gluten-free baked goods, but I really liked her muffins. She came and pitched in the New Venture Challenge class, and she said, here's what I've done. Here's how I did it. I'm in about... 13 health food stores in North Carolina.

And she had created... using nut flour instead of many of the other gluten substitutes. A really fabulous muffin mix. I mean, it was delicious, and I hate gluten-free baked goods, but I really liked her muffins. She came and pitched in the New Venture Challenge class, and she said, here's what I've done. Here's how I did it. I'm in about... 13 health food stores in North Carolina.

I've got another 14 signed up, so we'll be in 27 healthcare stores and healthy stores in North Carolina area. Thank you very much." And everybody paused and said, What do you want from us? I'm not sure I want anything from you. I'm not sure I want to raise money for this. I'm not sure that I need anything from you. So the judges for the New Venture Challenge are angel investors, venture investors.

I've got another 14 signed up, so we'll be in 27 healthcare stores and healthy stores in North Carolina area. Thank you very much." And everybody paused and said, What do you want from us? I'm not sure I want anything from you. I'm not sure I want to raise money for this. I'm not sure that I need anything from you. So the judges for the New Venture Challenge are angel investors, venture investors.

They're thinking, okay, good luck to you with your nice little lifestyle business, but there's not much we can help you with. So Caitlin and her New Venture Challenge team and I were sitting in a conference room and I was saying to her, Caitlin, I understand that you haven't thought about taking on money and scaling this business and that you're not even sure that's what you would want to do.

They're thinking, okay, good luck to you with your nice little lifestyle business, but there's not much we can help you with. So Caitlin and her New Venture Challenge team and I were sitting in a conference room and I was saying to her, Caitlin, I understand that you haven't thought about taking on money and scaling this business and that you're not even sure that's what you would want to do.

But you'll get the most out of this learning process and you'll get the most out of the resources of the coaches and mentors and judges that we put in front of you. If just for the sake of this exercise, you imagine...

But you'll get the most out of this learning process and you'll get the most out of the resources of the coaches and mentors and judges that we put in front of you. If just for the sake of this exercise, you imagine...

possibilities you think big what what could this look like if you did want to take on venture capital money if it was available to you what's the upside what's the biggest you can imagine because to me this shouldn't be just in health food stores or on gluten-free shelves this is a very delicious, healthy breakfast option for anybody who wants higher protein, higher fiber, good for you muffins.

possibilities you think big what what could this look like if you did want to take on venture capital money if it was available to you what's the upside what's the biggest you can imagine because to me this shouldn't be just in health food stores or on gluten-free shelves this is a very delicious, healthy breakfast option for anybody who wants higher protein, higher fiber, good for you muffins.