Fundamentals of Hustle: Our Core Competencies
This post has been updated for the 2020 Camelback Fellowship Cycle.
In entrepreneurship, we believe you always get better or worse, but you never stay the same. So, we’ve made a program rooted in helping entrepreneurs only get better. For the past three years, Camelback has invested time, energy, and resources into building our program. Fellows have told us about the ways they’ve grown and appreciated the pieces, and we want to share some more insight into the curriculum itself.*
How it’s delivered
The programming is traditionally (as traditional as it can be after only five cohorts!) delivered in-person for our Fellows in cohorts.
Largely through our three Summits for our Education and Conscious Tech Fellows. These Summits are usually held, in order, in New Orleans, New York, and Oakland. Each location is strategically chosen for access to different communities, resources, and opportunities. Each Summit is about a week and features intensive workshops. Outside of the Summits, there is pre- and post- work, weekly coaching that incorporates “homework,” monthly cohort community meet-ups, virtual programming, connections with content experts, and meetings with investors. It’s a busy time.
Fellows in our Local Economies track meet twice a week for a 3-4 months. The programming is separated into different blocks and focus areas, and allows for 1:1 intensive growth consulting. Camelback Fellows in Local Economies have use and access of the Camelback offices during this time. In addition to what’s listed here, Local Economies Fellows receive specialized curriculum in subjects such as pricing strategies, digital and event marketing, and local economic policy.
Our big ideas: the five Core Competencies
Over the past few years, we have honed in on what we think every founder needs to be successful, using industry research and our own exploration. We aim to deliver an impactful curriculum that spirals your learning of our core competencies through summits, virtual programming, coaching, and more. We track growth through five Core Competencies. For each Core Competency, we do a before and after assessment, design specific benchmarks for each Fellow, and have a road map for each Core Competency that features workshops with external content experts and our own, Camelback-designed modules.
Below, we’ve described each Core Competency and also included one of our favorite resources in each in case you’re interested in growing your own practice.
1. Hiring & Managing Teams
Purposefully building a diverse, effective team with varied experience and complementary skill sets takes time and thought. Camelback helps demystify and systemize Fellows’ recruitment, selection, and management processes through hands-on workshops where Fellows learn best practices and are given the time and space to tailor them to fit their own venture.
Fave resources:
the book Who: The A Method for Hiring by Geoff Smart and Randy Street
Startup Coach Bob Lesser’s blog post on building team culture
2. Pitch Ready
Camelback defines being Pitch Ready as the idea that an entrepreneur is ready to communicate their story in a compelling way, to anyone. We recognize that this is about more than a Demo Day or elevator pitch - it’s about having the right elements of the venture’s and founder’s narrative at the ready to customize it for each particular audience. If an entrepreneur is pitch ready, then it means they have right elements of their story in conjunction with data and details at the ready to craft a compelling narrative for whoever their audience is, and they know how to deliver it for impact. They’ll also have well-branded, professional visuals to complement their pitch and a thoughtful follow-up strategy see the next core competency).
Fave resources:
2015 Camelback Fellow Jonathan Johnson on balancing story in his own pitch
3. Stakeholder Management
Relationships can be pivotal in moving a venture forward, but they often require a long game. We help Fellows understand the need for, and to develop, a stakeholder management strategy so that they understand who should be in their network and then how they’ll get them there – all while practicing a giving mentality.
Fave resource: A piece about 5 best practices in Inc. written by two-time Camelback Startup Coach, Earnest Sweat!
4. Project & Budget Management
Establishing good habits with respect to setting and achieving goals is critical. Together with their dedicated coach, Fellows will construct a customized 6-12 month strategy and business development roadmap with milestones and regular check-ins.
Fave resources:
free digital tools like Trello and Calendly that you can utilize to stay organized across devices; take the time to see what’s out there and figure out what works for you
the book The Together Leader (there are free resources available online, too!)
5. Be Strategic
Camelback Fellows should have a general understanding of user needs, informed by engagement with a variety of users as well as the market. During our programming, Camelback Fellows will focus on figuring out smart ways to grow their business through design and refining to evolve past challenges.
Fave resources:
2018 Camelback Fellow Antionette Carroll’s Field Guide for Equity-Centered Design
WHAT’S NEXT
* We believe that continuous improvement is incredibly important. Every year, we gather data and survey on current and past Fellows and their experiences with our program. As a result, our Core Competencies are subject to change with our most recent findings. For now, we’re excited to share what we’ve featured recently in the program.
Does all of this sound like something you need more of in your life? Consider applying to the 2020 Camelback Fellowship!