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Open Core Ventures Handbook/🏗️Building Blocks

Building Blocks

Find your Building Blocks doc on your OCV Dashboard.
Building Blocks are compelling and memorable points that you will use to tell your company’s story to potential CEOs and investors. They are insights unique to your company and are a mix of anecdotes, data, insights, quotes, real-life examples, statements, etc. Anything that helps you communicate what you do and why someone should believe in you. The top 6-8 points will become the skeleton of your fundraising deck. They will answer the following:
  1. What do you do, and for whom?
  1. Is it in demand?
  1. Why now?
  1. Why you?

Getting started

OCV companies start working on their Building Blocks from day one. Every company has a Building Blocks doc pre-populated on their OCV Dashboard. Use that document as your whiteboard and write down any interesting points as they come to you. This will begin to build your repository of raw materials that you will curate and refine over time. Your first few points will likely be your two-sentence company description. OCV partners will work with you to curate your list to identify the most compelling points.

Stack rank most compelling to least

The Building Blocks exercise is meant to expose your most compelling points. The most compelling points are unique to you and immediately resonate. They are concise, specific, and free of jargon. The best points help explain your company’s traction with real-life examples.
As you add material, curate the list by stack ranking points from most to least compelling. Actively maintaining the list is good hygiene, making it easier and faster to write the best possible version of your company’s story at any given moment.

Examples

Traction
Unique insight (contrarian, non-consensus)
Team