Alumni Launch Lab Portal

Welcome!

Below you will find a stream of resources and workshops that will be updated and added to as you build your venture in Launch Lab X.

We look forward to sharing them with you, starting with this first one:

Vector Thinking for Strategic Motion and Competitive Advantage

Thursday October 9th

In this session we explored Vector Thinking and how it can give you competitive advantage.

Please note: This is Alpha content that is embargoed until the Startup Secrets book is complete and released in 2027.

It is being shared with Harvard Students in good faith to help them in their startup journey, and to welcome your feedback to improve it for future students*.

You are not permitted to publish or refer to either the term or the content externally in any form. It is for your own internal use in your ventures only please.

Thank you and enjoy!

* We welcome your feedback and comments directly in this document. See How to comment in Coda

The balloon..

We started by blowing up a balloon representing your startup system.

The air you blew into that ballon rrpresented the creativity, energy, effort, resource and capital you have pumped into your venture.

The balloons’ elasticiity was a metaphor for your current organizational capacity (mass).

One question for you was how much force (effort, energy, or even capital) can your system currently handle before it bursts?

Another question is how do you want to unleash that force and to what end (in what direction)

When we relased the balloons they zipped chaotically around… why?

Direction and Magnitude Focus

Vector thinking shifts problem-solving from static points to focusing on direction and magnitude for deeper insight and innovation.

Pre-emptive problem solving and dynamic learning

This approach helps founders, innovators and entrepreneurs and their teams visualize movement, progress, and effectively address potential challenges before arise and as they evolve, to learn from them and continuously improve.

Boosts Adaptability and Innovation

Adopting vector thinking enhances adaptability, strategic planning, and sparks innovative solutions in the complex startup system.

The slides are below:

Remember the Startup Secrets:

1. There is Physics

1. There is a Strategic Framework for you to take AIM before you move fast

• Align direction and system
• Inflect at key moments
• Multiply through stacking vectors

1. And a practical application with 6 Operating Principles:

Important questions that arose…

In the workshop Michael took a sidetrack to answer a question on the whiteboard about how to use Vector Thinking to accelerate Product Market Fit. he answered with a discussion on the Minimum Viable Segment (MVS) and drew this diagram on the board:

It needs further explanation and you can find details about how to build your MVS to complement your MVP and accelerate your Product Market FIt here:

MVS - Minimum Viable Segment

Feedback & Next steps

Please take a moment to critique and help improve the slides, workshop and engagement for future learners

Thank you for sharing honestly and anonymously in the form below

Next steps

• Consider exploring the Startup Secrets Sandbox and jumping into an area where you have questions for your venture.
• If you prefer an AI guided approach to helping you solve your problems, consider using Michael Mentor, an AI created in conjunction with with the Harvard Business School Foundry team to help you with everything from ideation to practicing your investor pitch. Michael Mentor AI
• Our next session will be October 27th. Check in with the iLab as we will be covering the logical follow up to this workshop. We look forward to seeing you there! Until then happy venturing!
• Bookmark this page and sign up for updates - see below
• Leave your feedback and comments directly on this document - See How to comment in Coda

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In the meantime, Welcome to YOUR Startup Secrets Sandbox

! Enjoy exploring, and we look forward to your feedback and comments as to how we can improve the sandbox for you, See How to comment in Coda