Team Formation and Rules

Startup Studio Team Size

• Teams of one are not permitted
• Teams of two are acceptable
• Teams of three are encouraged
• Teams of four are reasonable
• Teams of five or more must be approved
• Teams of six or more are not permitted

BigCo Studio Team Size

• Teams of one to three are not permitted
• Teams of four or more are encouraged
• Teams of more than eight are not permitted

Larger teams in both Studio will be expected to deliver more

Team Composition

• Teams may consist of students from any degree program in any combination
• HOWEVER, team members themselves must be capable of accomplishing all required deliverables, which include both substantial technical deliverables and substantial business deliverables
• THEREFORE, our expectation is that most teams will require cross-program team members to accomplish all of the deliverables
• Balanced teams with a combination of technical and business members (startup teams with a mix of discipline raise 30% more money, have 2.9x more user growth and are 19% less likely to scale prematurely than technical or business-heavy founding teams). (Startup Genome Report)
• Keep in mind that Startup Studio and BigCo Studio is first and foremost for educational purposes, not commercialization purposes. For those of you seriously considering leveraging your project as a startup venture after graduation, or making an impact in a large corporation, be open to teaming with students with no intention of entrepreneurship. Your "school teams" will not adversely affect your commercial venture, and you will learn much more and often be surprised how things work out
• Teams serious about in spinning out can engage outside help (students in other schools, external practitioners, graphic designers, etc.), however, that help cannot substitute for the team members themselves accomplishing all required deliverables—that would be cheating! All teams getting help must submit a contract Statement Of Work (SOW) outlining in details what work is being completed for the team and email to [email protected].
• For students interested in continuing to develop their startup idea as a startup company after graduation, and are international students or are considering teaming with international students, note that international students can obtain F1 OPT work visas to continue working in the USA for 12 months after graduation—and STEM (MEng) students can extend their F1 OPT work visas an additional 24 months on top of the initial 12 months—during which period students can apply for another work visa (e.g., an H1B) to remain in the USA for longer periods. For more information, refer to the ISSO, [watch this video] (https://confluence.cornell.edu/display/CTSR/International+Students), and talk to student services at Cornell Tech before you graduate

Ideas

• Teams can decide to pursue any idea they wish, with the below constraints:
• For Startup Studio idea must be digitally-enabled, i.e., For Startup Studio teams it must be a "tech startup"
• For BigCo Studio idea must be a digitally-enabled product related to your matched company's area of businesses or new focus areas (BigCo Studio teams will be matched with a company after the 2nd class)
• ECE students must be working on ideas related to building a hardware-digitally-enabled product
• The team must be able to accomplish all required course deliverables in a semester timeframe (among other deliverables, the team must build an alpha product)—but this should not limit the vision of your idea!
• Your idea cannot involve or result in an activity that is a felony in New York
• Your idea must be approved by the Head of Startup Studio or Head of BigCo Studio (see Teaming, below)
• Teams can pivot their idea in the course of the semester, however, they must still accomplish all required deliverables
• Teams can pursue ideas that students have brought with them to Cornell Tech or ideas based on pre-existing technologies, however, those ideas cannot be operating companies or businesses: the purpose of Spring Studio is for all students on the team to have an end-to-end experience
• If the idea stems from a company that a student has already incorporated, that company must be "non-operating": pre-product/market fit, no customers, no revenue—all students on the team must potentially have founding role options
• Some students with business relationships may have an opportunity to start up an "internal venture" within an existing company. Depending on the nature of the internal venture, this may be an acceptable startup idea—talk to your instructor for approval

Teaming

• Students must self-organize into teams with another Cornell Tech master student eligible to graduate by the end of the current spring semester
• Forming a team around an idea or goal is hard, both intellectually and socially
• There will be some people that have a hard time forming or joining a team
• Everyone should have enough emotional intelligence to help everyone in the class team up—no entrepreneurs left behind!
• Be thoughtful about the size of your team. We expect larger teams to get more done and have more output to show, and you will be measured accordingly
• Your team must be approved for Startup Studio or BigCo Studio by the Head of Startup Studio or Head of BigCo Studio, by submitting the Spring Team Application

Team Application

• Each team must fill out one [Studio Spring Team Application](Link will go live Oct. 29, 2018) and close on November 26, 2018 at 11:59p
• Part of the application requires your team to submit links to two videos. Please upload these videos to GoogleDrive, YouTube, Vimeo or similar platforms and add the links of your videos to the application. Make sure any viewing permission is set correctly
• The Head of Startup Studio and BigCo Studio will push teams to improve their application and pursue opportunities "big enough" to be worthy pursuits for their respective Studio or change teaming makeup and let you know if you are approved or need to improve further
• If approved, you are good to go!
• If not approved, you must try submitting again, paying attention to any comments you received over email or in conversations

Reteaming

You can change teams, only if:

• You receive approval from the Head of Startup Studio or BigCo Studio
• You provide a reason for the change and a solution (what new team you will be joining and in what capacity)
• You still commit to complete all deliverables

Additionally:

• Teams may extend to six people maximum in Startup Studio and eight people maximum in BigCo Studio
• Free agency is not permitted