We've discovered that the mentor community surrounding PIE has value above and beyond the support they provide to our startups. Capture the other valuable aspects of the mentor network and how to manage that community over time.

There's some PIE specific language in the job descriptions, remnants of cut-and-paste. Please remove those.

During a talk with the PNCA, we had a great discussion about introducing, inventing, and removing constraints to help accelerate companies. I'd like to spend some time digging into this topic.

So it looks like the TOC only renders in the markdown editor I'm using. I'll have to add this manually once we get through all of the organization and headings and whatnot.

https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft.md

There are some words I've been throwing around that may not be readily understood. They're not part of the core set of terms we're seeking to help define, because their definitions are fairly static. That is, we're trying to define things that are subjective rather than objective.

Do we need somewhere to house these objective terms and their definitions?

I'm thinking we do, so I'm going to start a working glossary document. That document can be found here: https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft-glossary.md

Illustrate and explain the emotional cycle of accelerator participants. This can serve as an important guideline for accelerator managers to understand when to apply additional pressure/stressors and when releasing the pressure valve will likely be needed.

https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft-tactical.md#pre-accelerator

"During that time, they've had a series of highs and lows where they've experienced any number leaps forward and, likely, an equal number of setbacks. I mean, that's why they're looking for some help, right?"

skipped word, add of

"During that time, they've had a series of highs and lows where they've experienced any number of leaps forward and, likely, an equal number of setbacks. I mean, that's why they're looking for some help, right?"

I'm not sure this section is organized correctly. https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft-tactical.md#mentors

Do we go through the types of mentors before we talk about recruiting or should be discuss identifying and recruiting before we help folks break them into the appropriate types?

https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft-tactical.md#the-emotional-ebb-and-flow-of-a-stressful-startup-accelerator

" But we've found that paying attention to this emotional cycle — and managing the program accordingly — can be beneficial for founders, their partners, families, mentors, and the accelerator staff.”

the 1 doesn't line up making the graph confusing

Definitions are only partially complete https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/notes/context/context-definitions.md

Good start. Still more to add. https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/notes/mentors/mentors-coaching-on-speaking.md

Need to describe the dynamic among staff as part of the management of the class

Good start. Now finish it. https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/notes/logistics/logistics-family-dinner.md

This was originally a Medium post. I'm not sure it fits in the flow here. Do we create a sidebar? Do we break it up?

https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft.md#no-interest-in-building-a-startup-accelerator-like-pie-good

Just a reminder for @rgleeson to post work on the "brands as communities" section he's been fleshing out.

The image sizes are all over the board in the Roller Coaster section. Make them consistent.

I've been hearing lots of "X jobs created" metrics in interviews with local accelerators. It makes me cringe because that's not what I feel accelerators really accomplish. At best, they are double-dipping those numbers from the businesses that go thru the accelerator who are actually doing the hiring. If you could explain some metrics for success and how to collect and gauge those metrics I feel that would be helpful.

I like that the outline looks focused on positives; what to do rather than not do. But having the occasional "⚠️🌶 Danger, Do Not Put This Ingredient Is Your Pie" notes, anecdotal or otherwise, could be useful in sections where you do have cautionary tales.

Make sure to go back to the Roller Coaster and add tips and tricks to each stage. These notes could include, but are not limited to:

• Accelerator staff
• Mentors
• Startups
• Family members
• Community members

Still trying to figure out how to structure this so that it makes sense.

Discuss the origins, mistakes, and ongoing development of Family Dinner

We have plenty of chunks of content and a solid outline. It seems the best path moving forward would be to consolidate all of the content into a single document. This should highlight the gaps and content that needs to be created and/or completed.

@rgleeson has a great hierarchy of Family Dinner problem resolution: 1) Problems that had already been solved by someone else, 2) Intriguing new problems which folks felt to motivated to solve collaboratively, 3) Completely intractable problems with no solution.

Hoping he can expand on this.

Share PIE experience on breaking down silos:

• Within communities
• Within corporations
• Between startups and corporations
• Between startups and design
• Between different startup verticals

(via @nohorse)

The acronym "tl;dr" stands for "too long; didn't read." It's commonly used in the tech community.

I'm thinking this might be a nice way of summarizing sections to make skimming or takeaways more prevalent. e.g., https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft-tactical.md#tldr-your-accelerator-is-inhabited-by-startups-and-it-may-be-assisted-by-corporations

Thoughts?

Now that we're getting some chunks of content, I think it would be wise to revisit the outline to see if we're seeing:

1. Significant traction in any content areas
2. Substantial gaps in topic areas
3. Opportunities to revise the outline based on content development thus far

Needs more detail. Specifically around the role title of "General Manager" versus the more common "Managing Director." https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/0064550be29f125eb25cba214ea9d4bf3fbc134e/notes/logistics/pie-staff-roles-responsibiliies.md#general-manager

Fix it. We called it the PIE Cookbook for a reason. Stay on script.

https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft.md#how-to-use-this-book

Need to finish before 1.0 release

As I'm working to build out the outline for the Cookbook (https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/notes/outline.md), I find myself falling into bigger copy blocks from time to time. Is this okay? Is this a signal to start a more formalized copy block on the subject and move it from "outline" to actual "content"? Thoughts?

I am adding this because it applies to our venture of curated co-working, I am curious about the process you used for a curated co-working location (back when that described what you were). Our goal is one of high quality curated membership.
I imagine the topic of curation applies to the incubator situation as well and that many backers would be interested to get a window into the process for soliciting and vetting members/participants that you have found to be most successful.

https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft-tactical.md#tuesday

"(Their is no required socializing. Just a request that the founders take time to eat.)"

Their/ There error

As part of our Kickstarter campaign, we're asking our backers to vote on the topics that are most important to them. That way, we can focus our time and energy on the highest priority areas for our community, first.

That said, we'd still love to have a breadth of topics to cover. So we want to hear from you. What topics would you like to see us covering in the PIE Cookbook?

If you need some inspiration, we've started roughing out an outline of potential topics.

One of the things I always appreciated about PIE was that it felt like it embodies the spirit of collaboration in Portland. For example PIE seems at home in Centrl Office. It's likely something that is obvious to folks who have spent a while in Portland or Austin, but it's slow to sink in to some cities. There is a value in supporting other business incubators, maker spaces, coworking spaces, in your city and build a web of trust where everyone can feel safe and supported. Competition in the classic capitalistic sense is toxic to the young businesses that need as much help and support as they can to get off the ground and should never need to feel like they are picking brands or picking sides and potentially burning bridges to get the help they need. It might seem obvious to the cookbook authors, but it's worth explaining as it's a new concept to many folks.

I've archived the Kickstarter campaign to the Notes section (https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/tree/master/notes/pie/kickstarter), but I didn't want to open up the "backer only" updates until the campaign had officially completed.

This is just a reminder to make sure that I do that.

With the first version of PIE (coworking), we asked that participating companies provide a small amount of equity to PIE as part of the agreement. Please expand on that.

When we get to organizing this more effectively, the "404 Contest" belongs under "Happy Accidents"

Definitions are great, but it seems like there may be some value in playing these two concepts off one another.

After reading through the content, one of my concerns is that we get far too heady about this stuff, when what is needed are tactics. Review the copy in the second half of the Cookbook (actual recipes) to ensure that we're providing content that allows readers to effectively take action, not just contemplate what they could be doing.

Must have for version one. There's a pro forma in the appendix, but we need some explanation.

Similar to the concept of "communities start accelerators; accelerators don't start communities," folks must be cognizant of meeting the community where it already exists; not expecting the community to come to them. This sort of Field of Dreams behavior consistently fails, no matter the potential draw of the brand.

Discuss the origins and outcomes of the "Bring the Pain" contest

Under Mentors.... discussion about mentors with their hands out, how to deal with mentors asking for fees, mentor integrity, that being a mentor is not necessarily an endorsement of character by the accelerator

Need to build out the detail on the applications, the application period, and the promotions of said applications. Immediately following this section: https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft-tactical.md#but-also-know-what-your-strengths-are

Good start. No finish it. https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/notes/mentors/mentors-activating.md

Describe some of the issues and challenges with engaging with corporate mentors

Not sure if the PIE Cookbook plans to continue with the CC BY-SA license, but if it does, the SA restriction can cause friction for reuse of the Cookbook. IIUC, it means that Cookbook material could not be remixed with any material that has a clause like NC or ND as the resulting work could not carry the SA from the Cookbook license.

For example, if I wanted to create a handbook for a new accelerator by remixing parts of the PIE Cookbook licensed CC BY-SA and parts of another work that was licensed, say, CC BY-NC, I could not legally publish the resulting work because the CC BY-NC material cannot be changed to the CC BY-SA license that the Cookbook's SA clause would "demand".

I recommend the Cookbook adopt a simpler CC BY license to maximize reusability and yet maintain reference to the provenance of the Cookbook coming from PIE.

You can review a CC license compatibility matrix online, and learn more about SA compatibility specifically.

Describe the origins and outcomes of the 404 contest

https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft-tactical.md#tuesday

"Staff arrives. Continues making mentor connections for startups based on issues raised during family dinner. Typically two or three mentors per startup per issue."

Do you really typically assign two or three mentors per startup per issue? If so that's amazing (we have a hard time rounding up one mentor per event). I'm imagining a startup with ten issues and 30 mentors.

Spend some time describing how the layout of the space and the "who goes where" needs to be done with intention. Describe issues that occur if it is left to chance.

https://github.com/piepdx/pie-cookbook/blob/master/drafts/working-draft-tactical.md#layout