What to expect in the Idea Summary

The Idea Summary is the second workshop on the path, after Founder Profile & Goal Setting. It is a guided conversation that captures your idea, the problem you are solving, who you are solving it for, and the basic business model, and writes it all up in one document. If you do not have an idea yet, it helps you find one that comes from your own experience. You do not need to prepare anything. Draper asks the questions.

What happens in the session

Draper works through your idea in conversation rather than handing you a form. It asks about the idea itself, the problem behind it, the customer you have in mind, and the rough shape of how the business would make money.

The aim is that you finish the session feeling like the idea is fully captured on paper. Most founders are carrying far more detail in their head than they have ever written down, and the Idea Summary's job is to get all of it out.

What to have ready

Nothing is required. It helps to have:

• Some time without interruption, because the workshop is designed to be done in one sitting
• Any notes you have already written, if you have them

If you have already written things down — notes, a deck, an old pitch, a document you started and abandoned — paste them in and Draper will work from them. It will still ask its own questions, so that it understands the core of the idea rather than just your summary of it.

What happens next

The next workshop on the path is Test Demand, and it is where the Idea Summary earns its keep.

The Idea Summary is you telling Draper everything in your head. Test Demand checks it against the outside world: whether real people want the idea, and in what form, using evidence of what they already say and buy online. Founder Profile & Goal Setting, the Idea Summary and Test Demand are all free. You only add a card if you decide to carry on down the path afterwards.