If you’re watching this video, you should have completed the registration process by now. Nice work!
From now on when you login you’ll land on your personalized 7x dashboard, this is the hub of your 7x experience. You will return to it again and again.
Every click in this part of the platform is designed to help you build your business and simplify the process. It won’t be long until you realize how you can tailor 7x to your business, no matter how deep you want to dive.
If you’ve clicked around to other parts of the platform, you can always click on the 7x logo on the top center of your screen, and it will bring you back to your dashboard.
7x is a social platform for innovators. When you’re building your profile, you’re saying to social communities you belong to, “Here is my revolutionary idea!” As your idea strengthens and improves, you will want to let those improvements be reflected here. As you gain traction, vVC’s will take notice, putting you on their rosters, buying your product, or even investing in your company. Telling your story in a way that gets the attention of the 7x community is the purpose of your profile.
Let’s talk about the dashboard itself.
The first thing you’ll see on the top of the screen are two large numbers. These two numbers are both seasonal purses, one to be paid to the top 7 startups, the other to the top 7 vVC’s – for the 20-week season. You’ll see the purse amounts grow every time a person pays an entry fee. In addition to the purses, you can also earn money in the weekly roster competitions.
Just below the purses you’ll see logos from 7x sponsors. They are also contributing to the seasonal purse totals. The sponsors are just as committed as 7x is, to bringing the best ideas to market. Click on their logos for great deals. In between the purses is the 7x logo. Think of the logo as your home button, if you ever get lost on 7x or something goes awry tapping on the 7x logo will always bring you back to your dashboard.
Below the 7x logo is your team logo. You were assigned a team at registration based on your state of residence. If you click on this logo, it will take you to your team’s dashboard.
As a team member, you start out in the development league. The development league is a place where you can nurture your idea, find clients, and refine your project. The point of the league is to take you and your idea from where you are, to where you want to be, which could include getting called up to compete in the 7x big leagues.
Watch the videos called “Getting Started as a Startup,” and “Playing the Game as a Startup” for a comprehensive explanation of what getting called up to the big leagues means.
Think of the Startup dashboard as the hub of all your activity. This is true if you’re using 7x to build and grow your business, or you’re competitively playing the Startup game. We can’t know to what extent you will use 7x, but we absolutely know that many companies will thrive and become successful in the development league.
If you show promise, your team’s scouts will identify you as a someone to watch. Consistent top performances will land you on your team’s “Top 20” list during the preseason. The scouts will be watching for emerging talent – something to be explained in detail in the additional Startup videos. Making the Top 20 is a pretty good indicator that you have the attention of your team’s management.
Now, back to your dashboard.
Below the team logo, on the left, is your profile image. It already has the information from registration. There is an edit button so if you want to change your feature video, your profile image, or enhance any content associated with your profile, select the edit button.
To the right of the logo is the rankings block. As a startup your relative ranking to other startups is always updating. Your ranking will be shown here – and is something you will want to refer to often.
7x tracks three components that contribute to your overall ranking.
First, the vVC ranking – meaning the frequency in which you make it onto a vVC’s roster, and how high you rank in that roster. This, in essence, is a popularity contest. The more people you court, the better your ranking is going to be. You get points for each time any vVC places you on their roster, not to mention that you get PAID every time you make it onto a vVC’s roster. It’s important to remember that this is a WEEKLY ranking, and resets after each round of competition.
Second, 7x also tracks your revenue ranking. Your revenue ranking is a dynamic number and changes as soon as you generate revenue on the platform. Your primary way of generating revenue will be through sales in the 7x Marketplace. If you’re not using the Marketplace, remember, you’re also getting revenue every time a vVC places you on their roster – so we include that revenue in your revenue ranking as well. This number also resets at the beginning of each weekly round of competition.
Third is your competition ranking, meaning your performance in head-to-head competition with other startups. The number you see here isn’t constantly updating like the other two. This number represents your previous weeks’ performances, and will be updated at the end of weekly competitions. This ranking will only apply to startups that are either called up to compete in the 7x Big Leagues, or those who make their team’s Top 20 during the preseason.
To the right of the ranking is an arrow. A green up arrow means you are trending up in relation to the other startups, a red down arrow means you’re trending down. A gray horizonal arrow means that you are holding steady, not moving up or down in the rankings.
The “Funding” number is a cumulative total of revenue you’ve generated as long as you’ve been on the platform. While this number does not figure into your weekly ranking – it is a strong indicator of your company’s ability to generate revenue. It’s also an attractor for vVC’s, and potential ??? investors. If you are competing in the 7x Startup game it’s the weekly performances that really matter.
All of this will be explained in more detail in Getting Started as a Startup.
Directly below your profile and the scoring block is your video. We don’t have to tell you how quickly the public associates the quality of a company with quality of their media. Take some time to make this great. It will only help you in the long run. By the way, “great” can be fun, unique, creative – it doesn’t have to be super expensive. As you grow, think about updating and improving your video.
Next is a series of 3-4 buttons. The number of buttons you see changes as you add functionality to your profile.
You will always see Canvas, Media, and Groups/Zoom. Shop will be added once you’ve registered to be a vendor so you can sell your products or services in the 7x Marketplace.
The Canvas button allows you to create a concise, abbreviated version of your business plan. The platform will ask you questions that will guide you through the process. Check out SU 106 – Creating Your Startup Canvas video, for more information.
The Media button allows you to add videos, images, press releases — really any media content you’d like to share with the public goes here.
The Groups/Zoom button is a familiar social media tool that allows you to organize and communicate with your various groups. We thought it would be cool if you could connect to your groups via zoom, so we added that capability. If you want to host a meeting with your groups you’ll need to have an active Zoom account. You have the option to record these meetings and place them in your media folder. Watch videos SU 108, and SU 108A that talk about – How to Use Groups and Zoom respectively.
The fourth button is a “shop” button. This is the most important button on your dashboard if you have a product or service to sell. You will need to apply to be a vendor before this button is activated. It is really pretty easy to do, there is another video that explains the whole process in detail. Check out SU 105 The Marketplace. If you just want to go for it, click on the hamburger icon, select “Apply to Be a Vendor” on the left and follow the prompts.
Bonus tip if you’re playing the game – Sales through the Marketplace will increase your Weekly Revenue Ranking.
At the bottom of the screen there are five navigation icons.
- “Invite” This button is very important because you need to let friends, family, social media groups and other potential customers know that you have a presence on the 7x platform where they can buy your products or services. It’s also important in playing the 7x Startup game because your score is heavily influenced by the number of vVC’s you get to join the platform. For more details you’ll want to watch video SU … “how to play the game” video in the information library.
- “7x TV” This is where you can watch live and archived 7x broadcasts.
- “Preferred Vendors” These are vendors that have products or services specifically suited for startups. Attorneys, Bankers, Graphic Designers, Engineers, software companies that help you manage and grow your business. Many of the vendors have special deals just for 7x Startups.
- “7x U” An educational component designed to inspire and support entrepreneurs at all levels. You’ll find videos on sales, marketing, time management, leadership, including interviews with entrepreneurs that openly share their lessons and insights.
- “FAQ-Information” This is your library of 7x how-to videos, FAQ’s, etc. You’ll also find an email address listed here. If you cannot find the information you’re looking for, send us an email. 7x is a work in progress. If you have suggestions on how we can improve, this is the place to communicate with us.
We think that you will find that 7x is the ultimate business tool and launch pad for your new venture. From the dashboard you can sell your product or service, communicate with your customers, prospects and even your vendors, receive mentoring, monitor your performance, connect with your team, post social media releases, play the 7x startup game and just have fun building your dream.
5th paragraph. I thought we couldn’t say “investing in your company.” Was it recorded that way? [MA1]