Getting into an (our) accelerator

I’m writing this post after the tough process of making decisions for Launch Pad Ignition and communicating the good and bad news to the companies that applied.  It was a very competitive process and we had a lot of great applicants, which made the decisions hard.  This year we added an advisory board to Ignition made up of investors – 2 NOLA, 2 NY, 2 SV.  They provided very valuable guidance and feedback and ultimately we made the decisions.

While its fresh, I want to share some thoughts on why some companies did or didn’t get in, so you can be better prepared to apply next year or to another accelerator.

You need:

  • Shovel-ready product development - even if you don’t have product yet, we need to have confidence you’re ready to hit the ground running.  If you’re not building or ready to build, you’re not ready.
  • Hustle and drive - the best way to communicate how good you are is to show that you are building this company anyway, with or without Ignition.  We had a founder who went from talking about his idea at our info session in December to having a prototype built before he finished interviewing. It was clear he was building this company with or without us, and this communicated a lot about his drive.

Deal breakers:

  • All founders not able to attend the whole program - last year we flexed on this a bit and learned why its so important for all founders to attend the entire program.  If you we’re able to commit to being in New Orleans for the whole program, we didn’t let you in.  The value of an accelerator is in being part of it, and if only one founder attends, it leads to companies not being calibrated.
  • Uncommitted founders – founders who still are working full-time or have a second company were a deal-breaker.  You may be able to bootstrap a company or self-fund it this way, but its not an appropriate structure for an accelerator or attractive to investors.  You may see it as a safety net, but we need you all-in.
  • Unable to communicate vision – several companies left us scratching our heads as to what they did or wanted to do, even after multiple interviews. You need to be able to communicate your vision succinctly.  Practice this with regular people. If they don’t understand it, simplify and refine.
  • Kitchen sink approach – take your core value proposition and then layer on everything else you might possibly build. Not a good approach.  Refine your core value to its core functionality. You can build up later. But you must have something core that makes people want to use your product.

We’re excited to be announcing our class Feb 13.  Hopefully this feedback is helpful to applicants who didn’t get in and to those who will be applying next year.

Brad Feld’s 5 Components of a Sustainable Startup Ecosystem

I’ve had the pleasure of hearing Brad Feld speak several times in the last year, most recently at Launch Fest.   One of the things driving our work right now is building a sustainable startup ecosystem in New Orleans and Louisiana.  Brad set forth his premise about the five components required for a successful, sustainable ecosystem at the TechStars Network conference in May. Here’s my summary of his talk.

While small business is vital to communities, the vast majority of new job creation comes from high growth entrepreneurship, and that is what we are focused on in the startup ecosystem.  While there is much focus on ecosystems like Silicon Valley, Brad believes that there are 100 cities in us that can support vibrant long term entrepreneurial communities.  His premise is informed by from his work in and the growth of the Boulder startup community.

Working towards the goal of creating long term sustainable entrepreneurial communities, we need:

  1. Long View – a 20 year timeline – stakeholders must be committed to the community for long term.
  2. Entrepreneurial Leaders – it must be led by entrepreneurs – cannot be led by government, non-profits, big companies, VCs, lawyers, accountants, economic development, universities.  All of those stakeholders need to be engaged, but entrepreneurs must drive it.
  3. Fresh Meat - need new talent all the time – college graduates & people moving in.
  4. Engaging Activities – engage the entrepreneurial community from top to bottom – startup to serial entrepreneurs – get all involved – you need a thing that engages all those people. You want really active engagement for a moderate period of time because its impossible to maintain a high level activity by someone on something that is not core focus.
  5. Repeat – must have a rhythm with for a long time.  Must have a beat that last through economic cycles. The only way to build a community is to move beyond boom and bust and build something over extended periods of time.

Thanks to Brad for all the support he’s provided us through the TechStars Network.  I’d love to hear what you think is important to the ecosystem.

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