Episode 15: Accelerators
Who doesn’t want to go faster? How ‘bout faster and in the right direction? Listen in this weekend as Doug and Glenn talk about how to get both superpowers for your startup.
Transcript
Glenn Suart 0:00
What… the nice thing about these accelerators… and things just like the Startup Weekend… it focuses your energy and gives you a discipline to make sure that you’re not glossing over critical things…
Doug Ross 0:26
Welcome to Conversations on Startups, a podcast brought to you by Douglas Ross, author of the book, Spark Click Go: How to Bring Your Creative Business Idea to Life, and Glenn Suart, of Today’s Great Idea, a radio series featuring over 300 origin stories of businesses, brands and inventions that have changed the culture. Welcome to today’s conversation.
Doug Ross 0:49
Welcome back to Conversations on Startups with Doug and Glenn. I’m Doug Ross, author of Spark Click and Go – actually there’s no AND in it but Spark Click Go and among other things… and embedded with startups, and fascinated by startups, and love the whole thing… and how ‘ya doin’, Glenn?
Glenn Suart 1:10
I’m doing great. I’m Glenn Suart in Canada… Today’s Great Idea… we help people take action with their ideas. And, we help people get inspired by telling the stories about everyday people who… who took action, and turned their idea into something we all know. I get lots of people calling me from [for] that kind of stuff from when they listen to the radio series and I find it fascinating some of the calls that people have because invariably, which is our subject today, people need to get help to move forward – and I can help them a little bit, you can help them and stuff, but there’s a thing out there called accelerators, and people ask me about those on a regular basis so we figured we talked about that today.
Doug Ross 1:57
Yeah, I think it’s a great topic. And hey, just to let you know, I met up with some friends in Calgary last week – well, from Calgary, but we were in Arizona – and I mentioned Oh I’m doing this podcast with a friend of mine, Glenn Suart, you might know him. He’s got a show on the radio and it’s Today’s Great Idea and it’s on CHQR – and syndicated up in Edmonton as well – and they said, Oh, yes, I do know, Glenn and I… and I like that bit, and I mean, he’s got a great voice. And I said, Yes, he does. And he’s a good guy. So just to let you know you’re reaching out there in that market and beyond.
Glenn Suart 2:38
Well stop it, Doug, that’s great. My ego is very big now. [Ok, good, good]. The thing… I was going over the list of stories that I’ve done and it occurred to me – because usually, you know, a format of… we typically do is… I’ll tell you a story and see if you can guess who it is. Going back to my stories, I know that some of them have used accelerators for certain parts and stuff, but I couldn’t think of one where the accelerator was that… at the… could have been important, but it wasn’t at the forefront of any of the ideas I talked about. And I thought that would be an intriguing discussion. I guess the first thing we should talk about is, what is an accelerator? And maybe you want to get a handle on that one.
Doug Ross 3:25
Yeah, I can certainly do that. And there’s lots of names out there and we’ve talked about some of them on this program that you just don’t know where they got their beginnings, and many of them did get their beginnings – or at least part of their beginning – at an accelerator. So what is an accelerator? It is a program that helps early stage companies get going. And by early stage it might be slightly beyond the very earliest stage when your idea’s just written on a napkin, for example, because there are things for that too – and they have a different name – but accelerators come in when you are… you’re ready to start to shape your product, your service, you need a little bit of money to get going, and you could use some advice, and some know-how. And it’s a really cool thing. It’s kind of what it is… in a nutshell, it might… I would say the components that probably cut across a lot of these accelerators would be that they have some level of mentorship, they may have some small level of capital and a sort of… program elements that kind of put you through the paces, as it were- some sort of methodology. So I would say those three things cut across these accelerators, and the interesting thing is that there are many of them out there and across all kinds of industries and sub-industries.
Glenn Suart 5:05
Yep. I… what resonates with me… there are some of the classic ones like Y Combinator, etc, who do a lot… a lot of companies to help shape them, and they only do stuff with ones they think they can help move forward, and they accelerate them faster than they would otherwise grow. But there are a lot of wannabe accelerators out there who just say, Oh, I’ve got office space and I’ll have a few people around and we’ll call ourselves an accelerator, and people will come and we’ll help them. And they’re just not organized well enough, and I’ve had, unfortunately, some experiences like that,
Doug Ross 5:37
That sounds more like a shared workspace.
Glenn Suart 5:41
I know… that… it’s these shared workspaces then market themselves as accelerators to help people move forward. [Okay] It’s very tangential, very superficial. I don’t mean that in a really super negative way, it’s just that a real accelerator does, in fact, really help you – as you said – shape the idea and move it forward. But they really do offer a combination of talent, access, connections, and money to move this thing forward. First thing is you have to make sure you’re working with an accelerator, a real one, at the end of the day.
Doug Ross 6:19
Yeah, I think they tend to work on a cohort basis. So you’re typically applying to these accelerators and they have varying degrees of acceptance rates just like any other thing that’s out there, such as going to university, for example. But they tend to work on that sort of basis because they want to identify companies that fit with the mentors that they’ve put together. And it really can be magical in both ways, for the company, and the mentors get some benefit out of this as well. So it tends to be a cohort basis. So if you’re signing, you know, you get three months of free office space, and then you’re signing a lease. That doesn’t sound like an accelerator to me. It’s more of this element of a program. They’re usually, of course, time limited. One that I know of is TechStars. They’re [a] very successful accelerator, and their program is a 90 day program, and they break that down into three different phases – but it’s 90 days that you’re going to be working within this and at the end… one of the things they do is they have what’s called a demo day and it’s where you talk about your product, your service, other elements of your business, are you getting traction, that kind of thing. And ideally you will have in the case of a TechStars program, they pull together, investors in that community that invest also in that industry. And they may be angel investors or small VCs – different kinds of investors that want to hear, Hey, what’s this latest batch of companies look like? I might want to get in on this.
Glenn Suart 8:00
Interesting. So there are some really good ones, as you say. One of the things I also get frustrated with is… because I deal with a lot of companies in different types of industries. For example, we’ve talked about the cooler business before, retail oriented. A lot of these accelerators, I find, are narrowly focused on technology. Sometimes there’s like… here in Alberta… there’s agribusiness, kind of agricultural oriented businesses or oil sands, some of those focuses. So I guess the other thing I would say with accelerators is you have to be thoughtful about applying to the one that makes sense to you, and the one that resonates with your industry, because not everyone – not every accelerator – is interested in your particular industry. Does that makes sense?
Doug Ross 8:50
Absolutely makes sense. And so if I was working in an agribusiness I would start to talk to people that have perhaps recently created companies there – there may be a trade association, someone in economic development in your city, your town, your province, your state, that kind of thing – and these are the kinds of groups that are interested in either creating an accelerator or they may just be hooked up with the people that do these sorts of things. Universities, colleges, those are other places where they might create these accelerators, as well. But you can… I think very quickly look for and find, in your jurisdiction, and hey, if it’s not in your geographic jurisdiction now, what the hell does it matter? I could be in Tuktoyaktuk talking to you right now instead of from Boston, Glenn.
Glenn Suart 9:42
Exactly.
Doug Ross 9:44
Hey podcast listeners, we’re gonna take a short break now. If you’re enjoying the show, feel free to invite your friends, remember to subscribe, and if you want to help spread the word leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or your favorite podcast app. Each episode of Conversations on Startups focuses on a single topic. If you want to comment on something you’ve heard on the podcast, or suggest a topic for us to cover in a future episode, send an email to: go@todaysgreatidea.com or douglas@sparkclickgo.com. Glenn and I appreciate you and hope you find our uncut and unrehearsed stories, perspectives, and tips helpful. Speaking of helpful stuff-let’s pick up where we left off.
Glenn Suart 10:29
So accelerators are good because they can help you move along with your idea faster, and nobody wants to get to the end of their life and say, No, I didn’t really try or I was too slow. You got a limited… time left, you know, take advantage of it. Look for the one that makes sense and talk to them. You never know what could happen.
Doug Ross 10:48
Right? Well, faster is one of the elements and the other thing is in the right direction, as well. So that’s the benefit of having these mentors there. Because the mentors are going to know the business a little bit, they’re going to understand what your business is and challenge you in certain areas. Hey, who really is your customer, Glenn? Well, it’s… well, that sounds a little bit vague, I think we need to work on this and really identify this in a much more clear way. What’s your business model? Same kind of thing – and push back on you and make sure that you’re going in the right direction by the time you come out of those 90 days. There’s also things that are even tighter than that, like 90 days that might seem to a lot of people – our listeners – like a long time. There are even more compressed programs out there. One of them’s called Startup Weekend [Yep]. It is a program to really get your feet wet. This is… just as it sounds like… it’s 54 hours from the time you pitch your idea, put together a small team, talk to customers, create a prototype to the degree you can in that short period of time, and then come back and demo it to the larger audience. I’ve done this myself in San Francisco. I put programs on in eastern California as well, and this is a way to really get your feet wet. In 54 hours you kind of take yourself through the paces. Everybody’s got a weekend – they can put off the latest streaming show Succession -or whatever it might be – Succession, or something, and just spend their weekend doing something like this.
Glenn Suart 12:30
I like those things. I’ve not participated in one but I do understand it. And I… guess what… the nice thing about these accelerators… and things just like the Startup Weekend… it focuses your energy and gives you a discipline to make sure that you’re not glossing over critical things, as you said, with the marketing, or the market, or the technology, Oh somebody will do this for us… your business model’s all wrong, type of thing. So it’s very much worth – for certain businesses – to explore working with accelerators because they can move your ideas farther, faster.
Doug Ross 13:08
Yeah, absolutely agree. That’s been my experience as a mentor and also going through as a company, with this. I’m doing one right now here in Massachusetts – and it’s called the M2D2 – sounds like something from Star Wars, [Yeah], you know, then… and they put on… some of the things they put on are… are educational in nature. How to get funding, for example. And those are nice to have – sometimes they’re refreshers, that type of thing, and then we’re hooked up with a mentor. There’s one element that I didn’t… I don’t think either of us covered in these accelerators, in these cohorts, but in addition to becoming focused and all of this, you’re competing And what are you competing for? You’re competing for those demo days when there are going to be eyes of your peers and judges, hopefully investors, at the end of that. You’re competing with these other companies to show the progress that you’ve made and we all know that competition makes us better. So it’s really got that element in there as well, and that’s why these are put together as cohorts. Because everybody starts at the same time and they end at the same time, and there’s a bit of a competitive element that I think really can crystallize… your… get your juices flowing, and crystallize everything you’re trying to do to get your company going.
Glenn Suart 14:33
Well, that’s right, ’cause you are, at the end of the day, competing for resources. Not just money, but people and time, and energy, and you… and customers, and you need to really understand that extremely well. So going through an accelerator forces you to do that. Because… just because you have a great idea doesn’t mean it’s that valuable. There’s lots of other great ideas out there that might command more time and, you know, money and better resources. That’s why you may not get any traction. So you need to understand what you’re solving, and then how you’re going to build a team to… and a business to solve that need. So, I’d say today, great story about accelerators. And I think if… if anyone’s thinking about looking at them, go for it, but be wary that it’s really an accelerator.
Ben 15:18
You’re listening to Conversations on Startups with Doug and, Glenn, thanks for joining us.
Doug Ross 15:26
Yeah, I love that tip. Make sure you know what you’re getting into. On that end, you could talk to some people that have been involved in that. It does make sense to do your homework, especially if it is 90 days that you’re spending. You’d mentioned Y Combinator before and I was part of a company… we applied to Y Combinator. We put our pitch on a video – I remember doing that and… and we didn’t make the cut. These folks are… some of them are down to 1% of applicants, the ones like that, Y Combinator. But do your homework, make sure that that is something that’s going to be right for you, and you can talk to people who’ve been through the program before. Lots of easy ways to validate that. But highly recommended, for not for all businesses, but at least explore it. We hope that we’ve raised your awareness a little bit as to what an accelerator is today. Go out and research and find out what’s there. But Glenn, before we wrap that up, I have to bring something up from our last podcast. We have to keep ourselves accountable. Well, a couple things on my own side, I know I was talking about it… Ed Beccle … and I screwed up a couple of things about him. His business is… is not called Gust, its Grasp and he has diabetes, not asthma – so that’s on my side. But we also mentioned – I don’t even know if you remember this because this was a couple of weeks back now – we said we were going to go and check out whether the domain, There’s got to be a better way or just simply A better way.com exists. You remember that came up in our conversation?
Glenn Suart 17:03
Did we take action?
Doug Ross 17:05
Yeah, we did. I know we did.
Glenn Suart 17:08
I know. And we found that of course, somebody had taken it. But then there were variations that were possible, and it was a good conversation. But then we we made a judgment, okay, that’s fine, I have to do something else. And so… but even taking that time, and doing some action right there was a very good thing.
Doug Ross 17:27
Yeah, it was a step to see if anyone had this real estate marked out yet on the web, and they did. But you can take that and just change the wording a little bit. Go for a dot.ca If you’re in Canada instead of dot.com maybe… maybe dot.org – although that’s probably not the best one for business – but it was a good step to take, an initial… just kind of test, Hey, has anybody else thought about this before? And we found out that someone had. [Exactly] What about our next session? Any thoughts? I’m totally putting you on the spot here. And it’s okay, if you don’t have an idea.
Glenn Suart 18:03
There’s always great ideas. I think a discussion would be you’ve got a product, and should I sell it to retailers, or should I sell it on Amazon, should I do both? Maybe we talk about how to market your consumer good, because I’m dealing with it right now. [Okay] It might be kind of fun to talk about the benefits and the risks of each approach.
Doug Ross 18:31
Well I think that’s a good one and obviously retail is a big part of everybody’s life in some way, usually on the consumer side, but a lot of people are doing that, selling on one platform or another, including a big Canadian company that… that I’m sure we can talk about too that helps you to set up a store on the web. I think that’s a great idea. Let’s do that
Glenn Suart 18:53
Sounds good.
Doug Ross 19:04
Conversations on Startups is a production of Glenn Suart and Douglas Ross. We hope you’re having fun listening but mostly that you take action on your business idea. For more inspiration visit our websites: todaysgreatidea.com and sparkclickgo.com. Another episode of Conversations on Startups will drop soon, or is already available to binge. Thanks for joining us, and remember to subscribe and invite your friends. See ya next time!
Transcribed by https://otter.ai