What are the most important aspects for a company to be successful in a startup accelerator?
Eric Mathews, the CEO and co-founder of Start Co., a venture development organization in Memphis, TN, believes that at the heart of every community are entrepreneurs driving economic development. With the beginning of the 2018 Summer of Acceleration, 12 teams from as close as Oxford, MS and as far away as Bangalore, India have descended upon Memphis to fast track their companies over 100 days.
Eric is a champion of entrepreneurial growth and listed these 5 tips that he thinks founders need to know if they want to be successful in a startup accelerator program:
1. Typical Day for a Successful Founder: Talking to Customers, Talking to Customers, Talking to Customers
The number one cause of startup failure is building something people don’t want. A lot of people come into an accelerator program and tend to gravitate toward the skill sets that they are really good at. Many default to becoming an inventor instead of an entrepreneur. That’s not what this is about. This is about building a business, and they can’t shy away from that.
How does that manifest itself in the first place? You need to talk to as many customers as possible. Shying away from your customers is a recipe for failure. A majority of your time should be given to your customers. We can generally tell which companies will be successful based on their willingness to talk to customers. If you’re not talking to customers, your company is not going to get better.
2. Take this opportunity very seriously and note that you are being measured and watched the whole time.
There are tons of people who are giving and paying forward benefits whether they are in real capital, time, or social capital. You have to take the opportunity seriously because there are many people that wanted the spot you were given. These programs are highly selective – more selective than getting into Ivy League schools! It’s critically important that you get after it and take every resource and opportunity very seriously. You have to realize you are always being measured and watched.
Follow-on investors are going to ask the program operators to tell them about the teams, and we are going to tell this person the truth. Why do we have no incentive to lie? Because the teams will come and go but the programs will be there. Startup accelerators are becoming more and more institutional of the communities and the startup world. We have to sit there as Switzerland to maintain our credibility and integrity to ultimately tell the truth.
3. You must be present to win.
There’s definitely a correlation between the teams that maximize every opportunity. If there’s a chance meeting that an investor is in town, it’s very important that you are actually present to be able to meet the investor. If you’re not here, you’re just not going to get that introduction.Showing up is a major factor of success. The teams that start drifting away and aren’t present at all of the experiences that are possible to them – both formal and informal – wind up being less successful overall. We like to emphasize that you must be present to win, which is an important part of creating your own luck.
4. Stretch your limits of what you think you can accomplish
A lot of people will come into a an accelerator program and think that they made it. They think that if they jump through some hoops, they’re going to be a successful startup in the end, but this couldn’t be further from the truth. The application to get into the program was one test and now you’re entering into a whole new set of tests once you actually start the accelerator. You’re not going to receive accolades for things like customer discovery and simply launching your product.
Teams that are going to be successful are going to be out there talking to tons of customers all of the time. They are going to gain significant traction, and they are going to find a way to hit their next funding milestone. It’s extremely tough but it’s supposed to be tough. It clarifies what’s important when you’re busy and you have to get a lot of things done fast. It helps them build urgency for what needs to be done.
5. You have to commit 110%
They applied to get into the program and they know it’s 100 days of intense work on their business. They now have this social excuse to say to their family and friends, “Hey I got into this accelerator program. It’s hard to be successful in it if I don’t give it my 110%.” Sometimes we find that you might have to quit your job to be able to give your all to the program. Nobody is going to fault you for that. There’s very few times in your life when you get that opportunity, especially when you’re in the middle of a career, to be able to put everything else on hold and solely dedicate yourself to growing your startup.
By Jonah Baer