As Accelerators Evolve, What Should New Founders Do At The Idea Stage?

As Accelerators Evolve, What Should New Founders Do At The Idea Stage?

In my previous post, I went through Accelerators Evolution As Species From Startups To Scaleups Family Tree. In this post, I raise the question for new entrepreneurs who are still at the idea stage, what should they do now?

Well, here is the ugly truth, if you’re a non-technical entrepreneur, the odds are against you. I mean, let’s face it, what options do you have? It’s not accepted anymore that non-technical founders take funds and pay it to freelancers to build them a product. At the end of the day, we’re talking about technology companies here where technology is core, not about an online retailer or a real estate portal where technology can of course be outsourced and differentiation will be judged on operations.

So if you’re a non-technical founder, with a great technology idea, make sure that you form a team with enough technical ability to actually build the product. Get technical co-founders.

The Team Is Technical, What’s Next?

If you all are first-time founders (previous non-successful startups don’t count), with a great idea, you have few options to kick start your company, and none of them include applying to an accelerator.

First of course is to bootstrap. You guys have to build the product while you’re still employed by others. Launch the product (even if in a closed beta), and get initial test users. It will be a big chaos with no clear product or market strategy, but don’t worry, that’s normal, just do it.

Next, and while still keeping your full day jobs, enroll in any of the “3-months Weekend-Training-Programs” such as: The Lean LaunchPad or The Founder Institute. They both have local chapters in many cities around the world. If not, you can always enroll and self-commit to the schedule of the free version of The Lean LaunchPad course online (which is exactly the same as the paid one, but lacks the interactions with the trainers/mentors, and peers). In those trainings, you as a team will learn a lot, and even pivot couple of times.

After all that, and if you’re still in business, and still want to move to the next step, and you don’t have enough savings to quit your job and focus on your startup, then it’s time for a friends round. You will be more comfortable taking investments from friends and quitting your job after going through all this.

You use this money to create the initial traction for your startup and pay for your living expenses while applying to accelerators. Yes, only then you can apply to accelerators! It’s getting tough, I know, but hey! you reduced your own risk a lot too by keeping your job until now, and you’re even more confident with your own product now (with numbers to prove it), which will definitely reflect in your application.

Good luck!