How to navigate your startup following an accelerator program
You did the heavy lifting. Spent weeks working nights and weekends to create this business behind your brilliant, new idea. Everything you did was hard. At times, you didn’t think you would make it through. Then the final session came and went, and you were officially done. Completed the Accelerator program. Graduated. An Alumni. Wearing it as a badge of honor.
As you venture into the brave world as a startup CEO, now comes the REALLY hard part. Figuring out how to keep making progress in the development of your business with what you learned. No curriculum. No one to critique your thoughts, ideas, plans. Without the structure and the accountability, what do you do?
Here are our top 5 things to do once you graduate from an incubator/accelerator program:
1. Networking is the name of the game
One of the biggest advantages to participating in an accelerator program are all of the professional people that you meet. Look for new chances to meet other industry professionals and influencers. The benefits of expanding your network include gaining connections to those that can help support and advance your startup with referrals or even funding. In addition, as you meet new people and share your startup story, you will gain confidence. That also contributed to forming stronger relationships with others. That may include mentors or simply other startup founders. Your newfound network may hold the magic key to help you grow your business from idea to reality.
“Networking is an investment in your business. It takes time and when done correctly can yield great results for years to come.”
Building a strong professional network will provide you with opportunities you would otherwise never be exposed to. Because of this, it is important to maintain your current network. Attend alumni events. Use your knowledge to help others, be positive in your interactions as you build your reputation. Your contributions and presence at events will help increase your visibility. Remember, we live in a very small world. You never know what current or new connection could be the key to your success.
2. Do not underestimate the importance of having a mentor
Gaining a mentor means you will likely have someone providing guidance with many aspects of your startup. Not holding you accountable as an investor, but pushing you to make hard decisions to keep your startup from stalling. Some CEO’s feel they are too busy and don’t have the time for one. Little do they know the mentor needs the details to help provide the advice and support that will help a startup founder get past a roadblock or to know which path is more beneficial. Think of them as a guide. They have an interest in what you are doing and want to help you succeed.
“The main purpose of a mentor is to help entrepreneurs with specific questions by sharing their knowledge and contacts harvested through their years of experience.”
Think about all the things you have learned over time. Some of it comes in handy at the most opportune times. Did you ever take note of a lesson you learned? Mentors typically have already been through what you are going through. Their goal is to share their wisdom and experience to help you - bridging the gap in your knowledge and your network. Mentors will emphathize with you when things don’t go your way, they often can remove hurdles you encounter. They provide motivation and help identify resources when needed, helping to prevent costly mistakes. The benefits you get are priceless.
3. Don’t let your startup wander aimlessly, set goals
As a startup, setting goals is essential. It puts in place structure to help you maintain focus, track your projects, and give you a path to the finish line. Remember as a kid in school, how happy you were the closer you got to the end of the school year? You may have even crossed-off the days on the calendar. As hard as you and your team work, having goals provides motivation and satisfaction when you achieve the goals you set.
“Without goals, your business is just functioning instead of achieving.”
To get started setting goals, start small. Set short-terms goals that are achievable in a short period of time for easy success. Set a few long-term goals, and monitor them over time as you make progress. Create a timeline with milestones and a deadline for your long-term goals. This will help you to complete each task that leads to achieving each goal.
Our Quick tips for setting goals in 2022 blog includes the process for defining and setting SMART goals - Specific Measurable Attainable Relevant Time-bound. Read our blog about the importance of setting goals using the SMART method here.
“The trouble with not having a goal is that you can spend your life running up and down the field and never score.”
4. A few tips for successful product development
When it comes to developing your product, the core of your startup, keep your product development team small. Everyone brings a unique skillset to the table making a valuable contribution - they all have a hand in the development. However, to help your team maintain focus, consider having one product owner assigned to the task of making the final decisions on what to build and when to build it. Why? Their role is to keep your product development running smoothly, quickly and efficiently. Learn more about why this is essential here.
“A crucial role of the agile product owner is to clearly communicate what fits the vision, what doesn’t, and why.”
While your product development team brings a level of expertise and great knowledge into the development process, your best path to success is to incorporate the information you gain by talking to your customers. They will tell you clearly the pain they are experiencing (which your product is designed to solve) and how others are missing the mark. Use this as a way to build the minimum product you need to solve the problem. Keep it simple. Adding features can come later. Including your customers every step of the way can help prevent feature creep.
5. Start marketing before you’re ready to launch
Think about when you create a new social media account. At the time you create the account, you are new, you have no followers, zero. The same goes to when you start marketing your new product. Ground zero. In order to start building excitement, or create buzz about what is coming, start your marketing efforts BEFORE you are ready to launch your product. Use this pre-launch marketing as a way to spark interest, build excitement, and get people to spread the word.
Build upon the interaction you already have with your customers that you have interacted with in the development of your product. Learn about what is important to them and use that information in your communications. This will help you build a brand that draws interest and has trust. Most importantly, leveraging your customer conversations means that when you launch, you aren’t speaking to yourself. You already have an audience.
Look for ways to attract attention by creating opportunities to engage. Provide a valuable offer, a blog, infographics or case study. Provide something of value that encourages them to express interest, enough so they are willing to share their email with you. Reach the masses through social media. Focus on one or two social media networks to start, where they already are spending time. The goal is to reach your customer with a product that solves their problem.
“No matter how amazing your business concept or new product, you need to sell it. And you can’t sell something that people don’t know about.”
Graduating from an accelerator is similar to graduating from school. The structure and guidance is no longer the responsibility of others, it is now your responsibility. The tips we provided give you some help to stay motivated and to continue making progress with your startup.
Short on time with a long list of action items? Contact us for a 30-minute free consultation to see how we can help you achieve your goals.
FunFact
Do you know how AirBnB got their early rounds of funding? They sold their own breakfast cereal. Essentially, they purchased bulk cereal in large quantities, created their own cardboard boxes with political themes - names such as Obama O’s, Cap’n McCain, and Breakfast of Change and sold them for $40 each. In two months, they sold enough to earn more than $30,000. The more you know…