Entrepreneurs: Want your startup launched? Let the Founder Institute accelerates the whole process – and more. This blog post can show you how the world’s largest startup accelerator can help you launch a business – Read on!
Did you know the most frustrating situation in starting up a business? If you have tried to start a business and failed numerous times, you must have known the answer. Yes, most of the times, you are feeling so lonely. It feels like you are up against all odds; and it can be pretty scary out there in the business world.
Then before you know it, you fail starting up even before you actually launch your business. You lose heart against the mountain of challenges you face. You feel that your products and services won’t be able to compete in the market. You are losing your passion because, although you love your product, wearing many hats stressed you out.
And yes, so many who have launched startups fail because they don’t have someone to tell them what’s wrong with their businesses.
Bottom line, you need a helping hand; you need a mentor who can guide you through the ups and downs; you need a community that can support you when things look so bleak; someone that complement your passion and skill sets.
The best place to find all of those is startup accelerators/business incubators.
What is startup accelerator, anyway?
Typically called business accelerator or incubator, it’s a program designed to help budding entrepreneurs develop their startup ideas and actually turn them into reality with the help of advisory boards and mentors and the available resources and services.
When you are accepted into the program, you will have access to an exclusive community of like-minded people. You will be able to get the answers to typical entrepreneur’s question: how do I actually launch a business? How to build the right offering to the right market? How do I get the market to buy my products/services?
Of course, those are just the tip of the iceberg: What you will find inside an accelerator program is the ability to network with fellow entrepreneurs that could lead to a co-founded startup launch. You will also gain access to partners’ tools and resources, such as funding as startup accelerators are typically partnering with VC firms.
Indeed, the outcome of an accelerator program is your startup, launched with better chance of success.
Why the Founder Institute?
As an International entrepreneur myself, I understand that it’s pretty difficult to get help in launching a business. In the US, business incubators and seed accelerators (accelerators which also fund your startup) are highly accessible – despite mostly headquartered on Silicon Valley. But that’s not the case in other countries.
The Founder Institute breaks the geographical boundaries and positions itself as “globalized Silicon Valley.” Founded in 2009 by serial entrepreneur Adeo Ressi and headquartered in Silicon Valley, the goal is grand: Launching 1,000 tech startups per year in 50 cities across 5 continents.
So far, they are on track: In less than 4 years, the Founder Institute has launched more than 750 companies. With more than 1,250 founder/CEO mentors and over 200 partners, entrepreneurs can be sure they will get all the help they need in starting a business.
Accelerators are typically having their own program outlines – this is also the case with the Founder Institute. To understand how the Founder Institute works, there’s no better tool than an infographic – so here it goes:
Via Visual.ly – (here’s the older version)
You can learn more in details about the Founder Institute accelerator program here: http://fi.co/about
Takeaway
There is no better way to see whether your idea can be turned into reality or not than acid-test it: There are tools to help you test your startup idea your own, but if you want to take a more comprehensive, crowdsourced way, startup accelerator is the way to go.
Enrolled in an accelerator program, you can brainstorm ideas, acid-test your ideas, get valuable insights from the experts, and so on – everything you need to ensure that your startup is not turned into mere statistics (read: better survivability.)
Do you have a big idea? Are you a great leader, as well as a fantastic team player? Join your local business incubator; better yet, apply for a spot on the Founder Institute program.
