From the mouth of one of the inventors of the modern accelerator, Brad Feld, how accelerators came to be and why they work. Given Fledge is based on the program and learnings of TechStars, this is highly relevant to our program too, despite Fledge being focused on impact vs. technology.
Thank you Fred Wilson for pointing out the video.
“The Missing Middle” is what we call the gap in finance the majority of entrepreneurs face in getting from a viable prototype or early customers to a full-scale proven business. In Part 1, Luni explains who he is, and how he came to fill in this otherwise missing middle. In Part 2, Luni jumps back to the history of venture capital to explain the pervasive paradigm that leads to...
Too many first-time entrepreneurs ignore the needs, desires, and goals of investors, focusing solely on their own needs, desires, and goals. Try thinking of investors as a field of crops. Planting seeds is when you meet new, potential investors. You can’t harvest the day you plant. You have to fertilize and weed and in some climates water those crops if you want them to grow. If you just...
The best part about accelerators is how many people you get connected to while in the program. Those entrepreneurs who suck the most value from accelerators take advantage of that new network. And not just to get answers to the most pressing challenge, but to find what the mentor, guest, etc. might know that you don’t, as extracting that knowledge doesn’t just not cost the other...
A decade ago The Business Model Canvas made assumptions about business models visible. Today The Ownership Model Canvas does the same for ownership and governance. Unsurprisingly it is Start.coop that brings this tool to the world. Start.coop is the world’s first business accelerator focused on scalable cooperative companies. They have from the start questioned the common ways of doing business...