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The entrepreneurial spirit is growing ever stronger inAustralia and whether you consider yourself one or have a killer business idea you’d like to get serious with, an accelerator (often also called an incubator)program might be just the ticket to get you really moving.
There’s quite a few accelerators that happen around the country at any time throughout the year but not all are created (or designed to be) equal.
Well in short, help push a new business (startup) forward fast. Depending on the industry, there’s usually a suite of advisors or mentors brought in to help entrepreneurs learn the ropes of building a business.
From how to structure shareholding best to attract investment, marketing tips and tech help through to setting up the appropriate forecasting documents, there’s often a lot of depth to an accelerator.
It’s important to note that some accelerators exist for specific types of businesses. As an example there’s an accelerator in its second year called Lumina-X that runs on the Gold Coast just forHealth-Tech startups.
That depends. If you’ve started a new business that could use a turbo boost or, have an idea that you’ve started work on (but isn’t quite a business yet) that could be huge, yes. An accelerator could get you going in a hurry.
Before we send you off to investigate some of the programs available in Australia, here’s what we suggest to consider before applying to one ….
Time is valuable. Time is money. If you’re spending time learning about running or growing your business instead of actually running or growing your business, what impact will that have, especially if you’re a solo founder.
Understand what you’re committing to because some accelerators will require equity in your business. The good ones will pay decent money for that equity depending on what stage you are at, but it’s worth doing a fine-tooth check on the terms.
It’s rare a founder would want to be trading “accelerator time” for equity unless it comes with incredible talent working in the business as part of that time.
As we’ve said, not all accelerators are created equal so it’s worth doing some due-diligence on any accelerator program you’re considering being involved with.
Have you heard of Y-Combinator? It’s probably the world’s most notable – it’s actually great to read the stats on the Y-Combinator website – and having it on your business’s resume can be a massive deal for investors and customers alike not to mention incredible for the health and speedy growth of your business.
With that example in mind, here’s some questions we’d suggest you ask before diving in:
1. Have you heard of the accelerator before (is itY-Combinator pedigree)?
2. What other businesses have been through it and can you ask them about their experience?
3. Who are the mentors and are they as good as they say they are?
4. What happens after the accelerator – is there alumni? Is there ongoing support?
5. What financial or in-kind benefits does it give my business (pay for equity, talent, credits for technology or other)?
6. Will it actually make my business grow faster considering the time it will require of me?
There’s no silver bullet that says an accelerator works for everyone – even if everyone could get into one. The statistics on failed startups are somewhat difficult to read about, but who’s to say an accelerator wouldn’t have made all the difference to a large portion of those that did fail?
Now that you’ve done some thinking about if an accelerator would work for your business, here are some resources that could help you find one that fits*:
Incubate: https://incubate.org.au/
Startmate: https://www.startmate.com/
The Good Incubator: https://www.goodincubator.co/
The Melbourne Accelerator Program: https://www.themap.co
Springboard: https://sb.co/
Cyrise: https://www.cyrise.co/
Cicada Innovations: https://www.cicadainnovations.com/
The Impact Accelerator: https://theimpactaccelerator.org.au/
Techstars: https://www.techstars.com/accelerators
Skalata: https://www.skalata.co/
(Energy)Lab: https://energylab.org.au/
Lumina-X: https://luminax.com.au/
Remarkable: https://remarkable.org.au/
If you’d like tailored strategic advice to help your business grow no matter where you are in your journey, speak with the Attune team today – give us a call on 1300 866 113 or send us an email to start the conversation, you won’t regret it.
*Attune Advisory is not endorsing any accelerator program or website specifically here, just providing links to help you make good, informed choices that work for you and your business.
