How we supercharge startups
Before applying to an accelerator program, founders have to struggle with the question: is it worth it? While it may be easy to read some articles and form an opinion on all accelerators, the answer is usually more nuanced. It usually depends on the specific program, founder and startup.
At Accelerating Asia, our flagship accelerator program happens to be quite different from others. We believe these differences help us better supercharge our startups’ growth. Built on years of operational experience from our Entrepreneurs in Residence (EiR) who have multiple exits under their belt, and constantly improved based on founder feedback, we believe our program is one of the best around.
Here is how we supercharge startups:
A Customised Hands-on Approach
Unlike modular programs out there who take batch after batch of startups through a fixed educational (and often theoretical) program, we custom design each cohort’s activities based on the needs of startups in that specific cohort.
This also means that our program is adaptive: if we find that a number of startups are facing a specific challenge halfway through the program, we can get an expert in to conduct a masterclass on that specific topic. Delivering up to date and actionable steps for the cohort to overcome the hurdles that matter most.
Moreover, we work hands-on on your startup’s specific challenge in its specific context. For example, we break down our startups’ growth plan in our growth jams, and often receive input and ideas from fellow founders in the cohort. In our SEO masterclass, we take a look at our startups’ websites and point out actionable areas of improvement. In our weekly one-on-ones with our EiRs, you get to talk through areas you need help with in specifics.
Giving Time & Space
At Accelerating Asia, we specialise in helping post-revenue startups. At this stage, founders require lots of time to focus on growth, experimentation and scaling. Therefore, an accelerator’s activities should not take up too much time but should act as effective enablers that help founders quickly solve issues and move faster.
Hence, we try to ensure that each session we have is compressed and high value. In a typical week, founders would go through Monday standups, Tuesday growth jams, Wednesday masterclasses, Thursday pitch sessions, and on-demand one-on-ones with our EiRs. In short, we let you operate, and never take up more than a couple of hours in your day.
Fundraising: Pitching & Storytelling
While we invest up to US$250K per startup, most leave our accelerator with more than that. 90% of our startups raise outside capital during our 100-day program and 80% raise follow-on funding within 12 months of our program. This happens because we specifically coach our startups to perfect their pitch and provide them access to a great investor network.
We do this through:
- Entrepreneur in Residence 1-1s tailored to find, test and iterate on the appropriate thesis and messaging for your product to attract and raise capital at competitive terms.
- Weekly pitch sessions: we organise closed door sessions with leading VCs in the region, such as Sequoia Capital, Golden Gate Ventures and Global Founders Capital. This provides ample opportunities for practice, feedback and investor access.
- Investor network: besides our weekly pitch sessions, we have a wide network of investors excited in our portfolio startups. Every cohort, a number of our Limited Partners personally angel invest into some startups they have high conviction in. Many in our mentor network are also angel investors, and we have strong relationships with most VCs in the region. Here, inbound investor meetup requests are the norm.
- Capital fundraising masterclass: we cover the nitty gritty aspects of how to effectively fundraise. This includes everything from data room set up to process management
- Governance clean up: some startups in our program have yet to raise institutional capital, which is quite a different game from angel investors. We provide guidance so that everything is organised and clean on the cap table and legal side.
Building a Founder Community
Often, the best person founders can learn from are other fellow founders who have experienced or are experiencing the same growth pains in their startup journey. Hence, we build a conducive environment for founders to help and teach each other and ensure that the main drivers of the program, our EiRs, are ex-founders themselves (not VCs or people from corporate innovation).
How we build our community:
- Weekly growth jams: this happens during the program and we invite alumni to join in too. They are fluid sessions where founders share specific problems they are facing and share experience-based insights and ideas with each other
- Weekly standups: during our standups, founders are encouraged to share any asks they have for the community, allowing them to quickly tap into networks and accelerate growth