The individual approach during acceleration works the best for solving startups’ problems
Until now, within the Academic Startup League — our acceleration program for high-tech startups who operate within the frame of sustainable development goals — two rounds of acceleration have been conducted. 14 startups benefited from up to 250 hours of mentorship. At the end of September, the recruitment for the third round will end. Being at the halfway point of the project, we met with Małgorzata Warda, a mentor of the Academic Startup League who has an experience of 20 years in project and enterprise management, for both, B2B and B2C, markets. We talked about how to organize an individual acceleration path which would be beneficial for startups participating in the program.
Startup Hub Poland: Should every startup apply for an acceleration program? At what stage of development a startup should be while deciding to apply for a program where mentorship is mainly being offered?
Małgorzata Warda: I have been mentoring for the Academic Startup League since the very beginning of the program. Until now, I have had the opportunity to work with startups who already had a specific concept or even a product prototype. In my opinion, a good moment to participate in an acceleration program is when you already have a specific idea for a product or a service together with some initial assumptions on how you want to run a business. It is worth remembering that the mentors’ role is to support the startup business, not invent it. When a startup founder has a well-thought-out concept, there is more space for discussions, assumptions’ analysis, or business plan verification. Here I would like to underline that the mentors’ role is to show the business idea from different perspectives. Based on my experience, I can tell that the author of the idea has often a narrower viewpoint. Such a person has some difficulties in seeing inaccuracies in his or her assumptions. External advisors, like mentors, might present different contexts which will help in adjusting the communication or the features of the offer to the actual market expectations.
Startup Hub Poland: The distinctive feature of the Academic Startup League is an individual acceleration path. What is the biggest advantage of this approach? What are the challenges for startups and mentors in this approach?
Małgorzata Warda: In addition to be a business strategist and a mentor for startups, I am also a trainer. Therefore, I can easily compare accelerations to open and closed training. When we have a closed training ordered by the company for their employees, we work on the cases previously defined for this particular group. If we have open training with many participants from different companies and sectors, it is a challenge to meet everyone’s expectations. Then the approach to the given topic is different, more general presenting only certain mechanisms. The same applies to mentoring sessions. When we work on specific business cases or ideas related to a specific industry, we take a more individual approach to problems. Analyzing companies from the Academic Startup League, which I have worked with so far, I actually cannot imagine this acceleration as a group process. I am convinced that an individual approach works the best here because each startup has different problems which require a distinct course of actions.
Startup Hub Poland: How should the ideal cooperation between a startup and a mentor look like during the individual acceleration?
Małgorzata Warda: In case of any cooperation — including mentoring — it is worth establishing the rules of collaboration at the very beginning. With limited hours of mentorship, it will also be helpful to establish the scope of topics which should be discussed with a mentor. I think that the crucial part of the whole process is an equal division of duties and responsibilities. It is definitely not the mentors’ role to design concepts or come up with solutions to every startup problem. The role of the startup, on the other hand, should not be reduced to evaluating the recommended solutions. There must be collaboration. And when both parties agree on some homework or a startup is being asked for sending some data to the mentor, it’s worth keeping deadlines. If one party does not do its task, then the other party cannot prepare properly, for example for a meeting. This is the case when the dedicated working hours are not used effectively.
Startup Hub Poland: During the Academic Startup League we work with startups on creating business models which not only bring financial profits but also will have a positive impact on society or environment. In your opinion, what are the aspects that a young company should think of while creating a model based on the concept of sustainable growth?
Małgorzata Warda: Until now, during the Academic Startup League I have had the pleasure to work with startups whose concepts were strongly inscribed in sustainable development goals. I really like and value such projects. And if the concept is interesting, then startups who fit into the sustainability trend have an additional competitive advantage from the very beginning. It is worth underlining that business solutions based on sustainable development offer something more for investors. For example, their product or service is not only good for the environment but also helps to reduce operating costs. A good case presents Pergamin, a startup which wants to eliminate printing contracts in the process of the document verification, which can be translated into the saving paper trend.
Startup Hub Poland: What do you like the most about working with startups?
Małgorzata Warda: Passion is the factor that I like the most in startups. Such companies are usually created by people who had an idea at first and then a lot of enthusiasm to implement it. Here I have to admit that I am very impressed with Polish high-tech companies. Before mentoring startups, I was not aware that we have so many talented engineers, constructors, and programmers who have such inspiring ideas. I am convinced that a few projects of skilled and ambitious people with whom we are working with right now will change some of the current business operations and bring additional value to the market very soon.
Here you can find more information about our mentor.
