What I learnt as a non-technical solo founder in a tech accelerator program.

Gaby Howard
5 min readApr 26, 2017

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I started this blog post by asking myself the q — why am I writing this — will anyone care? The next sentence I wrote was: “The goal of this blog post is to make founders ‘like me’ feel like they can do it too.”

So in some ways it felt important, because I know lots of founders ‘like me’. So here it is, a very personal post on why I took part in an accelerator program, and why I’d recommend the experience to anyone else ‘like me’.

Side note — if you’re interested, here’s a more definitive article posted by Atlanta Daniels on startup accelerators in Australia.

I’m very proud to be able to say that Flaunter is a Startmate 2017 company.

But for most people, what does that actually mean? It’s pretty awesome. It means that Flaunter was accepted into one of the world’s leading accelerator programs. Close to 200 companies applied for this year’s program — and only eight were chosen.

To be honest, I never actually saw myself taking part in an accelerator — and definitely never, ever Startmate.

I’d heard of the program over the years but felt pretty certain that even if I applied, I’d never make the cut. Up until early this year the Startmate website was a dude fest. A technical team dude fest to be exact.

I was a solo, non-technical founder who also happened to love gold skirts and shiny shoes. I was skeptical about how an accelerator built on the back of technical teams could benefit me.

Me. In favourite gold skirt.

And then a friend introduced me to Blackbird’s Sam Wong. We had a conversation and she spoke to how they were looking to shake up the program for 2017. I was curious.

But I was still very unsure. Also, as Flaunter was a more progressed business, people challenged me on WHY I’d even consider taking part in an accelerator program. Weren’t accelerators for very early stage businesses??!

As background, in late 2016 when all these conversations were taking place Flaunter was no longer a kernel of an idea. Flaunter was a growing business. A business with real clients and revenue. I was also in the middle of a capital raise [a successful process that would ultimately see us oversubscribed].

So, why did I decide to apply?

1. I wanted to learn how to grow faster.

2. I wanted to join a network of experienced operators because I needed a great support network. I wanted to surround myself with the best.

3. I had began the search for my technical MacGyver. I was certain that Startmate would make that search 1000x more successful. FYI I’m still looking if that sounds like you ;)

The other Macgyver.

I sent my application video direct from Paris Fashion Week. There I was, surrounded by stylists, designers and makeup artists, 100% certain that I didn’t quite fit the Startmate mould…

And then came interview day. I thought I’d leave exhausted and maybe even a little bruised and battered. As context, at interview day each team pitches to ~30 Startmate mentors consecutively. But I surprised myself by walking away from over four hours of interviews feeling buzzed. There was so much positive energy in the room. I loved every minute of it.

From that day — I wanted in.

And WOO! I got in!

I learnt a lot. Of course there were lots of hard things too. One of the biggest challenges was trying to quickly apply everything I was learning into actionable tasks.

I won’t list all the ins and outs here — I’ll save that post for another day…

What I remember most from the first week was feeling like I had found my people. Teams and founders from all walks of life with the same challenges as me. I felt so much less alone.

Startmate class of 2017

The most important question — did I achieve what I set out to?

Yes.

I left Startmate with a better understanding of the economics of my business.

I have a new perspective on growth that is ‘an order of magnitude BIGGER’ than what I came in with. Thanks Alan Downie ;).

I now have successful, experienced and talented technical founders helping me recruit my technical team.

It’s true that no one person [no matter how brilliant] has all the answers. But when you have access to a group of 70 engaged mentors you can get to some of your answers a hell of a lot faster.

And did it matter at all that I was non-technical with no co-founder? Um, no.

In the past I’d struggled with the idea that I’m not the ‘ideal’ founder type. And that my business felt a little ‘soft’ because of the market I work in.

But whoa hey girl — I’ve gotten this far. I know I have tenacity, grit and a very deep connection to the problem I’m solving. Flaunter has clients and revenue. And we’ve haven’t even scratched the surface yet.

At the end of the day the Startmate network actually didn’t care about whether I had a team or whether I could engineer my own product.

What Startmate helped me understand was that a good founder is someone who has a problem to solve — and will do whatever it takes to create the solution. Technical, non-technical, solo, teams — it’s the hustle that counts. It’s about getting shit done. It’s about playing to your strengths while having total clarity on your weaknesses.

I would do it all again in a heartbeat and recommend the experience to anyone ‘like me’. But know these three things first:

1. Don’t assume less of yourself because someone wrote an article once that said a team of two technical founders is the only path forward. Building a company is hard for everyone!

2. Be very clear on WHY you’re doing it and what you’re looking to achieve.

3. Use the network. Of course, not all mentors will be the right fit. So as Lucy from Mentorloop would say — go hard on finding your love matches. They will be your support group — and you might even find yourself a few BFFs for life ;)

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