Could You Be An Entrepreneur?

With applications for the new Ignite Pre-X accelerator now open, we’ve had a lot of questions from potential founders who aren’t sure if the programme is right for them.

To recap, the pre-accelerator programme runs from September to December 2019 in North East England and comes with a £10,000 investment, desk space and access to the Immersive Lab at Proto. You can find out more about the programme here.

Here are the answers to the most common questions, and also an invitation to an event for anyone who’d like to learn more.

I work at a large company and have never run my own business, can I apply?

Absolutely! Over the last 8 years, we’ve worked with founders from all different backgrounds including those taking their first entrepreneurial steps outside of a corporate career or straight out of university. The programme is completely bespoke and will cover all the basics that you need to start a company along with coaching from experienced mentors to help you grow a successful business.

I don’t have a business idea — can the programme help me?

It’s far better to start a company that’s focused on solving a problem than to be fixated on one particular idea. We’re really excited to talk to anyone who’s passionate about solving big problems, especially if those problems are in the ageing or immersive technology space (See our list of potential problems here).

We’re organising a workshop at the Northern Design Centre in June (details below) for people who are interested in solving some of these issues and would like to come and spend a morning brainstorming different ideas, as well as learning more about the programme.

What happens if my start-up doesn’t work out?

It’s an unfortunate fact that not every startup is successful, but every successful entrepreneur has a failure somewhere behind them.

If you’re already working for a large company then it may be worth talking to them about taking a sabbatical to work on your startup, or if you do decide to leave the company then you’ll have the benefit of entrepreneurial experience to take into a future role.

However we find that a lot of founders don’t want to go back to working for someone else once they’ve started their own company, and often they’ll start a new business if their first one doesn’t work out.

In fact, the founders of Receptive, an Ignite team that was recently acquired by a large US company, had already been through the programme once before with a startup that didn’t work out. They didn’t let that deter them though and gave it another go — which has turned out really well for them!

If this has given you an interest in the Pre-X programme and you’d like to learn more then we’re hosting a workshop at the Northern Design Centre on Thursday 20th June.

The workshop will be a hands-on event that will see you working with the Ignite team and other participants to explore some of the challenges around Ageing and Immersive technology, brainstorming possible solutions and learning how to quickly and easily prototype and test ideas.

Spaces are limited and you can register for a place here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/ignite-pre-x-info-session-workshop-tickets-62135737664

For more information, please contact the Ignite programme team:

Gabriela Matic — gabi@ignite.io | linkedin.com/in/gabrielamatic
Wil Benton — wil@ignite.io | linkedin.com/in/fatkidonfire
Tristan Watson — tristan@ignite.io | linkedin.com/in/tristan-watson-824ab222
Alexis Long — alexis@ignite.io | linkedin.com/in/alexisjlong