HOW TO SMASH AN ACCELERATOR INTERVIEW
This week has been the final interview stage for the next London programme.
From 100s of applications, 78 companies were shortlisted and from there only 32 were taken through to the final interview stage.
Over the past 2 days we have interviewed all 32 companies before we select our final 11 and the quality of companies and caliber of founders at this stage is always exceptional.
I’ve been through this interview process as a founder before, but this is the 2nd interview process I have now been involved with as a judge, sitting on the other side of the table.
What has shocked me on both occasions, is that despite the exceptional quality of founders and companies at this level, some still make extremely basic mistakes in an interview.
So in my role as Entrepreneur-in-Residence, I think its my job to highlight where founders are going wrong and hopefully help prevent founders from making the same mistakes when applying to Ignite in future.
(I also think this applies to any other interview or meeting with either an angel investor, VC, accelerator or maybe even an initial customer meeting)
So here’s the top 5:
1) Be on time.
Be 30mins EARLY.
When one company flies in from Europe the night before and gets to the interview an hour early it shows their commitment to Ignite, it shows that they’re serious and that the opportunity means a lot to them.
Before they’ve even stepped foot in the room, noise has travelled through the investor green room that ‘there’s an Italian team that has flown in last night’ (credit to Bspotted — one of our alumni) It’s impressive. They’ve already got 1 foot through the door before even pitching the business.
I’m not saying everyone needs to fly in, but when you’re late after you ‘missed your train’ or ‘got lost on the way and couldn’t find the office’, you’re already on the back foot and you have to win back the room.
Punctuality says a lot about you as a founder.
2) Bring the energy.
When a founder walks in the room with energy and passion and a clear obsession for their business its so refreshing.
If you’re not excited by what you do, how will we ever get excited as an investor, how will you ever excite your first customers to buy from you, how will you excite staff to work for you.
Working with founders that truly believe in their vision and love what they do is why we do what we do at Ignite. We want to work with the very best and help amazing founders build big businesses.
Also remember that investors are human and so there is almost always an emotional element to any investment decision.
The success of any business relies so heavily on the founders, particularly at the pre-seed and seed stage, so make us believe in YOU.
3) Look the part
One of the best pieces of advice I have ever had is from a top VC in New York, Brad Gillespie.
He told me that whenever he meets a founder for the first time and is making an investment decision, he pictures that founder as successful, 4 or 5 years down the line with 100+ staff, big offices, bringing in millions of dollars of revenue.
Ever since Brad told me this I now always try to visualise the founder in the future as successful, and if I can’t, it puts me off wanting to work with them.
Be that person.
When I say ‘look the part’, I don’t mean you need to turn up in a suit with a briefcase and silver business cards.
Its not about what you wear, its all about who you are.
Confidence, self-belief, passion and determination — make sure you get your personality across and show that you are the leader that will take this business all the way.
4) Be ridiculously prepared.
One founder’s laptop ran out of battery in the first 2 minutes of their interview.
They then spent the next 5minutes finding a plug and rebooting their laptop and it just killed the whole mood — it was so awkward.
Everything from being on time, to planning what each person on the team will talk about, to connecting to the wi-fi — run through the interview as a team beforehand and prepare for anything.
And finally …
5) Know your sh*t.
How many people have downloaded your app?
How many people used it this week?
How much revenue did you generate yesterday?
What your plan for acquiring more customers?
Why are you applying to Ignite?
This is your business. Its your life. You should be obsessed by these details and you should have the answers.
You should live and breathe them and be able to reel off the avg. time a user spends on your app, or how many weeks it takes you to close a new customer.
Vagueness on detail is always a red flag.
And that’s it.
They may seem simple, and they are, but A players don’t make mistakes like these.
Be an A player.
GB
@georgebettany
snapchat:georgebettany
