Ignite: What they don’t tell you
“You’re in!”
Okay so now what?
“We’ll send you over the paper work. Get it signed and send it back.”
I personally considered not going onto the accelerator. Here’s why.
- My co-founder is 8 months pregnant with a toddler already, I didn’t think they would be accommodating, she’s due ON the programme.
- Someone was we didn’t actually know, had met once, was now asking for 8% of our company with all these terms and conditions.
- We felt we were too early and would benefit more at a later stage.
Here’s what Ignite don’t tell you…
1. They know everyone
I’m not joking.
The wealth of contacts among the Ignite team , alumni, investors and mentors, is just immense. Need someone who is an expert at ad words, they got it. Need someone who invested in a billion dollar company, they got it. Need to talk to the CEO of a company, they got it. They have someone for every need.
2. They don’t recruit clowns
The quality of the people you sit in a room with day in day out alone, accelerates your company. I get to sit next to Adam, CTO of Cavalry and has been coding since 11 years of age. The amount I learn from him on a daily basis from just peering over his shoulder is amazing. One seat down is his co founder Mark Asquith who runs the podcast excellence expected. The amount of knowledge and contacts Mark has on growth hacking is beyond useful. That’s only 1 out of the 10 teams in the cohort.
3. They know what they are doing
They literally have figured out an algorithm and bring in the right workshops at the right time. Just when you think you should be doing some paid marketing BANG the next workshop is about ad words, fb ads and quant marketing. Just when you thing you should be thinking a bit more long term, BANG, they bring together mentors who are experts in financial forecasts and unit economics. They have figured out what help you need when and they know exactly who can give it to you.
4. They care once you’ve left
I personally know people who have been on Ignite 2 years ago, the Ignite team still know exactly what they are up to. To put it into perspective on of their alumni RE APPLIED to be on this years cohort a year later. We have heard from alumni and they have nothing but praise. The likes of Will and Ben from chew TV, Paul Slater from fit guru and Ganesh from Right Clinic will tell you just how much Ignite care and support you. It is a startup factory that actually cares about its founders.
5. You need it
Regardless of what stage you are at, Ignite can help you. Some started the programme having launched a month ago and others have been running for 4 years or some are still in the midst of launching. Regardless of what stage you are at Ignite has the contacts or advice that can help you get where you want to be. Even if you think you know what you are doing, there in great value in being challenged and opening up your idea to new perspectives.
No one achieve anything alone, what Ignite does is set up up with a solid foundation to go forward. If you are applying to the next cohorts, goodluck.
