It’s time. Propel 2020. Applications open.
Applications for the Propel 2020 programme are now open. Propel is a competitive pre-accelerator based in Belfast, Northern Ireland that offers founders £15,000, 12 months office space, weekly workshops and a ton of other perks — everything that’s needed to make a real go of your startup.
This will be Ignite’s 3rd year running the Propel programme in Northern Ireland and we are pleased to have supported 105 incredible founders so far. The calibre has been high, and within 6 months we’ve seen teams go from a basic concept to over 350 customers in 40+ countries; closing deals in Asia; raising money; and generating 5 figure monthly recurring revenue.
Ignite understands what it takes to be successful, and has been helping startups since 2011 and supported over 200 companies who have collectively raised over $100 million in funding.
Now it’s your turn. You can do this too. We believe 2020 is going to be a great year for starting a business in Northern Ireland, and we are here to help.
So let’s do this; let’s make 2020 the year of your startup.
Who is Propel for?
Propel is for early-stage startups meaning if you have an idea, or are pre-launch or early-stage, then Propel is designed for you.
It’s for technology companies but this doesn’t mean that you have to write code to be accepted onto the programme — in fact 50% of founders last year weren’t technical.
Some themes.
For this post, we asked Propel 2019 founders to tell us the the best bits of the programme to highlight to you:
Learn from the Best.
We expose teams to people who have overcome the challenges that they are about to face. Last year, teams met over 300 experienced entrepreneurs, investors and mentors and attended over 100 sessions.
Through the expertise of seasoned entrepreneurs, weekly workshops and sessions look at key fundamentals of building a business as well as more advanced topics. Designed to challenge you, workshop topics and facilitators are devised to provide tangible and immediate outcomes to your business.
A Weekly Rhythm.
Building a healthy rhythm to your business is key to successful companies. Getting into the pattern of shipping a product, reporting and communicating becomes much easier. As well as weekly sessions and events, founders meet with Ignite NI core team and external mentors on a 1:1 basis in weekly office hours. This is an opportunity to dive deeper with mentors on issues and strategies specific to the growth and development of your startup.
Optimise for Speed.
Speed is everything. You need to prove there is a real need for your product and then act on it as efficiently as possible.
Finding out a key customer dynamic fast can make a huge difference. The programme is designed to get to those answers as quickly as possible. Once founders start having customer conversations, most realise that they’ve successfully identified a problem in the market but there may be alternative or more effective ways to solve it.
Within weeks (or days!) of the programme, we ensure companies are much clearer on articulating the value proposition of their product to customers and how to turn that into revenue.
Cohort Superpowers.
The parameters within which you build your business change. Building a network of peers at this stage gives you superpowers. That’s why the Propel cohort is so powerful; you’re immersed in this support network from day one. It’s incredible to see how teams have worked together to support one another.
And it doesn’t stop at your current cohort. The alumni network (105 founders in NI, 500 in the global Ignite network) are people you can lean on, both during the programme and for years afterwards. Soak up their knowledge base, share skills and take advantage of busting the loneliness myth associated with entrepreneurship.
There’s more.
- £15,000 equity free funding.
- £20,000 of awards for the companies that excel on the program.
- £1,000 team travel budget and a trip to London.
- £100,000+ of perks from our partners (e.g. Stripe, Amazon, Google).
- 12 months of office space at the Ormeau Baths.
- 6 month programme (13 Jan — 25 June 2020).
- Weekly events, workshops, sessions and office hours.
- Meet 300+ experienced entrepreneurs and investors.
- Join 500 Ignite Global Alumni.
Let’s do this.
Applications are open until the 8 Nov 2019 and you can apply here.
After registering, it’s a simple application that asks for comments around the problem, solution, status, customers, you/team and why you are applying.
Office hours are a great way to get some early feedback on your business before applying and you can book here.
For updates, you can follow us on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and Medium.
If you are interested in learning more or be kept in the loop for the Accelerator, San Francisco Landing Pad or programmes in 2021, just drop us an email at hello@igniteni.com.
We look forward to hearing from you, and good luck!
Propel 2020 Applications Open: 16 Sept — 8 Nov 2019
