What Does it Take to Become a Future Founder?
Everything you Need to Know About NBT’s Entrepreneur in Residence Program
🚀 About the NBT EiR Program
Next Big Thing AG’s Entrepreneurship in Residence (EiR) program is a four-month initiative for entrepreneurs to build, test, and refine new ideas into venture-funded companies.
NBT has developed a modern way to build technology startups and wants to give YOU — the future founder — the tools and support to create technology-enabled solutions that address the world’s most prominent industry challenges.
During this four-month EiR program, you’ll get paid to test out your ideas with a team of exceptional people who are invested in building impactful technology startups.
To gain deeper insights about the EiR journey, we spoke to Anita Dordic, EiR Program Lead at Next Big Thing AG.
🙋♀️ The Ideal EiR Candidate
Why is NBT’s EiR program the best choice for entrepreneurs to start a new business?
On average, less than 3% of companies make it through their first year. It’s not easy to build a company from scratch, however, co-founding a new business idea with a venture studio makes this difficult journey much easier.
Minimizing risk with NBT’s venture studio business model will positively impact the success rates. The EiR program is systematically designed into sprints to validate early-stage ideas and hypotheses. Together with the Venture Development team, EiRs will research a problem area, scope out the competition, talk to potential customers and various stakeholders, create a prototype, develop a GTM strategy, conduct revenue forecasts, and at the end of the sprints, the EiR would have created a complete business plan for the chosen venture idea. This framework is necessary to validate the business idea in six exciting but challenging sprints. As the EiR’s co-founder, NBT is the venture building expert and we will use our extensive industry expertise, development tools, and network to make this process as smooth as possible.
What makes NBT’s EiR program different from other initiatives like accelerators and incubators?
NBT’s specialties lie in recognizing good ideas, co-innovating, and founding successful startups based on early-stage ideas. As a venture studio, we provide the capital, tech development, and have created different functions as part of our service package (up to 4000 service hours) to support each EiR. We have our internal software and hardware teams, product and UX experts, marketing, finance, HR, and operations teams who support the EiRs and play an important role in the fast growth and development of the venture.
Our EiR program follows an agile approach with very clear milestones that indicate the viability of the idea. The program offers a unique opportunity for entrepreneurs to challenge their professional skills and knowledge in today’s dynamic business landscape. At the end of the program, selected EiRs will co-found their venture with NBT, who will assist in further developing the product, establishing a team, and growing the venture.
How would you describe the ideal EiR candidate?
The ideal candidate has a deep understanding and industry expertise in the field of their business idea. This person understands the specific market and has used their expertise to ideate a solution that will solve an existing problem in the space. This will help in defining the USP and securing a competitive advantage when creating a business plan.
NBT specializes in deep-tech topics which is why we focus on the entrepreneurs who come from or are associated, with this particular industry. Our EiRs don’t have to have previous founding experience or have deep, technical knowledge. However, they will need to have experience and industry expertise to direct the development of the idea.
📚 The Complete EiR journey
What does the typical EiR journey look like from start to finish?
Every 3–4 months, we update the topics for the upcoming cohort. Candidates apply to the program via multiple channels on our website, Recruitee, and LinkedIn. Successful applicants will go through the hiring pipeline that includes three rounds of interviews. During this process, we evaluate the candidate’s professional background and business idea. After a decision has been made, selected entrepreneurs will be presented with an offer and EiR contract for a four-month paid program.
The six sprints of the EiR program start by exploring the problem space, conducting research, mapping out the ecosystem, analyzing the competition, and doing customer discovery to validate the initial hypothesis and to get a deeper understanding of what customers want. Once we have answers to those questions, we move on to product ideation where we design the prototype and main MVP features. Following this, we focus on the GTM strategy, financial forecasting, pricing model, and at the end of the program, the EiR presents the business case to NBT’s investment committee who will decide whether to invest further (or not).
During the EiR program, there are two main milestones: 1) Complete a business plan and; 2) Obtain three signed letters of intent from potential clients.
Once the investment decision has been made, we move on with the foundation of the venture with the EiR as a Managing Director. In case the EiR doesn’t have a second co-founder, NBT will support them in finding the right co-founder. After it’s been founded, the venture is incorporated into NBT’s portfolio and is moved from the EiR program phase to the venture-building and growth phase.
What element of the EiR program do you think candidates find most challenging?
The first two sprints of the program are make-or-break. During the customer discovery phase, the EiRs need to research to understand what customers want and their pain points to validate if the EiR’s solution is going in the right direction. EiRs must ask themselves: Are we resolving pains and creating gains? Is the problem significant enough so that the customers are willing to pay for the solution? How much are they willing to pay for it? These are just some of the questions we are trying to find an answer to.
It’s with this in mind that I’d say that the first two sprints are the most challenging. The EiR must have sufficient industry knowledge to properly analyze the market and understand underserved areas. Since NBT specializes in B2B solutions and industrial automation, our projects are very technical and although we act as the technical co-founder, specific industry know-how is essential for the EiR to develop a successful solution.
How do EiRs that join the program with an original idea know if it’s a good one before pitching?
Potential EiRs or entrepreneurs thinking about joining NBT’s EiR program should ask themselves the following questions:
- Is my solution resolving the customer’s problem?
Often, candidates pitch ideas that are unclear and don’t solve a specific problem, or candidates create solutions based on false assumptions where they incorrectly assume that the problem is ‘ABC’ but instead its ‘DEFG’.
- Have you identified underserved customer needs?
Entrepreneurs need to speak to people and experts from within the industry to validate their assumptions. The sooner entrepreneurs engage with potential customers the better for the project.
- What is the USP of the idea?
Entrepreneurs need to define the value proposition of the solution by outlining what makes their product or service superior to other solutions. It’s helpful to define how this offer will outperform others and what unique features will delight customers.
We don’t expect that EiRs have perfect answers to all these questions before the start of the program since we work with very early-stage ideas. However, we do expect that they have at least taken these questions into consideration. We don’t expect the EiR to have a financial projection, clear MVP vision, or a product roadmap before joining. Although, we do ask that the EiR understands the pain points of a specific industry.
Once the candidate is accepted into the program, we will work together and support the EiR to obtain any missing information that ties the idea together.
Is it more important for EiRs to be focused on achieving profits or defining the purpose of their business case?
During the EiR program, we actively engage with potential customers to understand their needs and when customers are interested in further conversations, we offer them a letter of intent to test the MVP once it’s completed. Currently, we aren’t making profits during the program because we are still designing the solution. Once the company is founded, generating revenue will become one of the main tasks.
🔎 A Market View of the EiR Model
What industry and technological trends are becoming more popular for new ventures?
Sustainability is becoming a strong buzzword in the startup world but we need to distinguish between greenwashing and real impactful sustainable projects. Personally, I’m glad that this trend is becoming more popular, however, solutions need to align with the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and through real features that positively impact health, energy efficiency, and other SDG-related verticals. Another trend that we continue to see is industry 4.0. Organizations are becoming increasingly aware that they need to optimize and become more efficient by tracking, measuring, and collecting data. We are seeing more and more startups offering solutions that help these organizations manage their assets more efficiently with networked communication protocols and intelligent sensors.
What is the benefit for new entrepreneurs to set up a new business in Germany?
Dealing with German bureaucracy is not always easy but NBT’s experienced legal team is here to support EiRs through all the administrative and legal obstacles. NBT established its portfolio ventures in Germany which means that we begin our entrepreneur search in the German market.
It’s important to note that German law does not differentiate between locals and foreigners when it comes to establishing ventures and has no limitations in terms of repatriation of profits. Expats in Germany usually have to abide by certain restrictions, including having internationally recognized qualifications and/or a certain amount of prior business experience. This enhances the chances of German companies finding highly skilled labor.
While there are many benefits of setting up a company in Germany, some include that there’s a strong market since Germany is home to the largest economy in the EU and is renowned for its flourishing startup scene. The country has an expansive talent pool with a multicultural and diverse ecosystem to match. While knowing the local language is beneficial, the large number of expats living in Germany makes it possible for individuals to easily communicate in English as well.
Over 10 million people from all around the world call Germany their home. This number will continue to go up, proving that the country is maintaining its position as a popular innovation and career-driven destination.
How can we encourage and support more female entrepreneurs to get involved in the technology space?
Even though women make up a fundamental part of the startup ecosystem, female founders remain underrepresented on a global scale. To combat this outdated narrative, organizations around the globe need to place more women in leadership positions. We need diversity in the investment and tech world for real progress to occur. Funds and VCs should be actively sourcing and investing in projects that are women-led to help bridge the gender divide and bring more opportunities to women. In addition, governments can put policies and initiatives in place that provide education to female entrepreneurs and help place them into business positions.
In support of this, NBT aims to play an active role by encouraging female founders to join our EiR program to build their very own venture from scratch.
✏️ Insights from NBT’s EiR Program Lead
What is one of your favorite highlights of the EiR program?
The ideation phase is one of my favorites because we start from such an early-stage idea that reminds me of an empty canvas that we are slowly transforming into something spectacular. Sometimes, I think about the venture-building process like playing with lego where elements are slowly coming together.
I also enjoy working with different projects and ideas. Each EiR has a unique background and skillset, so I try to learn something from each one of them and I hope they also learn a thing or two from us in return.
What is one quote you live by?
“All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.” — Gandalf (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Many people dream about starting their own company but only a few do it. My advice would be to just start doing something even if you don’t know all the details — just start! Small consistent steps will lead you closer to the result you desire.
In your opinion, what does the Machine Economy mean to you?
At its core, the Machine Economy is a network of smart devices and machines that act as autonomous market participants that push new limits with technology. One critical piece of this new era will be the people that make it happen. Autonomous machinery isn’t going to build and operate itself. We will need to level up our workforce to ensure a future where humans and machines can work cohesively with one another to make life better for everyone.
🏁 Get Involved: Join NBT’s EiR Program
By leveraging our innovative venture studio model, we empower talented, ambitious, and experienced entrepreneurs to co-found and build technology startups from scratch.
If you’re interested in applying to the EiR program, our upcoming initiatives will be focused on developing ideas in the following key areas:
- Accelerating the Sensor Revolution
- Developing Cross-Industry IoT Solutions
- Leveraging AI, ML, and IoT for Sustainability
- Next-Gen IoT for the Pharma Industry
- IoT for Smart Waste Management
If you’re inspired to work on a new idea then now’s your chance — apply to our EiR program today!
Curious to know more about NBT? Learn about us here👇
