Introducing Nextt
My big bet on your ideas
Last week, I started sharing a venture that I’m extremely excited about. We call it Nextt & truly believe it’s a brand new kind of accelerator — one for ideas instead of ‘startups’ and makers instead of ‘founders’.
Put simply, we help people test big ideas before they leave their job or ask investors for money.
Our model is novel, but simple. We work with curious people like you to refine your ideas into lean experiments & team up with leading designers, engineers and others from companies like Snapchat, FourSquare & Vice to ship those experiments (or “MVPs”) quickly. In doing so, we think we can empower folks from all kinds of places and with all kinds of backgrounds to be entrepreneurial about solving the world’s problems — without creating pressing personal ones in the process.
There are a ton of things I can (and probably will) say about Nextt, but to start I thought it’d be helpful to share a bit about our mission & why we think now is the perfect time to launch an accelerator like this.
1. More than anything, we started Nextt to empower individual people to improve the world.
As individuals, turning ideas into experiments has made each of Nextt’s founders & advisors more productive, intelligent & happier people. We’ve made it a habit because we’re (pleasantly) addicted to the process of collaborating → making → shipping → learning.
On the flip side, we’ve also seen our experiments create objectively great outcomes: from award-winning companies like Grovo & Inventure to countless passion (and sometimes profitable) side projects.
2. Simple & thoughtful experiments are more accessible than ever.
Beyond its objective & timeless value, there are things happening in the world right now that make experimentation even more powerful. To quote Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures:
“We are living in a time of great experiments. They are not happening in the lab. They are happening in the real world. We are returning to a time when anyone can be an inventor and innovator.”
We see three forces in particular that are contributing to this phenomenon.
- Creating software, media & consumer products is increasingly cheap & more turnkey than ever before.
- With self-serve advertising, open APIs & thousands of specialized equal-access communities, the Internet makes it incredibly easy to reach the people your idea is meant to serve —whether you’re a huge brand or one person in a garage.
- The nature of work is changing; this is the age of side projects & hustles.
These forces are working together to make experiments that leverage the cloud, the Internet & a multitasking workforce increasingly accessible and democratic to run — without diluting their value. And that sets up a pretty special reality, or ROI calculation, for the the makers in all of us.
As the actual cost of turning an idea into experiment begins to approach or dip below the opportunity cost of NOT doing so, then optimism & curiosity win.
Basically every time, even for your wildest ideas, it makes more sense to try and find out (in a responsible, lean & efficient manner) than to not.
And that’s really what Nextt is all about.
Our mandate is to approach ideas — whether they’re ours or someone else’s — with the humility to know that we don’t truly know if they will work and the curiosity to want to find out. And, unlike most other accelerators & VCs, we’re willing to bet on our belief that that you can do so without leaving your job, emptying a bank account, moving cities or twisting the arms of friends/family/strangers to invest.
We believe experiments can scale and think they already are. We’ve seen them (even the humblest ones) generate positive outcomes. And, while such results are far from likely, it’s at least worth noting that now ubiquitous businesses like Uber, Craigslist, Gmail & Twitter all originated as side projects.
On behalf of my co-founder Thomas Samph, OAB (our agency in residence) & our amazing community of advisors, we’re incredibly excited about building the future with you, and hope that you’ll join us there. We can’t wait to learn more about your ideas & start getting them into the world.
I’m optimistic that this bet is gonna pay off. Big :)
Some notes:
This is the first time I’m blogging about Nextt but we actually graduated our first/pilot cohort earlier this summer. You can learn more by checking out their highlight reels here. They kicked ass.
We’re accepting applications for our next cohort until July 30. Our advisors are located across continents & our entire program can be administered digitally, so we’re not restricted by geography. We want to work with ideas from all over the world! It’ll take just a few mins to apply here.
