I JUST COMPLETED A STARTUP ACCELERATOR. HERE’S WHAT I LEARNED.
Pressed just graduated from the Fierce Founders accelerator program at Communitech — Six months of coaching, office space, curated events, endless resources, and a government grant. It was our first accelerator experience after being in business for about nine months. This is what we learned.
It is what you make of it.
Before I launched Pressed, I had no idea what an accelerator was. After months of networking and google searches, I learned that an accelerator is almost like the gateway for every new startup. Founders apply to many and get accepted to few, hoping to gain the network, credibility, and mentors that are promised.
Every accelerator is different, but the Fierce Founders program was pretty hands-off. No one was there to hold our hands. We were there to run our businesses. I think I expected a little more hand-holding, but to be honest, I was just grateful there was a printer in the building. I quickly found out that there was an abundance of resources available to me, and that if I knew what I needed and how to ask for it, I could probably get it.
Communitech is truly a world-class tech hub — full of experts from all different industries ready to provide advice or intros at any time. As an example, Pressed is working on a campaign to educate people on the upcoming Canadian federal election in 2019. To make the campaign successful, we need to engage with politicians. No one on the Pressed team knows any politicians. But Communitech knows many. As soon as I asked for help, I was introduced to the right people.
Key learning: You do not need to join an accelerator to become a successful business. But it certainly helps to have free office space, capital, and coaches at your fingertips. It’s also a great way to get that initial validation every founder seeks. It’s tough to keep yourself motivated 100% of the time.
Challenge the unpopular opinion.
A lot of people run into this problem when starting a business — everyone has an opinion about how you can do things better. I still struggle with this. From “you’re doing great,” to “you should just go work for a media publication if you want to be a writer,” I take every piece of advice (good and bad) with a grain of salt. One of the truest statements I’ve ever heard: No one knows your business better than you.
As a first-time founder, there’s a lot I don’t know. I’m like a sponge when new information is thrown at me. But what I learned this year is that sometimes I know best. I’m glad that I joined an accelerator at the right time — after I built a team, raised money, and had a vision. If I didn’t already have this foundation, I may have been swayed into making business decisions I wasn’t ready for. Since the program managers and coaches at Communitech all had (and still have) my best interests at heart, saying ‘no’ or ‘I disagree’ just made decision-making easier for everyone.
I learned even more from the other startups in my cohort.
To the companies I had the pleasure of sharing space with for six months — furnishr, shufflespace, epoch, and swtch — congratulations. Running a company is hard and I applaud you for sticking to it. And thank you. You’ve inspired me with your resilience and I will hold your friendships close forever.
I shared a house for six months with two of the founders in the program. There were pros and cons. Pro: we talked about work every night. We shared in each other’s successes, drank a lot of wine, and vented about the things that weren’t going well. Con: we talked about work every night. It was all-consuming, I felt guilty for shutting off, and one weekend, I had a panic attack.
But we didn’t just share the fluffy stuff. I was the writer in the group so I helped edit emails and blogs. One of my roommates was the HTML expert, so we went to her for website questions. And once Pressed is ready to develop a sales cycle, I’ll be going to my second roommate for help. She made her first sales call in January and has been closing them like someone who’s been in sales for years.
The founders in my cohort all share a WhatsApp group now. We talk about new opportunities and try to meet up whenever we can. Letting other people behind the curtain is scary but it makes being a founder a lot less lonely.
Be honest about the challenges you’re facing.
I had been on “pitch-mode” for many months — shamelessly promoting myself and Pressed to anyone who would listen. Once I got accepted into Fierce Founders, I had to learn to speak to my coaches differently.
Accelerator coaches are people who are pros in their field, entrepreneurs, or both. Companies are matched with coaches based on their stage — something that’s discussed in the initial interview. Pressed was matched with a coach who was a pro in revenue growth and had hands-on experience growing an email list. At first, we talked about the numbers, the competitors, the long term vision. But after a few meetings, I realized I could get so much more. As I started to open up about the real challenges I was facing, our meetings turned into brainstorm sessions, pitch practices, and heart-to-hearts (I may or may not have shed some tears). I wasn’t there to sell my idea anymore, I was there to build.
Real talk
I will be eternally grateful for the Fierce Founders accelerator and bootcamp; that I applied at the right time, and that I will forever have the Communitech network on my side. But accelerators, incubators, pitch competitions, etc. (like everything) come with pros and cons. It can sometimes feel like you’re being pit against other companies or founders because there are only a certain number of spots in every cohort. But in reality, all the companies fighting for the limited openings can probably co-exist in the real world because they have different customers. You do not need to join an accelerator to be successful. I know a founder who did not get shortlisted for a program she applied for who went on to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars in venture capital money.
Go be great on your own terms. Make accelerator applications and pitch competitions part of your hustle, but don’t assume that it’s a path you have to follow. My favourite part about being a founder is that I get to create something from scratch. In order to do that well, I have to make my own rules and forge a path that doesn’t currently exist.
-Jacqueline, Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Pressed
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