A Startup Gateway Drug….
November 21st, 2011[ Guelph Tech ]
The most consistent response to my Startupify.Me pitch is some variation “oh, that’s very different than what I thought you were doing”. I’ve long known that this effort would require pounding the pavement and pitching it in person. There just isn’t anything quite like it that we can refer to. That means I’m either innovating with this model or I’m insane. I’ll get back to you on that….
In the meantime, let me clarify some of the key points.
Forced Exit
We are not a custom development shop focused on building prototypes for clients. We will turn over our entire team every 6 months. All the developers exit at the end, ideally into a new business they’ve helped prove. For the client, we offer an opportunity to find the technical cofounder this new business demands. For our developers, this is your chance to step into a new business and ride shotgun.
Built To Accelerate
While we are talking about creating startup companies here, it is a unique model. We want these new products to have the best shot at survival. What our client companies bring to that is an existing business. They have an experienced team who has created value, marketed it, sold it, delivered it, and done it all within a financially viable model. Ie, they’ve proven they can run a business. Some, or all, of those are what a new entrepreneur needs to learn in a hands on fashion. Once Startupify.Me has proven this new product can get to it’s market, we now have everything required to truly accelerate it. We don’t need to find angel investors. We don’t need business mentors. We don’t need a market, a sales team etc.
Scale
All our clients have existing businesses. Most of those businesses are services businesses, which means each dollar in is tied directly to people, which means they are difficult businesses to scale. As well, most of businesses are necessarily connected to their founders. What we’re offering those client’s is a chance to co-create a new technology based product business. It will certainly have to leverage their existing business but in the case we’re successful, it will scale well. The leverage points may be technology they’ve built to deliver their services better, their client base, an ability to access a particular market, etc.
We have a few more spots left on the bus for client businesses and software developers willing to take their first step down this entrepreneurship path. Let me know if you’re either of those!