This is a non-technical post unlike many others in this blog and is aimed at people who are considering to join a startup accelerator/incubator.
It covers a small part of the tech startup journey which I took with Entrepreneur First (EF) in London.
There are many accelerators and incubators around and you can find more information in other blogs, here we focus more about the review and what you will do and what is expected of you. This particular post focuses on the interview stage and preparation.
First off, what are accelerators and incubators?
Accelerators “accelerate” growth of an existing company, while incubators “incubate” disruptive ideas with the hope of building out a business model and company. So, accelerators focus on scaling a business while incubators are often more focused on innovation.
Accelerators vs. incubators: What startups need to know, Techrepublic, By Conner Forrest
You can read more about the differences here. Based on this, I think EF is a combination of incubator and accelerator becuase:
- EF gathers talent to one spot and allows you to meet your cofounder and create a company.
- EF speeds up the process of ideation to reality and accelerates growth, you will look to get seed investment within 6 months.
Applying to EF
Consider your application to an accelerator similar to a job application. This will be a large commitment and it’s unlikely you will have time for another job. You will usually get a stipend if successful, but note it will not be a large one, enough to usually pay for food and low-end rent for several months. If you have large outgoings, e.g. high rent and you don’t have much savings you should probably re-think your financial situation as starting this will drain a lot of resources, including time and money. Don’t expect to ‘get rich quick’ or similar for the next 6-12 months at least and even after that, you will probably still earn sub-par to an average developer in a good company in London.
Even if you know all of this, it shouldn’t deter you if you have what it takes, as these are only some of the challenges.
You should also consider reading several books prior to your application, e.g. at EF they will suggest you read Zero to One. I personally liked The hard things about the hard things and I listened to the audio book version of it.
Note that as well as technical or practical skills, these companies are looking for ambitious people. So reading up on startups, going to conferences to watch/present and building a portfolio would all play to your advantage and don’t forget to mention it in your interview.
For my interview, I pre-recorded some of my hobby projects:
- Machine vision demo – analyse products to identify defects and read barcodes for automation.
- FOREX analysis demo, use API’s to capture live currency exchange data, store it and analyse to obtain predictions to make profit (buy vs sell).
For the FOREX (Foreign Exchange) demo, obviously it was not making money as I learnt that it was difficult to predict markets, I just created this project as a means to learn more about C# and web API’s. It was successful in that.
It was not a standard technical interview (i.e. in a developer role I’d be asked to code in an interview). However, they did have some people knowledgeable in the area of my expertise which asked questions and analysed my answers to just make sure I knew the things I was talking about.
Note: You don’t have to be a developer to join accelerator such as EF. I came in as a software developer hence this was the path I took in the interview. Note that they will prefer cofounders to have a compliment set of skills, e.g. Domain + Product. For example, you could be a doctor with an idea on automating some of their basic processes and getting rid of countless paperwork and you pair with a software developer which understands you and can make the technology required for that to happen.
You will find that there is a large variety of backgrounds that apply to these incubators, including coming from PhD background, Doctors, Pilots and even managers from warehouses that understand exactly how things work and could identify deficiencies that could be automated.
I think that if you were invited to the interview, you likely have the ‘skills’ required and they will perhaps focus to identify whether you will have the passion and determination to see things through as it will be a difficult journey.
If you pass this interview stage, then you’re essentially on-board. You will still have several other requirements, such as finding a co-founder (requirement in EF, perhaps not in other accelerators/incubators).
Note that with EF, passing the first interview would be the ‘easy’ part.
At this stage, you would essentially be invested in the accelerator and be looking to quit your job if you had one and start the journey of your startup.
With EF it was a fun trip away to meet all their team and the new members. This trip was a means to learn more about their company and to meet your potential co-founder.
When I was with EF several years ago, the initial payment was for £12,000 and that was after you’ve registered your company (several weeks after the interview). This is essentially the ‘pre-seed’ investment and you could do what you will with it. I believe it was for around 6% of the company.
I believe this has changed after glancing at their website, so you should clarify directly with them.