Starting startups?

Daveq

I'm just wondering I’ve been reading a lot lately about startups and incubator and accelerator programs. Mostly it seems that any of the places going through one of these programs are already setup and running, they have a business name and fancy logo’s. Any interviews you read are like “So we got the idea and ran with it, we got help from an incubator and here we are now very successful”

I've had a few ideas now and then (as I'm sure we all have) but what happens between idea and incubator?
Do these people just get an idea, register a business name then try to get into an incubator telling them how great the idea could be? – If they don’t get accepted the idea was never going to work?

Or do they get an idea, get a prototype working, get market research or something, then set up the business, then incubator?

bruce wayne

One possible route would be

1. New Frontiers phase 1 = six-week duration 1 evening and 1 Saturday morning per week - they take no equity and help you explore your idea
2. New Frontiers phase 2 = six months duration they give you €15K, a desk space, mentorship etc this is to develop your idea typically beyond research point and into an actual product/service with customers. They don't take any equity at this stage either.
3. Competitive Startup Fund (CSF) = €50K in funding in exchange for 10% equity in your business - again you get mentorship and development assistance as part of this
4. High Potential Start-Up (HPSU) = up to €500K in funding (but this has to be matched from other sources) but they dilute their equity in your company so as not to exceed the 10% from the CSF - again this comes with additional development supports

you can jump into an accelerator at any point but I would recommend doing at least the phase 1 of New Frontiers to help you flesh out your idea. In terms of incubators and accelerators, I've always viewed them as incubators are there to help you develop your idea and accelerators are for when your idea has become a product or service, and they help you grow the business.

It might also be worth having a chat with your local enterprise office as you might be eligible for so grant funding from them to help you explore the feasibility of your ideas

BnB

Hi OP.

Just a general point. Don't be intimidated by reading about companies who have "Start-ups" and have a fancy logo etc and they can come across without looking in detail as being very far down the line. Very often, when you look behind it, that is all they have yet. Sales are very few or none at all and very often the product is not even fully developed yet. But they are getting out there early to make some noise, try and generate a bit of interest in their product.

We setup our business the other way around - we developed the product quietly away ourselves. Got our first sales the long hard way and are now only starting to put ourselves out there a bit more. The way we did it is 100% NOT the way to go.

You need to get out there as soon as possible into the market place to make some noise and find out if there is an appetite for your product out there. Based on that, I think the steps outlined by the poster above look very good and if I was starting a business from scratch again, it is the way I would be going

rainbow_beard

I agree with BnB, finding out if there is a market for whatever you are developing is the best way to start. If there's no interest you can chuck the idea before you waste too much time and resources on it. I would suggest reading 'The Lean Startup' by Eric Weis for some inspiration

meforever

Hi

BnB is spot on.

The following will work for physical products.

Perhaps what you need to do today is "sell one" of your product even in its early crude state. Invest a small sum and Make one. If you can sell one you can sell 10 units. Make 10 units or if you don't have the expertise contract someone to make a batch of 10 units. Use this income to to make 20 more. ect. You get the idea. doubling each time.

Try to get to 200 customers.

Please keep a detailed record of all these wonderful first 100 buyers / Names , Addresses / email /quantities etc. so that you can communicate with them and where necessary improve and / or "replace" product if it is deemed faulty / unfit for purpose.

The primary objective here is to see if you fulfill a need. lots of time to perfect the product if needed later.

This list of 200 buyers will prove to all that you and your product are BOTH viable for investment.

You can then proceed to those as outlined above with a certain air of confidence that you will be taken seriously

Lovely to see people going forward to create something from nothing.

Wishing you luck

ZZ