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New Ventures Startup Accelerator

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Inception-Stage

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What determines success?
3/15/2018   Joel Bennett
A few days ago, I was asked: " ... what does success for New Ventures look like?"

​First, a good number of decent applications is a first indicator of success.  And with only two weeks left until the 2018 application deadline, I am starting to see some good activity on F6S. It is typical for us to see a surge in the number of applications right before the bell rings. Decent applications validate a need in the market for pre-seed accelerators.
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Secondly, that all the teams receive the full $50k investment.
Because all teams will start the 12 week program with an award as the first tranche of investment:
  • $35,000 1st prize
  • $15,000 2nd prize
  • $10,000 3rd prize
  • $5,000 for up to five runner-ups.
​We needed a way to equalize the funding across the cohort.
So we leverage "progress toward mutually agreed upon milestones" as a second qualifier of success - because it's not that hard to do.  The hard part is getting selected to be in the program, then it's really just a matter of "showing up with your homework done" to receive the full investment.

​But, 2017 presented some unique challenges for us and we learned a few things last year. We had a winning finalist team with a personal conflict drop-out
, a laggard not showing up and a 'rogue war' within our ranks. But in spite of that conflagration - we had a great Demo Day with an stunning turn out resulting in some productive deal flow.  
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We added four great companies to our portfolio in 2017.
We are working with some very young companies.  These mere "inception-stage" ideas are really very fragile and can be get distracted very easily. A first time startup entrepreneur - if not careful, can easily pivot away from a good idea and abandon it before they even receive any real customer feedback.

On the other hand, I have seen founders really demonstrate some true grit (in spite of nay sayers) and deliver on the promise of an initial demo in order to validate that an MVP is the next likely step.  I think - it takes a lot of courage to create something brand new, something innovative, something that never existed before that creates value for someone else.
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A few demos from the New Ventures 2017 Cohort.
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APPLY BEFORE March 31, 2018

2017 Cohort Update

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Arxchitect: Pharmacy Automation Managment
The core of customer development is simple: "There are no facts inside the building, so get the out of the building". Gaining insight into customers needs, making sure you are addressing their #1 problem and letting this inform and define the MVP feature set results in a fact based process for making decisions. That is exactly what Nate and Adam have been doing as they move toward the final steps in building a demo of their solution to a $700 Billion problem.

Based on real world use case KPIs, Arxchitect is an enterprise class product designed from the ground up by experienced healthcare leaders for healthcare IT, operations, and automation leaders.  Their insight into the healthcare environment addresses disconnected and uncoordinated software, hardware, and robotic automation systems in an effort to improve safety and efficiency. 

Their financial modeling is being stress tested in depth with multiple use case scenarios. Legal documents being prepared as they aggressively pursue developmental partnerships with leading healthcare organizations who are enthusiastically asking to be included in the earliest of opportunities being made available.

They are concurrently interviewing potential board members, meeting with investors, and identify industry and vendor partners.

Nate summarized last weeks progress: " 
Overall, lots of things to manage and keep on track and a larger number of contributors than I think is ideal but we’re feeling better and better about how this is coming together and are confident in our abilities to keep us and the team on track to execute.  The work is getting harder from the perspective of everything we have to accomplish but it’s also getting easier as we get more focused and can be more efficient with our time/energy".
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Team A - Week 7 : MVP Demo First Draft
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WineAmp: Don't wait, drink now!
WineAmp creates beautifully-designed tools to help wineries sell their stories as well as their wine. Currently those tools take the form of branded native mobile apps focused on the direct to consumer (DTC) part of their business. With our proprietary integrated app platform, we are able to rapidly deploy and scale apps for wineries of all sizes that improve brand immersion experiences, lowers the barrier to entry for new wine club members, and increases retention--all with less winery resources. Customers have a better user experience from start to finish, from managing payment info and shipments to learning more about the wines they receive. ​
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Team W - Week 6 : MVP Demo First Draft
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Team W - Week 6 : MVP Demo First Draft
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YANAY: Social Sentiment and Polling
Sometimes a pivot makes itself evident in a unused feature, but sometimes it comes in the form of an unexpected customer.

Curt Meinhold's customer discovery has resulted in both adding valuable product features and identify early adopters. Yanay has evolved from a passive survey tool, toward an engagement platform for hyper local insights, and now a broad ranging consumer sentiment platform for any small business or organization. 

And he has customers! He has closed four deals including a municipal police department and a university extension agency.  He has even shipped an Alpha version to a first customer in just Week 8 - a local municipal arts and events department here in the Triad.

​These early adopters want actionable insight into what their customers are saying about them on social media and a net promoter score based on direct survey feedback.
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Team Y - Week 6 : MVP Demo First Draft
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Team Y - Week 8 : MVP Beta and Customer Testing
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Funeral Insider:  Lifting the veil of secrecy
Why is it that funeral services vary so much in price? Why is making funeral arrangements so confusing and stressful? Why are cremations on the rise and traditional burials becoming less common?

Funeral Solutions Founder, Dr. Jay Renquarth has found a lot of answers to these questions. You might be surprised if he told you what he has learned about the $20 Billion spent each year on funeral services in this country.
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He has been diligently traveling across the state and listening to the many people who work closely with those families that are soon to be be departed. As Americans perceived value of “traditional” funerals diminish, the cost of funerals have increased nearly 1,328% in just four decades.  In 1960 the average cost of a funeral was $706 when only 3.56% of bodies were cremated.  Today the average traditional funeral costs between $8,000 and $10,000, and about 42% of people are cremated. 

Many communities have turned a blind eye to what goes on inside funeral homes, as many people prefer not to know the ins and out of the business.  In addition, grieving customers in need of funeral goods and services may not be in a healthy state of mind to make financial decisions.

The most expensive cost of a funeral is the casket, which on average has a mark-up of 289% from wholesale to retail, but sometimes is much higher.

Funeral Insider has discovered a broad ranging opportunity. I can not disclose the secret sauce, you will have to come to demo day to hear it for your self.

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Team D - Week 7 : MVP Demo First Draft
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Team D - Week 8 : MVP Demo First Draft

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  • JB2T
  • New Ventures
    • Demo Day 2018
    • 2018 Applications
    • 2017 >
      • 2017 Cohort Update Customer Discovery
  • Bootcamps
    • Want your teams to think and act like a startup?
  • Cool Stuff
    • Reverse Pitch
    • Digital Divide
  • @JB
    • CV
    • Portfolio