accelerators

How accelerators bring startups to success

France is one of those countries that fully support the birth of new businesses. Thanks to this approach, it is second only to Spain in the number of unicorn startups among European countries. Accelerators play an important role in the number of new companies and their success.
Accelerators are laboratory-like organizations that “grow” projects. Their activity is associated with the search for promising ideas, their selection, and their development. Moreover, French accelerator labs are not limited to local startups; they also look for interesting newcomers in other countries, offering them support and cooperation under certain conditions. Such labs include Airbus BizLab, which has grown a large number of successful projects. The whole activity of this accelerator can be divided into three phases. The first of these is the customer phase, in which the product that the startup offers is researched. In the “customer phase”, it is important to determine the target audience – the product’s potential customers, its prospects, and its place on the market.

accelerators for startupsThe second stage is the product phase, during which the authors of the project will have to confirm the concept and viability of their idea. And already at the third stage, business gate, there is work on a business plan for further entry into the market.
The first thing startup founders need to start their way into business is to find their clients within the country. And in this case, the accelerators provide serious support: they organize meetings with large businessmen and top managers of various companies. Without their help, it is extremely difficult for a startup firm to even meet with the right person, let alone present its idea to a major investor.
Once the search for customers has been successful, move on to the presentation of the project. This stage is extremely complicated and painstaking since the further development of the business depends on it. Here it is necessary not just to tell about the advantages and uniqueness of the idea, it is important to find an individual approach to each investor, to show him the characteristics of the product he wants to see. Startup founders need to be persistent, but also diplomatic. They should not be intimidated by multiple postponements, but they should not be too intrusive, or the customer will not even listen to the presentation.
In order to ease the plight of newcomers, accelerators use the practice of report sessions or Gates. In the process, project managers can advise on the right approach, facilitate a personal meeting with potential customers, and give advice on making a presentation.
The goal of accelerators is to develop interesting ideas and make them profitable. For this, they take their percentage of profit or company shares, which makes such organizations fully interested in the success of the startup.