Life at Accelerator
Last summer 2014 , myself along with my 4 best friends were working part time on Shareboard - File sharing app. The passion and enthusiasm of everyone towards Shareboard was great. It was the time when we all decided to take Shareboard more seriously. We applied to some accelerator programs via f6s.com and angel.co.
We were only looking for money to survive and office space to work together and thought accelerator is the best option to get it. Little did we realize how the accelerator experience would improve our company and solidify our resolve.
It was June end when we got email from JFDI Asia that our team has been selected for Discovery Program. We were happy but slowly happiness got away when we noticed it was not just us, there were 50 other teams as well who qualified among thousands. We realized competition is tough. And we had no clue what is discovery process all about.
Learning starts from beginning.
Discovery process started and it was the first time we heard the word “RUNNING LEAN”. Although I have co founded a start up before which deals with online ordering of food in Bangalore and managed to get angel investment from private investors. Yet I do not know what “RUNNING LEAN” is.
Kai, Program Manager at JFDI started collaborating with us on weekly basis and we began to learn what problem we are solving, is our solution suitable, who are our early adopters, unique value proposition, key metrics about Shareboard. These things we have never thought in so much depth before. In the end Kai asked whats your AARRR metrics. It was the time when we started focusing on it.
Hard Decisions
August came and we got selected for Discovery Plus at JFDI. Still we need to qualify Discovery Plus to get into accelerator program which starts in September. At this moment, we have to decide to quit our jobs or not. It was clear quitting job was not for JFDI, it was for Shareboard. But fortunately, everyone on the team was motivated & committed and ready to take the risk.
Environment
The environment is the best part at JFDI. The peer startups are always ready to help. As every startup is in different phase, you learn lot from each other and can get answer to any question whether its technical, designing, marketing etc. just a desk away.
Mentors and Networking
In early days, startup have to move fast and to move fast, you need proper guidance and network. Hugh, Meng and everyone else at the JFDI team are always ready to help and try their best to solve your problem. Along with them, external mentors, alumnus are always ready to guide you, share their experience and network. We got Roland Turner as our mentor, who actively mentored us on running lean and shaping Shareboard in its early days.
Pitch Sessions
Public speaking is an art but not everyone is good at it. JFDI plays important role in improving pitches. Peter Browne, who takes pitch session which helps founders to make their pitches better, curate the pitch content, improve the body language and quality of presentation.
Thanks Hugh, Meng, Peter & JFDI team!
Accelerators not only help startups to START UP but also give them much more value than just money.