Catalyst Community Accelerator
Problem
Idea-owners and Entrepreneurs often lack the necessary venture building skills and access to the networks required to reach their goals.
Solution
Community-focused entrepreneurship program aimed at developing startup skills & building networks between entrepreneurs and mentors.
Total to date
This is the total amount allocated to Catalyst Community Accelerator.
[IMPACT]
Entreprenerdy has for the last ten years assisted organizations that help entrepreneurs (our partners) design, implement, and evaluate entrepreneurship-support programs. Our Proposal is based on the experiences made during the first cohorts of the current Catalyst Boost Camp program. It aims to further develop this into an ongoing version – a "Catalyst Community Accelerator" program.
The program will combine the initial 4-week program developing entrepreneurial skills based on S-E-A-M with follow-up focusing on strengthening the peer2peer networks between entrepreneurs and building the network between entrepreneurs and business mentors. In addition, the program will focus on utilizing the strength of the alumni network to assist more ventures in reaching their objectives.
Our proposal consists of the following elements to be delivered during Q2 through Q3 2022:
- S-E-A-M – the entrepreneurship method developed at the Norwegian University of Technology and Science NTNU
- Catalyst EMS - a unique Entrepreneurship Management System, based on S-E-A-M,
- Five cohorts of the Catalyst Community Accelerator over four weeks with 12 digital sessions and individual follow-up / mentoring
- One Certification Program in S-E-A-M and EMS for up to 10 Advisors / Business Mentors selected by the Catalyst community – to enable the community to be self-sufficient with mentors skilled in a standard entrepreneurship method.
Program management services include participation in a platform for recruitment to coordinated entrepreneurial programs, contributions to recruitment, application management and selection of participants, and evaluation, reporting and collaboration to implement continuous improvements.
- S-E-A-M - the Systemic Entrepreneurship Activity Method
Entreprenerdy's standard method is called SEAM, or Systemic Entrepreneurship Activity Method. This method was developed at the Norwegian University of Technology and Science (NTNU.no) in collaboration with several researchers in entrepreneurship and innovation from several European universities. The method is based on a comprehensive literature study and incorporates the leading modern theoretical directions in entrepreneurship. A particular focus is placed on the «six pillars of entrepreneurship theory» (see attachment 1 S-E-A-M)
The method has been tested and improved since 2010 in collaboration with dozens of support programs and over 35,000 entrepreneurship projects worldwide. The method consists of 7 steps containing 29 elements that entrepreneurs will (and should) work through while establishing, developing, and improving their project. The seven steps are 1) Purpose 2) Resources 3) Business Idea 4) Business Model 5) Objectives 6) Tasks 7) Forecasting. These steps are further described in section 3 Program content and detail in "Attachment 1 – S-E-A-M."
Typically, entrepreneurs will work their way step by step through the steps of the method in several rounds. If they meet resistance, they will typically return to an earlier step and try to leverage the insights they have gained to make changes and improvements. Of course, following these steps to the tee is not the only way to succeed in an entrepreneurship project. At the same time, working methodically in this way will increase the probability of success. Then, of course, there is significant variation in the content of the seven steps over time and from project to project.
- Catalyst EMS - a unique Entrepreneurship Management System, based on S-E-A-M
A common element in our deliveries to enable entrepreneurial support programs is the setup and adaptation of an Entrepreneurship Management System (EMS). The seven steps and 29 elements of S-E-A-M are distributed to the entrepreneurs via an online solution that is adapted and set up for the program. The EMS is made available to the participants from admission to the program and as long as they wish.
Catalyst EMS will contain the following modules: 1) The program builder - for setting up the online session and their content, and for setting up a landing page, 2) The program finder (entyhub.com) – that will contribute to recruitment to the program, 3) Cohort management - where implementation of the sessions in the program is handled, 4) Business development - where the entrepreneurs are presented with the tools for e-learning and business development, 5) Collaboration - where all communication between the entrepreneurs in a cohort/in the program and between an entrepreneur and advisor is handled, and 6) Analysis and learning - with support for ongoing learning and improvement.
- Program content – 12 sessions over four weeks, individual mentoring and monthly peer2peer network meetings
We propose a program that starts with four weeks of 12 online sessions, each lasting 90 minutes. In addition, there will be three individual mentoring sessions per participant, delivered by seasoned business advisors certified in the S-E-A-M and EMS. During the program, Cardano / catalyst community advisors will be trained in S-E-A-M to enable them to take on these individual mentoring sessions. Following the first four weeks, we suggest monthly peer2peer network meetings where the entire alumni network can join to help each other reach their objectives.
The 12 proposed sessions will be
Introduction – introduction to the program, to S-E-A-M and the EMS, and get to know each other
Purpose – what are the reasons for becoming an entrepreneur?
Resources – What skills and assets will define the project?
Business Idea – What problems are to be solved and for which target group?
Sustainability – understanding UN 17 SDGs and what sustainability means for your project.
Business Model – how will the problems be solved, and how will revenue be generated?
Design Thinking, Minimum Viable Product and solution interview
Objectives – What goals and milestones must be met to solve the problem?
Tasks – The activities that are to be completed to achieve the objectives.
Forecasting – What are the estimated revenues and expenses of the project
Presentations - everyone gets to present their entire project, feedback and discussions on what's next?
Blockchain funding opportunities, investment landscape and high-level tokenomics – a program-specific session delivered by a Cardano community expert
To make the programs as valuable as possible for the individual entrepreneurs, we try to limit each cohort to 12 participating projects. The sessions are conducted over 90-120 minutes according to reverse classroom and project-based learning principles to ensure continuity and overview.
Each session is divided into three parts: First, a "roundtable" is conducted (approx. 30 minutes). Each entrepreneur shares what has happened since the last session and specific learning points and challenges they have experienced working with the literature, video support and EMS. A facilitator then carries out a theory presentation that reviews and deepens the current topic (approx. 30 minutes). Here, great emphasis is placed on interaction and discussion. Finally, two of the participating projects are being presented (approx. 30 minutes), where the entrepreneurs get to present their projects and receive input and criticism from their co- entrepreneurs. The last few minutes inform the participants what to prepare for the next session.
Project outcomes
The participants get:
- to develop their projects step by step based on S-E-A-M
- to present their project to advisors and the other participants
- input, motivation, and inspiration from the other participants
- to build a network that will help you reach your goals.
- to define a roadmap for the further development of their project
- Certification in S-E-A-M and EMS of up to 10 community Advisors / Business Mentors
Our proposal includes a certification program for up to 10 advisors selected by the Cardano community. The goal of the certification is to give the advisors a thorough insight into S-E-A-M (Systemic Entrepreneurship Activity Method) and how you as an advisor/mentor can use S-E-A-M together with related tools and educational methods to help deliver fantastic programs for entrepreneurs. Furthermore, during the whole project, we aim to enable the community to be self-sufficient with mentors skilled in S-E-A-M as a common method for developing entrepreneurship projects.
The consultants gain in-depth knowledge of modern entrepreneurship theories, S-E-A-M and the Entrepreneurship Management System during the certification. Furthermore, the advisers discuss how they can use the knowledge when providing mentoring sessions and guiding the entrepreneurs. The main goal is for the advisors to be even better equipped to enable the entrepreneurs to develop their projects and thereby create sustainable businesses/organizations. In addition, the certification will contribute to the establishment of a common method and entrepreneurship terminology across the Cardano community. From experience, this again provides a basis for further development of cooperation.
How is the certification carried out?
The theoretical part of the certification is done online with nine sessions of 90 minutes over three weeks. Like the Entrepreneurship Programs, the program is based on reverse classroom pedagogy and case-based learning. Between the sessions, the advisers get to work on their own "project" to get a first-hand experience of how this is for the contractors, and that you get to present and discuss the projects - and not least how they can best help the contractors.
Suppose there are community advisers who also want to be certified as facilitators. In that case, it is required that they a) participate in a complete entrepreneurship program led by one of Entreprenerdy's facilitators, but then in a hosting role where they are phased into how we lead the sessions - and b) that they lead an entire program of 12 sessions for entrepreneurs with one of Entreprenerdy's experts present as co-pilot/supervisor.
- Program management services
Recruitment and application
When a program is defined, we assist our program partners in developing a communication plan. First, various links are distributed through advertising, direct mailings, the program finder and social media. These links lead to the program landing page, where the Entrepreneur is shown to the EMS's application module. Here we have jointly set up the questions that the partner wants to be answered and all the possible cohorts for which there are vacancies. The Entrepreneur then goes through a simple chain of questions, where they define some metadata and their motivation and the core elements of the business idea they want to apply with. Finally, they use for participation in a specific cohort in the program.
Program management
Now that we have a complete set-up of the cohort in the EMS that includes all the sessions with content, times, meeting places and eventual ZOOM/Teams links to each session, responsible facilitators and the accepted entrepreneurs, each Entrepreneur will receive a welcome pack. This package is distributed electronically and will contain all the slide sets for the program, the e-book, list of participants, agenda, and description of preparation for each session.
The facilitator will communicate to all participants through the EMS - and the Entrepreneur will be encouraged to post a presentation about himself in the collaboration room to start getting to know the other participants even before the program begins.
When the program starts, the project presentations in each session are run from the EMS - and the facilitator uses the EMS to open the steps before each session, as well as to monitor the progress of each Entrepreneur, and ensure that the advisors/mentors follow up as agreed.
Analysis and learning
The EMS comprises millions of 56-character cards, making it possible to store fragmented information from the EMS without it is possible to reverse engineer this back to each business plan. This provides a unique opportunity to aggregate data that has been used to publish several scientific reports and findings from several universities. In addition, it enables a significant opportunity for learning within each program and for each project. Insight into how one's model differs from other similar projects, how the relevant program activates the entrepreneurs, and how the consultants interact with the projects and the entrepreneurs will provide valuable reflection and learning for the individual. There will eventually be a lot of new functionality, which we develop based on the wishes of the entrepreneurs, program partners, advisors, and facilitators.
The Entrepreneurship sprint, S-E-A-M and EMS are proven concepts, tested and tried over several years. The main challenge is building a strong community commitment to enhance the venture-building skills and create an even more active entrepreneurship culture. The main element in mitigating this is to involve community members and advisors in co-creating the program.
[FEASIBILITY]
We propose the following schedule for this proposal.
April 2022: Program co-creation and refinement
May 2022: Certification of community advisors
June 2022: Cohort 1 is delivered
July 2022: Cohort 2 is delivered, peer2peer network meetings start
Aug 2022: Cohort 3 delivered jointly with community advisors, peer2peer network meetings are held
September 2022: Cohort 4 delivered by community facilitator, peer2peer network meetings are held
October 2022: Evaluation, reporting, proposed next steps – transfer of the program to the community.
NOTE – this is an initial schedule that mentioned above can be adjusted
We are ready to run this project in a shorter timeframe, and the public launch date can be even earlier.
Preliminary budget break-down:
The budget breakdown consists of 12 000 USD for the certification program and 4 times 12 000 USD for the cohort deliveries, including facilitation, 1:1 follow-up, and license to the EMS during the contract period.
Yngve Dahle, PhD in Entrepreneurship (Norwegian University of Technology and Science), a serial entrepreneur with experience from 10 successful startups, author of several books and papers on entrepreneurship.
Anders Haugland, PhD in Thermodynamics (Norwegian University of Technology and Science), serial entrepreneur, experience over 15 years in building up a sizeable regional Technology Transfer office and Innovation Centre
Muziwethu Mtshali is an entrepreneur at heart with diverse experience spanning the construction, advertising and events industries and within enterprise development. Since he began his entrepreneurial journey in 2007, he has been a founder and co-founder of three companies.
Erlend Bang Abelsen, MBA in Business and administration, a serial entrepreneur with experience from 5 startups, co-author of several books on entrepreneurship
[AUDITABILITY]
Key metrics to measure
● Five entrepreneurship Boost camps for four weeks have been delivered, of which minimum 1 with an Africa focus.
● 60 entrepreneurs/startup has gone through the boostcamp and is accelerating into their next stage
● 10(+) community advisors are certified in entrepreneurship method (S-E-A-M) and sprint pedagogy
Key Performance Indicator (KPI):
11.a.1 Number of countries that have national urban policies or regional development plans that (a) respond to population dynamics; (b) ensure balanced territorial development, and (c) increase local fiscal space
8.5.1 Average hourly earnings of employees, by sex, age, occupation and persons with disabilities
8.5.2 Unemployment rate, by sex, age and persons with disabilities
The main success criteria will be that a community-driven Entrepreneurship Sprint and Accelerator has been operational.
The program aims to build capacity and skills within the Catalyst community by training community advisors to enable the community to be self-sustained within this area. Co-creation and sharing will be central elements.
The project will impact the participating entrepreneurs´ access to networks (peer2peer, business advisors and via these access to investment environments). In addition, the participants will gain knowledge and venture building skills and share terminology and methodology for developing entrepreneurship projects.
Success will include that:
● A minimum 2 of the community advisors that are trained to be facilitators for the subsequent programmes
● Ten new community-driven entrepreneurship sprints are planned for 2023
● 100+ catalyst / Cardano entrepreneurship projects are part of the program alumni network
Yes, this is a continuation of the idea https://cardano.ideascale.com/c/idea/385150 which again is a development of the Catalyst Boost Camp program - enhanced with more focus on the Catalyst community itself.
SDG Rating
SDG goals:
Goal 1. End poverty in all its forms everywhere
Goal 8. Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all
Goal 9. Build resilient infrastructure, promote inclusive and sustainable industrialization and foster innovation
Goal 11. Make cities and human settlements inclusive, safe, resilient and sustainable
SDG subgoals:
1.1 By 2030, eradicate extreme poverty for all people everywhere, currently measured as people living on less than $1.25 a day
- a Support positive economic, social and environmental links between urban, peri-urban and rural areas by strengthening national and regional development planning
8.5 By 2030, achieve full and productive employment and decent work for all women and men, including for young people and persons with disabilities, and equal pay for work of equal value
9.1 Develop quality, reliable, sustainable and resilient infrastructure, including regional and transborder infrastructure, to support economic development and human well-being, with a focus on affordable and equitable access for all
9.3 Increase the access of small-scale industrial and other enterprises, in particular in developing countries, to financial services, including affordable credit, and their integration into value chains and markets
Team
The team behind the proposal are serial entrepreneurs with experience from more than ten successful startups, holds 2 PhDs and has more than ten years of experience in building successful entrepreneurship programs for thousands of projects and startups.
