Accelerator: FT Challenge Startups

[GENERAL] Summarize your solution to the problem.

This will be a successor to the 2 accelerators funded from F7 to include more startups building on Cardano. Through this, we can support more startups from the FTxCardano Challenge.

[GENERAL] Summarize your relevant experience.

For 9 years, Seedstars has supported emerging market entrepreneurs across 75 countries, supporting 37k+ entrepreneurs, delivering trainings for 2k+, and investing in 75 high-growth companies. We have an established relationship with Cardano, winning 3 projects in Fund 7.

[IMPACT] Please describe your proposed solution.

The FTxCardano Blockchain Challenge sourced and trained ventures building on Cardano, and culminated in a Demo Day where participating startups pitched their businesses to a live jury. The competition received over 200 applications, of which 53 startups were accepted to join.

24 of the participants were selected to participate in 2 separate accelerator programs (Fund 7) beginning in August 2022. We were positively surprised by the quality of all 200 applicants, and were not expecting such high-quality companies. Our capacity in the 2 accelerators only allow us to work with 12 startups in each cohort. We’d like to continue working with the applicants that didn’t make it to this accelerator and propose an additional program to support some of them.

To accomplish this, Seedstars proposes to conduct the Seedstars Impact Investment Readiness program to provide further support to the applicants that were not accepted through the earlier FT Challenge. This program is a virtually run, three-month, mentorship-driven program that focuses on providing the right tools to entrepreneurs and creating a strong community that acts as a strategic ally for the founders. It also focuses on implementing experimental, data-driven methodologies and a mentor network available to increase entrepreneurs competitiveness. The program will be conducted in the following phases:

• Phase 0: Screening and Selection process and a Needs Assessment of the selected participants. We will engage with the pipeline of entrepreneurs building on Cardano through the FT x Cardano Blockchain Challenge (Fund 7) applications.
• Phase 1: Capacity Building, Networking & Investment readiness matchmaking.

Seedstars' Program Design approach follows the Human-Centered philosophy, meaning that the participants and their enterprises are simultaneously the 'why' of any activities, and the focal point of all programs. Understanding the participants' needs is especially important, therefore Phase 0 was aimed at understanding the entrepreneurs' needs. For this, Seedstars will survey its database of 1600+ startups, ecosystem builders, mentors, and ambassadors and will identify the most suitable participants in the emerging markets where Cardano has a presence.

The communication campaign includes:

• 1 social media plan (including creative content),
• 1 Facebook campaign,
• 1 LinkedIn campaign,
• 1 Twitter campaign,
• 1 Press Release announcing the call for applications,
• 1 email campaign to relevant stakeholders/network

For collecting, managing, and addressing the applications or entries for the program, Seedstars will utilize its existing relationship with applicants from the FT x Cardano Blockchain Challenge along with managing correspondence with including but not limited to acknowledgments, questions and answers and status on applications. Seedstars will make sure to include previous funds at the moment of screening and selecting. 

The following services/activities are already planned for this project:

High-Level Virtual Screening:

• 100% of submissions screened
• Shortlist relevant ventures including ranking/score and insights
• Application Management
• 1 rejection email sent to all rejected startups including feedback within 2 - 5 days after final review
• 1 acceptance email to startups within 2 - 5 days after final including feedback and invitation to attend bootcamp
• 100% of questions from entrepreneurs answered within 5 days
• 12 ventures to be selected

Needs Assessment

In order to ensure maximum relevance and usefulness, Seedstars will conduct a needs assessment. The purpose of this is to dive deep into the needs, requirements and challenges faced by the target beneficiaries and to allow for tailored content and module development required for the later Program Phase. These activities will allow Seedstars to personalize the program to fit the needs of the target beneficiaries while also engaging with key stakeholders and partners to create a collaborative environment.

Phase 1: Capacity Building & Networking

The next phase is a 3-month virtual program that unites entrepreneurs from various emerging markets and focuses on the right content, activities, tools, and methods to help aspiring teams to build and scale their ideas. The chosen participants will benefit from mentorship, workshops, and peer-to-peer learning.

Program Methodology & Proposed Approach

With the Impact Readiness Program, Seedstars aims at ensuring the sustainable growth and scalability of the participants' ideas.

Program Components

Bootcamp

The bootcamps are 2h - 2.5 hour expert-led workshops, consisting of 1h to 1.5h theory, followed by 30 minutes of practical application (homework exercises, simulations, and case studies). A required number of experts and mentors will be assigned to guide the startups and assist with the exercises.

On-demand Mentorship Platform (Seedstars Mentorship Hub)

Additionally, the SMEs can draw upon the Seedstars Mentorship Hub, an online marketplace that matches startups with the right mentors from a global pool of subject matter experts. Seedstars uses an existing network of over 1,150 mentors, and over 7 years of working with startups in emerging markets to truly understand the challenges they face and connect them with the best experts to help with their growth & impact.

Investment Readiness Score:

In order to provide the ventures with a data-driven understanding of where they stand in their fundraising journey, Seedstars will conduct an individual assessment of the Investment Readiness Score. Seedstars' team will evaluate all beneficiaries using a purpose-built algorithm - the Investment Readiness Score - to evaluate the current performance of the ventures accepted, and give data-driven recommendations for areas of improvement.

Experience Sharing Sessions (Group Mentoring)

During each group mentoring session, the entrepreneurs share their approach and learnings according to the format that ensures peer-to-peer learning, allowing the startups to give and receive feedback from each other. The sessions ensure that the knowledge gained during the 1:1 training is put into practice & gives additional support to integrate the learnings.

Hot Topics:

The startups will receive a series of workshops on what Seedstars defines as 'hot topics', as they represent the current state of the world, the challenges that entrepreneurs face, and the skills and know-how they need in this world to succeed. Beyond the Acceleration strategy know-how, Seedstars believes that knowledge of current topics will help the entrepreneurs to succeed both at a company, and at a personal level. The Hot Topic workshops are 2-hour workshops led by Seedstars experts.

Investor Sessions:

Seedstars will conduct 3 investor sessions with the participants to outline and develop their investment strategy. The sessions will teach participants the importance of fundraising skills, optimizing their investment score.

Networking Events:

To bring the program into the spotlight, Seedstars will conduct an ecosystem networking event. This event could involve a panel discussion with different key stakeholders. This event has several aims:

1. It creates additional buzz around the program
2. It attracts attention and creates potential opportunities for the participants.

Modules:

The Investment Readiness Program can be constructed from the following modules, based on the identified needs of the startups

• Getting to MVP: Intro to Lean methodology and canvas, Aiming for Product / Market Fit, Understanding your Unique value proposition, Building your MVP.
• Business Metrics for Growth: Calculating your unit economics, Understanding your AARRR funnel
• Setting up your North Star Metric and KPIs: Understanding growth levers to scale faster.
• Getting Ready for Fundraising: Developing your Fundraising strategy, Managing your Cap Table
• Defining valuations: Preparing for due diligence.
• Preparing for Growth: Introduction to Growth, Experimentation process, Growth Model, Growth Goals and Sprints.
• Managing your Talent: Creating your company culture, Becoming a good leader, Manage your recruitment, Leading effective interviews

Therefore, a week can look like this:

Week: 1 Bootcamp, 1 experience sharing session, 1 mentoring session, 1 peer-to-peer mentoring.

[IMPACT] Please describe how your proposed solution will address the Challenge that you have submitted it in.

Currently there is a challenge of attracting developers to the Cardano ecosystem. By providing professional entrepreneurial support for their startups through proven Seedstars’ programs, developers in emerging markets will be further incentivized to join Cardano’s ecosystem and build on the Cardano blockchain.

We believe that developers will be more incentivized to join the Cardano ecosystem if there is community support beyond the technical use cases of blockchain and Cardano. Developers know how to develop, but may not be experts in building and growing businesses. We believe that by providing this support to developers, they will be more inclined to join the Cardano community and build on the Cardano Blockchain.

[IMPACT] What are the main risks that could prevent you from delivering the project successfully and please explain how you will mitigate each risk?

Risk: Not enough entrepreneurs are interested in the program

Mitigation: Seedstars will engage in various sourcing mechanisms such as database sourcing, social media outreach, targeted emailing campaigns, and network recommendations to ensure a sufficient number of participants.

Risk: Participants are hesitant to learn online

Mitigation: Seedstars understands how to make online content engaging, combining different delivery mechanisms (ie. quizzes, webinars, podcasts). Furthermore, Seedstars has conducted several hundred events and has found proven actions and content amendments that keep participants engaged in physical as well as online sessions.

Risk: The experts and mentors involved in the program are not fully engaged and committed. 

Mitigation: Seedstars will work alongside the experts and mentors and highlight their relevance to the program and will work on a narrative about the benefits they can get out of the program and their interactions with the entrepreneurs.

Risk: The ventures have very specialized training needs corresponding to country/industry peculiarities

Mitigation: The Seedstars mentor networks range from more general business mentors to investors and industry experts. Seedstars will leverage its network and mentorship platform to support the ventures in their individual training needs.

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed plan, including timeline and key milestones for delivering your proposal.

Timeline

• Phase 0: A preparation, sourcing, and selection phase spans 1 month.
• Phase 1: Program will be run in a 3-month period to permit sufficient time to learn the methodologies and demonstrate progress.

Milestones / KPIs

Below is an outline of the KPIs Seedstars will use as motivational milestones to measure the success of the Program. Please note these are not fixed: if the needs assessment or data tracked along the way suggest these should change, Seedstars will pivot accordingly with reference to the learnings.

• Sourcing & Screening campaign:
• 1 application backend managed
• 100% of candidates' questions answered
• 100% of applications screened
• 12 recruited startups
• 15 ecosystems sourced on the Seedstars database

• Investment Readiness Program:
• 12 startups participating (total)
• 5 startup bootcamps run throughout the program
• 1 Participation feedback Survey
• 70+ Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• 3 investors sessions
• 5 Hot topics run throughout the program
• 2 Networking Sessions

• Success Metrics: We will track the success of this project by measuring the:
• Total number of entrepreneurs who graduate the Investment Readiness Score Program
• Number of entrepreneurs joining the sessions and workshops
• 70+ Net Promoter Score

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide a detailed budget breakdown.

Our budget covers:

Sourcing Screening and Selection

• 1 high level screening campaign
• 1 needs assessment campaign

Total: USD $15,000

Investment Readiness Program

• 5 bootcamps
• 1 readiness program flat rate
• 3 investment sessions
• 2 networking events
• 5 hot topic sessions
• Investment Readiness Score

Total: USD $47,000

Mentoring

• 1-to-1 and mentoring support
• 30 mins per support session
• Mentorship Hub Platform

Total: USD $15,000

Applicant Portal (For FT Startups)

• Creating an applicant portal to serve as a landing page and to host the main information about the program

Total: USD $2,000

Marketing

• 1 social media plan (including creatives)
• 1 Facebook campaign
• 1 LinkedIn campaign
• 1 Twitter campaign
• 1 Press Release announcing the call for applications
• 1 email campaign to relevant stakeholders/network

Total: USD $6,000

Cardano Partnership, Advisory, & Maintenance

• Internal costs for Cardano advisory services and team allocation

Total: USD $15,000

[FEASIBILITY] Please provide details of the people who will work on the project.

Zeb Hastings, Project Manager for Seedstars, coordinating Seedstars’ projects and capacity-building programs focused on startup development in emerging markets in Africa, Asia, Latin America, and the Middle East regions. In addition to these projects, Zeb leads the company's data analytics strategy and reporting, focusing on emerging market ecosystem trends, product, sales and marketing, and business operations. Zeb currently manages other approved Cardano proposals from Fund 7.

Daria Markova, Entrepreneurship in Residence. As an experienced founder turned educator, Daria trains and coaches startups herself too. She has trained 500+ founders and entrepreneurs so far. She has worked with renowned universities, accelerators, and corporations. Daria focuses on Social impact, Future of Work, and Sustainable startups.

Konstantin Hapkemeyer, Investment Analyst/Grants Manager. Konstantin is a venture capital investor focused on early-stage startups in emerging & frontier markets.

Maria Camila Albornoz, Brand & Communication Manager. Maria Camila is a designer, marketer and communicator, with international experience in communication, digital marketing, and project management. Social media strategist and brand management.

Ratko Ivanovic, IT Specialist and Support Professional. Ratko is Founder at Zeal Agency and Co-Founder at Snipers.sale. Ratko loves to find ways to break down and automate complex activities and has been involved with Seedstars for 5+ years.

[FEASIBILITY] If you are funded, will you return to Catalyst in a later round for further funding? Please explain why / why not.

Not necessarily. This proposal is a standalone proposal; however, we would like to continue running accelerators in future challenges that will also be standalone proposals.

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or any member of your team working on any other proposals in this Fund9?

[FEASIBILITY] Are you or your team working on any other proposals from previous Funds?

[AUDITABILITY] Please describe what you will measure to track your project's progress, and how will you measure these?

Progress will be measured against a monthly progress and KPI tracker aligned with our project plan. Progress reports will be shared with the Cardano community through the evidence field in our monthly submissions and through our regular community meetings. Project tracker will align with the project plan outlined in the “Feasibility” section of this proposal.

• Sourcing & Screening campaign:
• 1 application backend managed
• 100% of candidates' questions answered
• 100% of applications screened
• 12 recruited startups
• 15 ecosystems sourced on the Seedstars database

• Investment Readiness Program:
• 12 startups participating (total)
• 5 startup bootcamps run throughout the program
• 1 Participation feedback Survey
• 70+ Net Promoter Score (NPS)
• 3 investors sessions
• 5 Hot topics run throughout the program
• 2 Networking Sessions

• Success Metrics: We will track the success of this project by measuring the:
• Total number of entrepreneurs who graduate the Investment Readiness Score Program
• Number of entrepreneurs joining the sessions and workshops
• 70+ Net Promoter Score

[AUDITABILITY] What does success for this project look like?

Success will be the graduation of all 12 startups from the program, measured by the number of startups participating in the final Demo Day, the attendance rate of startups at the bootcamps, and Seedstars receiving a 70+ Net Promoter Score (NPS) score on the program.

[AUDITABILITY] Please provide information on whether this proposal is a continuation of a previously funded project in Catalyst or an entirely new one.

This is an entirely new proposal. However, the model will closely resemble the accelerators Seedstars is running from Fund 7.

Please see links to those below:

• 700011 Accelerator in Emerging Markets
• 700010 Acceleration Program in Africa

Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) Rating

SDG goals:

4: Ensure inclusive and equitable quality education and promote lifelong learning opportunities for all

• 4.4: By 2030, substantially increase the number of youth and adults who have relevant skills, including technical and vocational skills, for employment, decent jobs and entrepreneurship

8: Promote sustained, inclusive and sustainable economic growth, full and productive employment and decent work for all

• 8.2: Achieve higher levels of economic productivity through diversification, technological upgrading and innovation, including through a focus on high-value added and labour-intensive sectors
• 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
• 8.6: By 2030, substantially reduce the proportion of youth not in employment, education or training