04.02.2019

Accelerator: getting ready for the demo-day

Very soon, the joint Russian-American program promoting start-ups, will host the final presentation

On February 5, program participants will demonstrate their products for guests of the event and the jury of the prestigious competition for innovative IT projects. The training took 9 weeks involving a course of lectures, discussions with mentors and experts.

30 out of 843: sorting out of candidates

Sberbank's managers have developed a concept of the bank evolution, according to which by 2020 the bank will turn into a full-fledged IT company developing various areas including those not related to the financial sector (telemedicine, e-commerce, etc.). The new department of SberX headed by M. Zavadsky is responsible for these new products. The structural unit actively cooperates with the American partner 500 Startups, the leading foreign platform to support promising start-ups. Accelerator is their joint project.

For many years, Sberbank acquired shares of companies with proven developments, but now it has the opportunity to support new businessmen. The most successful products can become part of the Sberbank ecosystem or find other investors, as representatives of many well-known brands attend the accelerator. To take part in the program, teams filled in an application form and held a video interview. Only 30 start-ups out of 843 went to the next stage. The jury assessed the practical benefits of projects for Sberbank and its partners, as well as demand in foreign markets.

Among the finalists are creators of “smart” toys, logistics services, innovations in the medical field.

Training program

The internship is built on the same principle as training in San Francisco. Every Monday, 500 Startups sends three American mentors speaking on peculiarities of doing business, management etc.

Lectures are conducted in English.

From Tuesday to Friday, teams meet with mentors and trackers to consult, discuss their problems. The week ends with a meeting of teams where they share their successes or talk about difficulties.

Should we always trust experts?

500 Startups believe that Russians are very talented specialists unable to promote their products. Many of them are confined to the Russian market, although their projects are undoubtedly attractive for foreign consumers. American experts have extensive experience with start-up teams, they can recommend the most effective way to sell your project or warn against common mistakes. But it is impossible to fully rely on them, as they ignore Russian realities. For example, mentors often inadequately assess the number of investors willing to invest in domestic innovations, that's why the advice to take the first ten pitches not as a real presentation, but as a training session, isn't good at all.

Regular meetings with Russian corporations' managers provide an opportunity to look at the situation from their side, to discuss pros and cons of the project's future in Russia.

Dreaming about California: contestants improve pitches before demo-day

The work on the final presentations of startups in front of the jury, representatives of the largest Russian companies and venture funds began a few weeks ago. Some interesting ideas for pitches were suggested by mentors.

Despite the free schedule of training, teams did not waste time, they assimilated the maximum of useful information, trained with each other. According to the results of the demo-day, the jury will select 7 projects worthy of a trip to Silicon Valley and training in San Francisco.