18.12.2018

How startups are launched: more about Sberbank Accelerator working week and 500 Startups

Sberbank in cooperation with the leading American accelerator 500 Startups has launched a large-scale program in Russia to select the best startups and present new opportunities for teams.

The project's creators will be able to find large investors and start a business of their own.

Participants of the experiment, including the start-up Viewapp, acquire the necessary skills: build sales channels, test business hypotheses, meet with mentors. Their working week is full of interesting events.

Monday is a day of lectures on sales, lead generation, product promotion etc. Mentors communicate in English, but all teams understand the material well without simultaneous translation. Speakers are successful self-made people. For example, Amineni Chandini founded two startups and became a millionaire.

Then each team communicates with the mentors in a more intimate atmosphere. For convenience, the time of meetings is entered in the individual table. If the topic seems interesting, you can request a workshop on it.

Wednesday and Thursday are the days of the week on which various events with the participation of guests take place.

How to get the most out of lectures:

• lead discussions not only with mentors, but also with other “students” in order to get new ideas;

• create informative tables with data on investment funds;

• a conversation with any investor is a perspective, and this is how it should be perceived;

• it is advisable to start communication with investors in advance, two months before the demonstration day.

Accelerator's reliable partners are Rostelecom, Severstal, Rosseti and other well-known brands. The guests regularly get acquainted with the latest achievements, choose interesting start-ups for launching pilot projects. Sometimes representatives of partner companies themselves act as mentors.

No less important are meetings with venture investors. In one of the panel discussions took part:

• Marvin Liao - partner 500 Startups;

• K. Vinogradov from Runa Capital;

• A. Pavlov, Investment Director of RTP Global;

• Supervisor of 500 startups.

Representatives of venture funds were also invited.

On Friday, general meetings are scheduled in the Weekly Debrief Launch format. Mentors summarize the work week on their own. Then all the teams are invited to the hall, discuss the difficulties that have met during the week and boast new achievements over a meal.

Saturday and Sunday on the Accelerator are working days, as some start-up teams are more comfortable to work on weekends.