Startup Haven’s pre-seed accelerator supports venture-scale startups at the crossroads of growth. Best-fit startups will have:
- a full-time founding team
- a capital efficient business model addressing a venture-scale market
- a live product, in production (even it’s a V1)
- some early element(s) of commercialization (e.g., early customer revenue, arms-length user adoption, strong intellectual property, etc.)
For companies at this stage, what’s next is growth and scale. But a clock is ticking and startups at this stage have a shelf life. Time is always the enemy of startups but never more so than at this stage — because now, for the first time, a startup’s progress and traction can be measured.
What’s needed is a cogent plan to reach the next, right strategic growth milestone… a milestone that the existing team can execute on with the time and resources they have. In short, startups need to lay the groundwork for success by executing on whatever is most important — next things first.
This is the essence of the GroundWork methodology.
Traditional Accelerator
Stuff We Do
- Cash Investment
- Rigorous Screening
- World-class Mentorship
- Support Network
Traditional Accelerator
Stuff We Don’t Do
- Seasonality
- Laissez-faire Curriculum
- Casual Mentorship
- Relocation, Co-working
- Demo Day
Stuff We Do Better than Traditional Accelerators
- Focused Curriculum
- Dedicated Mentors
- Operational Support
- Accountability
- Bespoke Fundraising Support
Interested in Joining Us?
Our accelerator supports venture-scale startups at the crossroads of growth. Best-fit startups will have:
- a full-time team of disciplined founder (preferably 2 – 3)
- a capital efficient business model addressing a venture-scale market
- a live, usable product (even it’s a V1)
- early stages of commercialization (e.g., a first dollar of arms-reach customer revenue, growing user adoption, strong intellectual property, etc.)
The Basics
- The Startup Haven Accelerator curriculum leverages the GroundWork Growth Framework to ensure that companies are positioned to achieve the absolute best outcomes possible.
- 100% of our mentors are experienced founders and investors. In addition to these ‘regular’ mentors, each team is also matched with two executive mentors who work with the team every week throughout the entire program.
- Teams are expected to travel to Seattle three times during the program: launch week (5 days), mid-term conference (5 days), graduation week (three days). Teams are provided with a travel stipend based on their location to partially offset costs.
Terms
- We provide up to $150K in exchange for 5% – 8% equity. A term sheet is provided with your invitation to join the program.
- We have adopted a shared tuition model where both the startup and Startup Haven contribute to the costs of the accelerator program on a sliding scale based on funding amount, equity exchange and company stage. Tuition can range from $0 to $18k.
If you are Startup Haven member (or willing to become one) and would like to learn more about the accelerator program and the GroundWork methodology, you can learn every you need to know on the Accelerator Program Information page.
