After relaunching our Collider quarterly MadTech drinks, it would only be right to get someone to say a few inspirational words to a room of startups, investors and brands, right? And that someone could only have been Carl Wong from Living Lens. Check out his top six tips to all startups on how to really get the most from an accelerator programme.
1. Play the long game.
Don't ever forget who you've spoken to. Meet them. Follow up with them. Make demands of their time, but play the long game.
2. Keep at it.
It's bloody hard raising money, and much, much harder than you think it is now [early stage]. You have to keep at it, you have to keep going, and it's going to take three times as much effort and three times as long in terms of time. If you do keep at it, you will make it happen.
3. Craft your story.
That's a learnt skill, not an art. There's a way to tell your story, but make sure you know it inside out.
4. Be bold.
Show off. It's not about what you think you may be able to do, but what could you do if you had everybody behind you and all the starts aligned.
5. Be prepared.
You should be prepared for all the questions – that's what's going to help you in shaping, thinking about your product market fit, who your competitors are, what is your pricing, your distribution, how are you different from the rest, how do you prove that? Who is going to beat you? You need to know the answers to all of that because somebody is going to ask you and you need to be coherent.
6. Love it.
Have a brilliant time, because, do you know what? You may never get the exit. You may never even fundraise to the level that you want to. But if you keep thinking about tomorrow, you're not going to be able to enjoy today.
