9 Common Mistakes Startups Do in Any Accelerator

An accelerator is a programme supporting entrepreneurs’ development and growth. A large part of the companies entering accelerators are technological start-ups. They have a big growth potential with their unique products. However, this also requires threading new business paths. The start-up ecosystem is something like a lab that tries new ways on how to make a business more effective. In Czech Republic, the known accelerators are e.g. Impact Hub (100-Day Challenge, Impact First, Edison), Czech Accelerator, StartupYard and others.

During my time in some of them, I noticed some repeating mistakes start-ups do. These mistakes make it unnecessarily impossible for them to succeed.

They Have No Specific Expectations. They Do Not Know What Are the Biggest Challenges

“We nailed pretty much everything, but we want to move on, so we expect you to tell us what to do.” Yes, we have all heard sentences like this before. But if you want to move somewhere, first you need to know where that somewhere is. Let’s say you want to go to London but you don’t know whether you are in Prague or Syndey; how can anybody show you the right direction?!

As long as I know what I’m doing, I don’t need a mentor. I need one in case I don’t know it, or if I tried several ways on my own and it went nowhere. Wherever I know I won’t be able to get a bigger contract, an accelerator may help me to describe the situation, find the cause, and find a solution together. However, granted that I only know that the business is not going well, but I have no clue what is causing it; it will be much harder to move the start-up on together and we will waste a lot of time uncovering the status quo. Nevertheless, there are things you can do to prepare yourself for acceleration.

They Don’t Have the Documents Ready

Of course, an analysis of the status quo to some extent is always part of acceleration. All start-ups get feedback and ratings. These ratings are provided based on information and data. Provided that a start-up has no CRM, it has no stats; neither is the market mapped, and it is hard to give it feedback. So, the first feedback is: “Process your data, pull them out of the system, or create them, then we can move on.” You are losing your time by this while other start-ups have everything prepared and are actually moving on right off the start.

Fortunately, most accelerators will guide you, advising you on what inputs are needed at the beginning, yet the extent of accuracy is up to you. The more thorough your information is, the faster your progress will be.

They Are Not Mentally Prepared for Criticism

Personally, when I meet my mentors, consultants, or lectors, I don’t want to hear that I am doing it completely right. Sure, I am happy when someone praises me. But first of all, I want to hear what I am doing wrong. I am happier when they tell me: “this is completely wrong” because it allows me to make an immediate, fundamental change.

As a matter of fact, it hurts your feelings to hear things like that. It is not pleasant; yet it is necessary. For me personally, it is best to try to ignore these uncomfortable feelings or consider them a part of this process. Simply, once I hear something I don’t like, I just swallow, feel something weird in my stomach, my ego starts to boil, I let it all to settle down, it will get better in few minutes, and I can rationally get back to the point and start to write down a plan on how to implement the new findings (eventually, revive the old ones).

The most successful start-ups were not afraid to say: “We used to do it this way, here, we found out it was completely wrong, and we started all over again. Thanks to that we are much further than we would have been and we have a much more solid plan for further development ” at the end of an accelerator.

They Lack Dedication and Time Capacity to Increase Their Effort

For example, expos are a frequent excuse. “We are going to Slush, Comic-Con, Web Summit, we are busy for the next 4 weeks; we have to prepare for that.” It is the same thing as subscribe for a gym pass for a quarter of a year and then go on vacation for a month. Does it make sense? By the way, in that month you can find out, for example, that going around the exposes at the moment makes no sense at all, since it takes too much time and provides very poor results.

The accelerator only makes sense in the moment when the start-up is ready not only to work at 100%, but temporarily even increase its efforts. It is like a super sprint. The start-up has access to a large number of experts, contacts, and other sources and the possibility of using them is relatively unlimited. The more they used them, the better.

I’d really go with the “Since we have already paid for the vacation, we have to eat everything at the buffet here” approach. In the accelerator, it does not look that bad compared to the buffet. Contrary is the case here: it looks strange when you only go with eggs and tea.

They Do Not Lay All the Cards on the Table

In accelerators, a start-up is “assigned” to one mentor who provides stronger support and makes sure that everything is going in the right direction. From a certain point of view, a mentor is in the same position towards the start-up as a lawyer is towards a client, he/she is defending. To have any chance of success, the lawyer needs to know the truth, know everything. This also applies to the mentor - start-up relationship.

If they don’t have the information (see Point 2), it’s not such a big deal. That can be fixed. However, once they have the data but refuse to share it, that is an issue. I used to help with a very interesting project and it's founder literally glowed. It only lasted when we talked about visions and relatively general stuff. When it came to the hard numbers, finance etc., the communication stagnated until finally he basically didn’t finish the acceleration.

That’s just not how it works. A start-up may primarily need help in one specific area, but everything is related to everything else. Assuming they want to e.g., kick up sales, there are general techniques and processes that will help. But, if we don’t know the composition of the current portfolio, monthly revenues, profit margins etc. it will be hard, even impossible, to work objectively and reach any sort of development. It will be just general mumbling. When there is something to be improved, it shall be measured and evaluated. In business, it is all about numbers, not feelings. Feelings might be just a signal; numbers are the real map showing the right direction.

They Have No Business Mindset At All

It is clear that a person who is able to program a unique algorithm or invent a revolutionary technological solution may not always be a temperament, socially skilled salesperson. He/she lives by his/her invention, research, and consider it the main purpose of their existence. They believe that if the solution works, it will sell itself and they don’t care about the business side of things.

When you then read their business plan, you only see a description of a product. Once you ask them, how they are going to sell it, they once again describe the product saying that it will fly off the shelves. Or they say they will hire someone for the Facebook ads and maybe one salesperson. They image that somebody will actually do it for them.

These are very demanding discussions and sometimes it even seems impossible to convince such founders that the business is not only about the product, but it is a very comprehensive “sport”, in which it is necessary to have a broad scope. On the other side, it is a great challenge for mentors like us, and it really requires focus and a very patient coaching approach.

However, openness is needed from the start-up’s side. In the end, the initial absence of the business mindset is not such a big deal as the closed-mindedness towards anything new.

They Are Afraid It Will Turn Out To Be Something Completely Different

“To pivot” means to use a technology/solution that was originally intended to solve a problem of some sort to solve a completely different problem. For instance, YouTube was originally a dating site. The founders wanted users to get to know each other using medallion videos. Only that people start to upload all kinds of things, from cats and dogs to sport and party footage, etc. YouTube soon realized that it would be better to build a global platform for sharing videos, and we can see today that it was a brilliant decision. As a dating site, they probably would have quit a long time ago.

The same can happen to every start-up. And it isn’t necessarily a failure; it is an opportunity. Building a business requires the ability to stand your ground. Definitely. But it is necessary to stand the right ground. And that is possible only with a sufficient amount of information. Providing that the accelerator brings them and shows that change will result in progress, why resist it? These are often very positive messages, and the product ends up having much more meaning and impact.

They Will Settle for Little

The fear of success is one type of fear. The fear of growth, expansion, greater responsibility. Sometimes, we can see something amazing in accelerators, but with low ambitions. A founder wants to have a small, family company, a local business. Do not get me wrong. I am not here to judge. It is also the right way.

At the same time, I think it’s a shame if a quality thing doesn’t reach more people - customers - due to small ambitions.

For example, start-ups just want to get out of the red numbers. To fine tune one function of the application and live from a passive income. Or they limit themselves to the Czech region, although their products can be sold on-line with no need for traveling. Mostly it’s about the fact that the moment they achieve these, from our perspective, marginal and their perspective major, goals, the door to big business, expansion and scaling opens. In moments like these I remember the quote from Francoise de la Rochefoucauld: “Modesty has been made a virtue to guard against the ambition of the talented and the discontent of the mediocre”. And then the second quote from the comics’ Ben Parker (an uncle of Peter Parker, meaning Spider-Man): “With great power comes great responsibility”.

In my opinion, the amazing thing about business is the possibility to surpass your own expectations.

They Expect Investment at the End of an Accelerator

In his book Angel, Jason Calacanis writes that founders who fail to approach and attract investors on their own and enter accelerators to attract investment have an imaginary “warning sign” hanging over them.

It’s a fact that accelerators are somehow connected to investors. They know each other; investors sometimes participate at pitches (short business plan presentations). However, it is rather naive to expect someone to go for a start-up and be mad about investing. Most investors are daily bombarded with lots of e-mails containing crazy ideas or incomplete business plans, and it is necessary to filter that thoroughly. Once they meet a founder in person, the charisma, energy, and confidence of the start-ups founder plays a much bigger role for the investor than the product itself.

It is good to take the word “accelerator” literally. It is a possibility to accelerate, to solve a problem, to move on. It is not a “saviour” or a “rescuer”. It will not do the work for you. It is rather a very affordable, effective support. An accelerator sets up a mirror for you; it will teach you to ask the right questions. It gives you access to experience, know-how, it will teach you the suitable processes. It will open your eyes. Before you get into it, consider the above stated and make sure that you can actually use the time spent in the accelerator to the maximum. Maybe the next accelerator you dive into will be one of the fundamental milestones of your success.