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DIFFERENT WAYS TO SCALE

Accelerators, incubators, and startup studios are relatively new constructs that focus on scale, and scale only. In these programs, startups use design to churn through pivots until they find scale or burn out. If you want to scale design in your organization, it’s important to know how the successful ones do it.

A BIT ABOUT ACCELERATORS

If you were to do a web search for accelerator programs, you would find more than 2,000 of them across the globe. Partly because of inexpensive capital and partly because of the success of well-known accelerators, like Y Combinator, Techstars, and others, the accelerator space has seen explosive growth in the last few years. With all of the press and success accelerators have generated, big companies like Royal Bank of Scotland, Sephora, Nike, Target, Google, and the Los Angeles Dodgers have started their own accelerators.

Accelerators work for both startups and big companies, although bigger companies, with their larger network and greater resources, can use accelerators to sponsor startups, promote entrepreneurship, and nurture founders.

WHAT IS A STARTUP ACCELERATOR PROGRAM?

A startup accelerator program is an intensive business and personal development program that supports a small team of founders, who have big ambitions for growth and impact. The support comes in a form of mentorship, affordable office spaces, and some starting capital. In a nutshell, a program consists of the following core elements:

It used to be investment management companies that looked for the most promising, early-stage companies to invest in. The hope was that the startups would go on to raise the next rounds of funding and ultimately (and hopefully) get acquired or offer an IPO. Today, there is a new mindset and different kinds of accelerator programs, each with its own vision and ambition.

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OVERVIEW OF ACCELERATORS

	WORKSPACE	An office location that provides desks, office space, and facilities (infrastructure) at a reduced or low rate to startups and growth businesses.
	STARTUP WEEKENDS, HACK-A-THONS, AND BOOT CAMPS	Events run for 48–72 hours and are intended to create new startup teams that are actively engaged in developing a business idea under a strict time limits.
	STARTUP ACCELERATOR	Profit-driven (theme-based) programs that accept open applications to attend classes (or ”cohorts”) of new companies run by small founding teams. The initial ideas are expected to be already developed by the founders.
	CORPORATE STARTUP ACCELERATOR	Not-for-profit-driven programs that accept open applications to attend classes of new companies run by small founding teams. The focus of these programs is to build the network and ecosystem, change the corporate culture, gain access to ideas and technology, and create jobs to benefit for a wider society.
	STARTUP STUDIO	A smaller, more hands-on and intimate version of an accelerator: a startup studio houses a few startups under one roof wherein the principals of the studio invest personal time and effort into each startup, trying to help them scale.

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1871. THE CO-WORKING PLACE WITH A TWIST

1871 was founded in Chicago, IL, USA, as a not-for-profit community of designers, coders, and entrepreneurs who learn from each other, encourage each other, and share the journey up the steep startup learning curve.

BACK TO 1871

The Great Chicago Fire (1871) dealt a major blow to the booming economy. The direct need to rebuild the city led to great innovations, cross pollination, and practical ingenuity. In 2012, a group of Chicago’s technology boosters wanted to rekindle this passion. This became 1871.

What does a booming economy look like? A booming economy is as much about creating an environment that fosters entrepreneurship and innovation as it is about big companies growing bigger. 1871, an entreprenuerial hub for digital startups, housed on the 12th floor of Chicago’s historic Merchandise Mart, is a place where entrepreneurs seeking a collaborative and flexible work environment can go to design and build the businesses of their dreams. What’s perhaps most interesting about 1871 is that it’s designed from the ground up to help entrepreneurs network at scale.

Through this network, existing startups have readily available access to a potential customer base that can validate their ideas. And newly forming startups, or even single founders, are able to find co-founders and others to help develop their ideas further. In this way, 1871 is all about scale: scaling the network to scale the opportunities for design to flourish.

TAKEAWAYS

It’s hard to build a successful business. It’s even harder if you’re not plugged into a community of people. 1871 helps founders build their teams and works on building resilience and perseverance.

PEOPLE ORIENTED

INSIDE-OUT

WORKSPACE

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startupbootcamp STARTUPBOOTCAMP. THE ACCELERATOR

Patrick de Zeeuw visited the US and fell in love with the Techstars concept. He wanted to help as many startups as possible, but realized he couldn’t do it on his own. With his friend Ruud Hendriks, they launched Startupbootcamp. This is what they learned.

HOW WE RECRUIT TEAMS

We’ve honed our application criteria over the years. You can join Startupbootcamp if you comply with the 4-M’s:

MARKET	Have you defined your niche clearly?
MODEL	Are you here to make money?
MANAGEMENT	Do you have three partners to start with, including a product person in the middle, the back, and the front?
MOMENTUM	Is this the right moment?

Well, the last one is a bit slippery.

TAKEAWAYS

Running an accelerator is not about real estate; it’s about adding value through network and knowledge. It’s about pushing teams to go out of the building to find customer needs.

You cannot be afraid to fail. Business school or big corporate companies may have taught you to fear failure. But here, failing means learning.

Don’t be afraid to say: “I don’t know. ” That’s okay. We don’t know either. Be vulnerable and clear about what you don’t know.

Founders’ shit will always hit the fan. Some companies lose themselves in internal battles. Make sure you mediate right away: fix internal issues before they become big problems.

PEOPLE ORIENTED

OUTSIDE-IN

STARTUP ACCELERATOR

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RBS. CORPORATE STARTUP ACCELERATOR

NatWest, RBS, and Ulster Bank are three banks with eyes focused on the future. Their accelerator hubs offer free workspace and the opportunity to unite with fellow entrepreneurs, specially trained bank staff, and experienced businesses.

ACCELERATOR HUBS

NatWest, RBS, and Ulster Bank, in partnership with Entrepreneurial Spark, run free business accelerator hubs across the UK, targeting applicants from all sectors and offering free workspace and the opportunity to unite with fellow entrepreneurs, specially trained bank staff, and experienced business mentors.

At the end of the program each will hosts a “graduation” event bringing together entrepreneurs and business advisors. This gives accelerator graduates the opportunity to pitch to potential investors.

Alison Rose, chief executive of commercial and private banking at RBS: “We are determined to support entrepreneurs across the UK and the positive impact they have on the economy. That is why we are creating entrepreneurial eco-systems across the country that give startups the best chance of success and the free hubs remove concerns on things like office facilities, letting them concentrate on their business.”

TAKEAWAYS

Gordon Merrylees, Head of Entrepreneurship for NatWest, RBS, and Ulster Bank: “We will support 7,000 entrepreneurs for free over a five-year period. With our partners Entrepreneurial Spark we teach them new mindsets, behaviors, business models, and how to pitch. We work with them as a bank providing expertise, knowledge, and access to networks and markets that help build strong entrepreneurial communities and cultures. And, just as important, our staff gets involved, not just to help but to learn themselves too. We now have our own Entrepreneurial Development Academy where colleagues can develop and learn about entrepreneurialism. It means they can have better conversations with customers and better understand and support the challenges businesses face.”

PROCESS ORIENTED

OUTSIDE-IN

CORPORATE ACCELERATOR

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SEB INNOVATION LAB. THE IN-HOUSE INCUBATOR

Mart Maasik, Head of Innovation at SEB LAB, describes the LAB as a great place to collaborate and contribute with “nonprofessional” (business) developers and diversified teams. We started to experiment with external partners’ students.

OUR AMBITION

Our ambition is simple: we want to enable and inspire our people and make innovation happen. It’s first and foremost about people. We want to have a critical mass of “lighthouses” who have experienced and are inspired by delivering solutions as part of the LAB. Sometimes we call the LAB a base camp where people come for personal development and to systematically future-proof the organization.

TAKEAWAYS

We have learned a lot since launching the LAB. Many of these things show up as new skills that people learn as part of their experience. Firstly, it’s about learning to understand the customers and see their experiences as part of a larger journey. They also hone their ability to connect the dots. If the service in question has to be redesigned or simplified, it’s better to see the whole system than to put on an engineer’s hat and dive right into the tech. If we are targeting a new service concept, it’s critical to learn how to set a vision balanced with the ability to collect proof points that support the vision and help with the overall story. Finally, leading a team is a big learning curve for most people. On diversified teams it helps to be a multiskilled leader.

We’ve also learned that people really like to experiment if they’re given a safe environment. We also find that customer interviews are hard for most people at the beginning, but the insights and stories that they bring back with them are really powerful: learning speeds up as validation increases.

PEOPLE ORIENTED

INSIDE-OUT

CORPORATE ACCELERATOR

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QUBY & ENECO. GETTING IT TOGETHER

When Ivo de la Rive Box joined Quby in 2005 to help the startup scale, he had no idea what he was in for. After five years and several pivots, Eneco’s Tako in ’t Veld convinced them to join forces and launch a successful thermostat system.

WE STAYED UNDER THE RADAR

In order not to stifle the startup as they came on board, Tako shielded them from the full force of corporate scrutiny and bureaucracy. Only later, when the team was successfully integrated into the organization and the pilots were successful, did the board need to have full insight for the next, high-stakes phase.

TAKEAWAYS

If you bring on board a startup with a different culture and different work styles, don’t expect the members to flawlessly integrate with an existing corporate setting.

Also, you don’t want that to happen. They shouldn’t adapt to you, but you should adapt to them! Become a member of their team, bring a case of beer to their Friday happy hour, and understand what it is that makes them such different players.

As the startup gets more traction, have other members in the organization jump on the moving train, but do it in a durable way. The corporate world’s culture of rapidly shifting teams and allegiances and interchangeable job descriptions is alien to a small startup.

At Eneco, the energy and enthusiasm of the initial Quby members has now spread far and wide, and the people in the organization are proud of their new product. The startup infusion has helped shift the company’s mindset, as well. Instead of being an energy company in a commodity market, Eneco now sees itself as a data-driven and service-based company providing a top-quality product that supports energy sales and savings.

PEOPLE ORIENTED

OUTSIDE-IN

BUY A STARTUP

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ADOBE. THE INNOVATION HIVE

When Ann Rich, a Senior Manager for Adobe’s Accelerated Design & Innovation team, first joined Adobe, she recognized that the design process being used in Adobe’s HIVE was good for finding solutions to big challenges, and it needed to scale.

SOLVING PROBLEMS AT SCALE

Adobe, a software company with over 14,000 employees, is not unlike many other large organizations. With a global workforce and many products that serve different markets, from consumers to creative professionals to marketers, it’s a challenge to collaborate and solve problems at scale.

PILOT PHASE

In 2014, CTO Chief of Staff Joy Durling and Kim Mains, Director of Planning & Business Operations, came up with a new vision for accelerating innovation and tackling Adobe’s biggest challenges. In partnership with 8Works, a consulting firm, they launched a prototype and transformed an existing space at Adobe’s headquarters into what is now known as The HIVE. Durling and Mains wanted to test whether Adobe was ready for design-led thinking at scale and to use design to accelerate solution development for (big) business challenges.

More than 400 people solved big problems together using the HIVE methodology, specifically designed to enable collaboration. HIVE was a proven success. Now it was time to scale. In 2015, Ann Rich, an innovation and design strategist, was hired to oversee scaling HIVE principles throughout the entire organization.

TAKEAWAYS

One of the key takeaways from this journey was that highly facilitated engagement can make it difficult to relate experiences to everyday work. To scale, HIVE must move beyond sessions to capability development. The best feedback Ann has received was from an Adobe employee in Bangalore: “When can you teach us how to do this?”

PROCESS ORIENTED

INSIDE-OUT

CORPORATE PROGRAM