Idea Incubation: Accelerate your way to success

The Accelerator centres also provide facilities like recreation rooms, seen here is the recreation room at Microsoft's Bangalore Accelerator

You need more than an Idea
For incubators or accelerators to select you, your idea has to be powerful. It needs to have the potential to be a game-changer and truly innovative. It will be evaluated by domain experts and if they see a potential, only then you will find place in the program. The seats are limited and the competition fierce, so your pitch has to be strong and should convince them of its value. Apart from a business idea, what will also determine your success is your core team. In fact, when you approach incubators or accelerators, one important point of consideration for them is whether your passion is shared by your core team. Tanvi points out, “We put a lot of emphasis on the team, as it is very important for the success of your idea. Because there may be a lot of obstacles that can come along the way and they need to have a good leader leading them. And most of them are really young guys with good educational background and they know the kind of jobs that they can easily get. But despite of that they are choosing to startup on their own so there is a lot of amount of motivation that goes into it.”

Rajinish second her point, he elaborates, “You need to have a core team of believers, you may have an idea, but you also need to successfully rally some people around. Because after all it is very rare that someone can build a company on his own. You need to have a team who understands you and stands by you. If you are thinking of building or making a mark on the eco-system today, if you are thinking of big break-out ideas, then you definitely need to have a good team in place. It doesn’t matter whether the team is form a marketing perspective or technical perspective, but you need to have a core team in place. You cannot have people coming and working part-time for you.”

Things to consider
Getting into an incubation centre or an accelerator program is not as easy as it seems. And there is no right time to approach an incubator or an accelerator with your idea, as many of them provide support to projects at all stages. Whether you just have a sketch of what you want to do or you have a working proto-type, you will find the right program to fit in. However, there are certain things that you should bear in mind before approaching them, as Ms. Padmaja Ruparel, President, Indian Angel Network, which runs a virtual incubation centre, says, “Before approaching an incubation centre the entrepreneur should consider if their goals are compatible with the goals and objectives of the incubator centre. It should also be taken into account if the incubation will be able to provide the tools and mentorship that you require. Mentoring and guidance are the most important aspects of the program that will help you achieve success and growth. Every business idea takes time to translate into a successful venture and it’s the role of an incubator to provide the startup with the required mentoring and guidance to achieve success.”

Most of the accelerators are set-up by entrepreneurs like Sameer Guglani from The Morpheus, who are keen to share their experiences and mentor budding start-ups