92% of startups fail… don’t be one of them.
It seems like an attractive concept nowadays, run your own startup, escape the 9 to 5, make megabucks in a huge IPO… everyone’s doing it, can’t be too hard, right? But if so, then why are the vast majority of them failing[1].
What complicates things is that while you may have the ‘next big idea’, you may not know how to execute on it effectively and quickly enough.
“IDEAS ARE CHEAP, EXECUTION IS EVERYTHING” – CHRIS SACCA
Sooner or later most founders realise that they need assistance. Sure, these founders can get mentors, investors or friends to help them out with expertise but recruiting them and maintaining these relationships can eat up so much of your time that there won’t be much time left to actually build your business… Moreover, how do startups even know they are setting themselves up for success rather than for failure.
This is where startup accelerators step in.
To the Moon! One specific accelerator, muru-D, is the Australian Telstra-backed startup accelerator that runs in both Australia and Singapore.
Accelerators bring all of the resources together under one roof and so they lower many of the resource costs of starting up while injecting early funds so that you can build your company – the result; much faster growth. This is what muru-D does excellently, it’s what drew my attention to them and their favourable terms for founders.
This is what I’ve discovered in my first month working at muru-D in their Singapore office.
CAN’T I JUST PAY A CO-WORKING OFFICE FOR DESK SPACE, THEN THEY WON’T TAKE EQUITY, RIGHT?
You certainly can! And there is nothing wrong with this. You can use a desk in the library for free, too (though morally/legally ambiguous). The thing is, it’s not the office space that you choose an accelerator for, it’s everything a coworking space is and more.
They are going to facilitate what would normally take you years when you are just starting out, and compress it into a few months, without sacrificing quality. Moreover, in muru-D’s case they take you in on a SAFE note (YC’s convertible note https://www.ycombinator.com/documents/), which means you are only giving them equity at a future date based on your future value and not a number you pluck out of the aether now based on your idea and no metrics.
Furthermore, all the teams are hand-picked by a rigorous selection process – meaning all your peers in the office will be of high quality. You just don’t get that kind of vetting in a coworking space.
They’re investing in you; therefore, they are… invested…They succeed only when you do, coworking spaces get paid either way.
THEY’RE INVESTING IN YOU;
THEREFORE, THEY ARE… INVESTED…
THEY SUCCEED ONLY WHEN YOU DO.
I saw the value first-hand, from day one the teams were in the office together, all driven and enabled by their environment. The program instils important disciplines required for execution success. For example, “stand-ups” are implemented across all teams, giving a diverse range of input, so that views gets expanded past your own startup and problems and thus people can share their expertise.
YOU’RE ALL IN IT TOGETHER.
Surrounding yourself with other early-stage entrepreneurs is good but what about when you need some advice from those more experienced than yourself?
I’m already connected to over 500 people on LinkedIn, why do I need their connections?
Reaching out to someone on LinkedIn is nice, it’s a great way to build a network of leads and peers that you might be able to provide mutual benefit to in the future. But it’s just that, a network of leads, just like any online directory. Without a warm introduction you’re just another untested entrepreneur with an idea looking for their help… If they’re any good, which they probably are, then they are getting dozens of these messages a week.
The difference is, muru-D staff likely know established people in the field you need, and if they don’t then they know someone who can get you introduced to this person. Inherit a huge network.
So, you can get a warm introduction to pretty much anyone to whom you can provide mutual benefit.
You are trading off the months of going to networking events and doing free favours to build relationships with an instant vouching that puts you in a room with the expert in your field. This is what acceleration is all about.
I’ve already seen teams get talks from industry experts who close multimillion dollar B2B deals or are responsible for (hundreds of) millions of users on a B2C app, or get introduced and meet with executives from large-scale enterprises such as banks and mining companies just by being a part of the muru-D program and having an offering that adds to that person’s work. By working there, I have gotten to meet these people too, and the calibre of talent is their network is astounding.
etting to spend one-on-one time with the Entrepreneur in Residence allows you to get personalised mentorship that helps you avoid making the same mistakes they did…
“THE ONLY WAY TO WIN IS TO LEARN FASTER THAN ANYONE ELSE.” – ERIC RIES
Just a quick session a week with access to them whenever you need aid (because they are in the same building as you full-time) means no wasted back-and-forth time trying to organise to fit into their insane schedule. I have already seen it over-and-over, the quality of advising given to the teams on a tailored fit is exemplary, and that quick response time can be the difference between success and failure.
Quick response time can be the difference between success and failure.
So now you are set-up with a network of people who can help you build your companies, you’re all set right?
Well, I wouldn’t say so just yet.
Even the most inspired people will fail if not held accountable for their work. Your motivation will fail you every once in a while… it’s inevitable and it’s nothing to feel guilty about. Founders are still human, just about.
y coming into the program you agree to meet certain milestones set by you and the muru-D team. You will receive aid and advice, mentorship and connections along the way, of course, but you are still held accountable for your company’s progress. This is probably the most important part of the program.
I’ve seen it time and time again, as motivation fails, grit steps in. The number one factor in their rate of company growth is their ability to stick out the tough times – when things are hard and money is tight – to be resourceful, clever, and work harder than ever.
THE NUMBER ONE FACTOR IN THEIR RATE OF COMPANY GROWTH IS THEIR ABILITY TO STICK OUT THE TOUGH TIMES, WHEN THINGS ARE HARD AND MONEY IS TIGHT, TO BE RESOURCEFUL, CLEVER, AND WORK HARDER THAN EVER.
So take motivation out of the equation, by relying rather on resilience, habit and grit you don’t tether the success of your [obviously] huge future liquidity event to your fleeting motivation. Commit to the program.
Alright, surely that’s it right, what else can there be?
Even when you manage to succeed in your market you will need to consider if you have made the correct strategic choice of location, will you manage to raise funds if needed, do you have good projections of sustained and increasing growth over the next year. All of these things depend on your ability to make choices, which hinges on your pattern recognition skills, which is built on your experiences.
You should be looking to grow your circle of knowledge, get out of your comfortable sphere of operation and see what the rest of the world is doing. You need to be looking not one or two months, but years down the track so that you can decide what’s right for right now. It’s the only way to win on a global stage.
Do you start in Australia, in Singapore, in the US? – knowing what will be right in the future means you have to go and see it first-hand right now.
Within my first month all of the teams were taken on the muru-D Singapore USA trip, to witness the incomparable speed and opportunities of Silicon Valley and NYC. For teams coming from Asia-Pacific who have not been there before it is always an eye-opening experience. Inspirational, but tough. They realised – as I realised – that if you want to compete on the global stage, you need to move so much faster, work so much harder and build a substantially larger network. Else, you just won’t stand a chance once you step overseas. The Valley is just too insular to compete against on personal networks, within a single degree of separation there you can meet almost anyone!
Sure you can travel to San Francisco on your own time, but will you get in the door to see and pitch in front of 500 Startups partners, visit Techstars and connect with their alumni and current cohort, hear from top Valley investors from YC, seed and angel funds and later series funding. Will you get to meet with dozens of founders in a week who have all succeeded there to get their input on your business. If you can, then that’s great, go and do it. But if you are like the rest of us then you might like to be brought in on the action…
Sounds like a busy time?
That’s because it is.
They don’t mess around at muru-D; you work hard and you get rewarded. You don’t work hard and well you don’t get rewarded, or even possibly kicked out.
You have to be committed because if you can’t handle the pressure of an acceleration program then you are certainly going to struggle when faced by a competitor moving faster with better resources while your runway quickly slips from under you.
I’ve seen a whole lot in my short time here so far at muru-D Singapore…Met more relevant contacts in this first month than ever before, contacts in Asia, Australia, San Francisco and New York. I have been guided to work in areas I’ve never before touched on and made good progress towards my goal of rounding out my skillset as a founder and a network of people who want to help.
If you have a product or service and you’ve got the team that fits the bill, but you are not sure how to grow then you are not alone, in fact you are likely in the majority. Apply to the muru-D program in the market that makes sense to your company, Sydney, Brisbane with River City Labs, Perth with Spacecubd or Singapore. If you truly are as qualified as you think, you’ll get a lot of value out of being accepted.
Written by Joseph Harris (muru-D Singapore)