The Silicon Mountain Project – Accelerator Programme

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• January 8, 2022

The Silicon Mountain Project Accelerator, is a high growth potential programme that focuses on building the capacity of Small Teams to provide support to the Founders/Owners. The accelerator programme is a fixed term, cohort-based programme which includes business education, mentorship, seed investment in exchange for equity. The programme culminates in a “Demo Day” where participants have the opportunity to Pitch to potential investors.

Access to the programme is via an application process which is highly competitive, however, all interested businesses are encouraged to apply.

Programme Overview:

The programme is operated in cohort batches of 5-10 teams. Cohorts are deliberately kept small to allow for maximum interaction and one-on-one team support. The duration is 3 months and consists of intensive training and mentorship.

The accelerator programme will provide a common workspace allowing the teams to meet periodically. The option to meet virtually is also available.

The primary value to the entrepreneur is derived from the business education, mentoring, building connections, and the recognition of being chosen to be a part of an amazing highly competitive accelerator programme.

The entire process can be divided into five distinct phases as follows:

1. Awareness – Gathering information on the programme options and determining best fit

2. Application – Submit application along with supporting information for entry consideration. This is essentially your first pitch so make the best of it.

3. Programme – Consultation, review and selection of the programme that fits your business stage of development

4. Demo Day – Your second biggest pitch to internal investors and selected external investors

5. Post Demo Day – Based on the pitch outcome, we will consult, review the feedback and selection of a programme structure to current and realign.

Training areas covered are as follows:

Setting Realistic Targets:

Setting business targets, monitoring and adjusting to achieve desired outcomes.

Focusing the business and business leaders on a small set of measurable and achievable outcome and indicators is key acceleration activity. This involves identifying a few key outcome indicators related to foundational skills that are easy to communicate and act upon. Collectively The Silicon Mountain Project and the business team will define the “needles” that collective efforts hope to move and establish monitoring systems for these key outcome indicators.

Investment Case:

Developing a realistic plan to reach the targets, which aligns internal and external actors and funding

Developing a business plan leads to greater alignment across the business and key stakeholder partners, towards an evidence-backed approach to reaching targets. This alignment will allow the business to leverage technical and financial resources from both the start-up budget and from interested investment partners.

This alignment will also help bring in other partners to join in on supporting the outlined investment plan to reach the business targets, and help accelerate progress.

This effort will result in a compelling, clear, costed, and evidence-based roadmap for achieving the set business targets (which we refer to as the “Investment Case”). The Investment Case will be focused on key investment targets and what’s require to achieve them.

The Silicon Mountain Project, and investment partners will provide technical assistance to review how existing activities and plans, are reaching the targets, and match up against the evidence-backed interventions. The Investment Case will also analyse existing capacity vis-à-vis what is needed to improve the business investment attractiveness.

Leadership Capacity Strengthening:

Building the leadership implementation capacity to reach the set targets.

The Program will give Accelerators tools and support to build their capacities to implement the interventions identified in their Investment Case. A central aspect of the Program is to give entrepreneurs opportunities to learn from each other and apply practical lessons from how other entrepreneurs face similar challenges. Different forms of support under the Program include: i) Creating a Community of Practice where entrepreneurs and partner experts can exchange and share knowledge; ii) Making practical materials and tools easily accessible online; and iii) helping entrepreneurs access technical support, advisory services and analytics, and implementation capacity development.

Communications And Advocacy:

Informing and engaging national stakeholders behind the targets

This exercise will involve developing a communications and advocacy plan to inform and engage key national and local stakeholders around the business targets, the investment plan. Additionally, it will involve designing and implementing an accompanying resource mobilization strategy to “crowd in” additional financial resources to undertake communication and advocacy plans at scale. The main aim of this exercise is to ensure a strong ownership of and support for the targets amongst decision makers and influencers and through a range of stakeholders.

Partner Alignment And Accountability:

Aligning key stakeholder and development partners around the business.

This exercise will involve working proactively through key stakeholder and development partners, and other coordinating bodies among the partners in the Accelerator as platforms to achieve tighter alignment around the targets and the Accelerator Program.

How To Get In

Pitch to Join

Each month selected entrepreneurs of the incubator programme are invited to pitch their business to a group comprising Silicon Mountain Team Members, current Entrepreneurs in the accelerator stages and specially venture capital investors. The Pitch is 15 minutes including questions and answers. Prospective Entrepreneurs will be advised of the final decision within 48 hours of the pitch.

What you get

Companies in the Accelerator Programme require a different set of resources to accelerate their business to grow and expand. As such you will be offered all the required support to get your Business investor or IPO ready. As a hybrid environment you will have the option to use our physical space or logon to our platform to view records classes and sessions, and access our wide array of resources

What you give

Accelerator companies, can either offer more equity to The Silicon Mountain Project for the additional services and support or begin to pay an agreed monthly fee used to cover or compensate for what you get.

Milestones

Get More in terms of cash or additional services as you hit agreed milestones and the business progresses to Venture Capital or IPO.

Emerge

…. from Accelerator into Venture Capital or IPO.

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