The Bootcamp was an intensive week that lasted from the 4th until the 8th of September, where the teams worked on the initial steps of their business, and was an intro into the full blown Accelerator. As investors, we learned how open they were to mentor comments, how well they worked together as a team, if they were able to deliver everything that was asked from them under time pressure (with many sleepless nights!) and ultimately if they had the drive and will needed for launching a successful business.
During the Bootcamp a few startups pivoted to a business model and/or target market that they were able to identify as having an higher potential. We were surprised by some that, just having changed completely their approach, were able to make their first sale during the Bootcamp. Real hustlers! Many did not wait for a fully developed App or Platform to start reaching to their Prospects and even to start selling. Some went ahead with just a bare bones website and Facebook page and started selling though a chat service, charging their customers through payment platforms that they set up in less than 5 minutes. One in particular said that they deliberately did it in order to get to know better their customer base and their needs, and that it was helping them to serve them better, to fine tune their go-to-market strategy early-on and to identify new potential products and services.This approach is not the norm.
Many times we see startups focusing too much on their Product, their App or their Platform before engaging with their Prospects. We prefer the ones that do the way around. The ones that actually start by listening to those that are going to use their products or services and that are ultimately going to pay for them: the Customers.
We have seen many startups (and long established companies) that have divorced themselves from their customer base and that forgot that they will only thrive if they listen to the customers and evolve as their needs evolve.
At the end of the Bootcamp, we had to decide on which to invest 10K€ for 1.5%. We knew that, at this point in time, most of theses startups were still in their earlier stages, and that we were actually investing in the teams. The decision was though but at the end 9 startups, from different geographies and with very diverse business models, were selected and these will enter the Lisbon Challenge Accelerator in just weeks from now. We have high expectations for how far they will get until the end of the Program, at which point we will consider a further investment of 50K€ for 5.5%, alongside other investors. From our side they can expect full dedication to their rapid growth and a commitment to their success as we will do what we know best: enabling tech startups.
More info on Lisbon Challenge : www.lisbon-challenge.com