Before You Apply

Do you need a non-disclosure agreement before you submit your idea(s) to Seed Accelerator™?

We respect that many entrepreneurs require confidentiality and will offer to protect IP mutually. Because of the large number of opportunities that we receive, we have a preference not to sign external NDAs. On our website we offer two types of NDA that we are most happy to sign; the AVCAL Standard NDA, and our own proprietary Seed Accelerator mutual NDA. We invite each prospective applicant to peruse both and select which one suits their needs. Please complete the form of your choice, sign it, scan it and email it to us, so we can complete the rest. We will send you back the completed and signed NDA in PDF format. Our legal counsel will then file and store a copy of the NDA.

The type of investments Seed Accelerator™ makes

We are very selective in how we invest our time, energy and resources, hence our strict program selection criteria and thorough application process. We mainly invest in exceptional technology companies with the potential to increase our investment tenfold within 2-3 years. We only want to invest in the best and we like to partner with exceptional people who founded tech ventures that have:

  • Clarity of Purpose: Summarize the company's business on the back of a business card.
  • Large Markets: Address existing markets poised for rapid growth or change. A market on the path to a $1B potential allows for error and time for real margins to develop.
  • Rich Customers: Target customers who will move fast and pay a premium for a unique offering.
  • Focus: Customers will only buy a simple product with a singular value proposition.
  • Blue Oceans: A product or service which is unique and can create an uncontested market space, allowing not to compete with rivals, but to make them irrelevant.
  • Pain Killers: Pick the one thing that is of burning importance to the customer then delight them with a compelling solution.
  • Think Differently: Constantly challenge conventional wisdom. Take the contrarian route. Create novel solutions. Outwit the competition.
  • Team DNA: All team members are the smartest or cleverest in their domain. "A" level founders attract an "A" level team.
  • Brains & Balls: The willingness, ability and power to fight and work hard to conquer the world.
  • Agility: Stealth and speed will usually help beat-out large companies.
  • Passion: Sincere and in-depth passion and commitment about bringing their idea alive and to help change the world.
  • Good Health: The emotional balance, physical capacity, strength and good health to deal with accelerated personal- and business growth.
  • Frugality: Focus spending on what's critical. Spend only on the priorities and maximize profitability.
  • Inferno: Start with only a little money. It forces discipline and focus. A huge market with customers yearning for a product developed by great engineers and designers requires very little firepower.
  • Honesty & Integrity: Essential to survive and succeed.

Insights and advise for any company hoping to get chosen for a Seed Accelerator™ program:

  • Be flexible. Taking the advice of the people in the accelerator program means changing things about your business. Be brutally honest with yourself about your willingness to change things you are emotionally attached to; names, concepts, ideas, and even people. If you can’t handle your cheese moving, don’t go into the maze. Seed Accelerator will help you to kick ass, which often means we'll kick your ass as well. Are you ready to take on the world together with us???
  • Do your homework. Know the Seed Accelerator team members and mentors and their backgrounds, and have an idea of what they could do for your company. You should know the ins- and outs of your target market(s), your target audience(s), your competitor(s), your team member(s), you business partner(s), etc.
  • Be empathetic. Please put yourself in the place of our Selection Panel: we see hundreds of applications from around the globe. We might have seen your idea many times. It's best to tell stories that illustrate your team’s capabilities instead of hyping your idea. 
  • Be different. We receive applications from a dozen companies in trendy categories like mobile advertising, location-based services, social networks, iPhone apps, online coupons, etc. What makes yours stand out? If you say either (a) we’re passionate about our business or (b) we know the market better than anybody else, the trap door will open beneath your feet. What unique twist have you come up with that changes the game for this market? Maybe your uncle works for IBM and he’s agreed to give you a huge contract if you can ship the product? Perhaps you’ve found a new viral technique that will lower your marketing costs? All of these are better answers than (a) and (b). Even crazy or controversial ideas have the potential to turn an industry on it’s head.
  • Be realistic. We know you don’t have all the answers, and we don’t expect you to. If you did, you wouldn’t need us! Talk confidently about what you do know, and have some sense of self-awareness about what you don’t know. Any real facts & figures and proof points will help you to proof to us that your team and business idea are the best of all applications.
  • Be visionary. Most companies we see think way too small. Think BIG! Is it really a company you’re creating, or just a product? We don’t want to hear about how 1% of the market will make you a $200M company. We want to hear your plans for having 90% market share and dominating the global market space!
  • Have a real business model. You’re creating a new way to help people find and share cool new music? Awesome, how do you make money at that? Once you make money; how can you secure your revenue streams to create sustainable revenue growth?
  • Dare to stand out. In everything you do you, you think, you communicate or you create: have the guts to go nuts and tell and/or show it like it is! Don't be afraid to think big, to share your dreams or to look different! We're here to help and we have a passion for people, things, ideas and businesses which are different and unique!
  • Create a Blue Ocean. "Don't Compete with Rivals, Make Them Irrelevant!" We prefer new and unique ideas and business models which meet the Blue Ocean Strategy principles: disruptive, unproven and/or focused on an uncontested market space.

 

"I want something not just to INVEST in. I want something to BELIEVE in!" - Anita Roddick (Founder of The Body Shop)