Contrary to what many imagine, a good idea is not enough to succeed in the business world. Entrepreneurship goes far beyond that. For example, many startups that are just beginning develop brilliant products and services and demonstrate a long list of potentials that this innovation can solve. However, they often don’t do their homework well, starting with what we call defining a focus. Any project, regardless of the field in which it is implemented, needs this item, and the recommendation is to focus on the problem rather than the solution.
The first question to ask at this ideation stage is: what important and economically relevant problem can be solved? Moreover, what is it like, what is the size of this market, and who are the incoming and established competitors I will have to face? It’s worth noting here that a competing solution is anything that uses the money that would otherwise pay for the service but was used to pay for something else. Thinking this way, cinemas compete with dinners or theaters. This is the first understanding of this viewpoint before declaring that there are no market competitors.
Under the jackfruit tree, jackfruit grows!
It is very difficult for innovation to happen within the business itself. The programs of Venture Builder, for example, which are organizations that develop promising projects by offering intellectual and operational resources to startups in their portfolios, are still a major methodological challenge. It is necessary to deconstruct everything one knows and is certain about in order to innovate, and this is difficult to achieve with hands and feet tied to the day-to-day processes of the business already in development. Therefore, it will always be easier to provoke innovation in an environment protected from the day-to-day relationship.
In this regard, accelerators and hubs, such as CyKlo Agritech focused on agribusiness, have played this role of hosting innovative projects for companies already existing in the market. Talking about innovation is questioning the truths of the existing business that pays the bills, which is why an alternative environment allows this dynamic to be carried out with less wear and tear on the teams involved.
Exactly in this sense of assistance, the impact of the pandemic on the startup acceleration area was very significant. The interest in routines involving physical presence became lower, and it was necessary to adapt to the moment. Opting for smaller physical spaces or creating new shared uses for the wide areas that were once full of people.
There were also changes in validation processes, in the case of biotechnology and related areas, which require the accelerator team to have more specialized professionals in the theses supported by them to do complementary work in loco instead of the startup’s own team. Similar to when you hire a dispatcher to do something on your behalf, in this case, it is this new accelerator team that takes on some of the tasks at the acceleration site. For example, it could be the execution of a germination protocol at a research center or monitoring test areas on the client’s farm where the solution is being tested.
That’s why if Mohammed won’t go to the mountain, the mountain must come to Mohammed. After the pandemic, the appeal for quality of life has been provoking a phenomenon with this name, Mohammed. Accelerators are opening complementary offices near geographies where Smart Cities (urban centers focused on technology) are located. Where entrepreneurs study, live, and work there and are seduced by the possibility of developing partnerships with these accelerators present in their geographic region.
However, it is important to note that in the case of 2.0 accelerators, which are niche-focused on accelerating a specific vertical market, they also have to maintain headquarters in the hubs of their operations. For agtechs focused on agribusiness, the headquarters need to be in cities experiencing this segment and activities in this business chain. In Cyklo’s case, they are reducing space in Matopiba (the company’s headquarters) and creating two more offices, one in São Paulo, aimed at startups from the interior of the state, and another in Santa Catarina, targeting those from western Santa Catarina.
Last but not least, it is worth noting that financial resources for startups in the preliminary phase of their lives are becoming scarce. Traditional banks and financial agents working in this acceleration phase, which we call the beginning of the journey, have been reducing their presence worldwide.
Here in Brazil, a restructuring movement of these actors is beginning to occur, who, for example, are uniting accelerators and venture capital managers in new funding models. In the coming years, we will see various partnerships between seed money, angel capital, accelerators, and hubs, reorganizing the offering of funding + acceleration + smart money + post-acceleration funding + financing for a more intense operational phase, as well as growth that will be pre-combined and offered as packages, reducing effort and cost of sales and negotiation.
