The success of a startup goes beyond a good idea

Contrary to what many imagine, a good idea is not enough to succeed in the business world. Undertaking goes far beyond that. For example, many startups that are starting, develop products and services genius and demonstrate a large list of potentials that this innovation can solve. However, often do not do well homework, as a first point, which is what we call defining a focus. Any project, be the area in which it is implemented, needs this item and the recommendation is to focus the problem instead of the solution.

The first question to be asked in this stage of ideation is: what important and economically relevant problem can be solved? Moreover, how is it, what is the size of this market, what are the incoming and already established competitors that I will have to face. Here it is worth noting that the competing solution is any “thing” that uses the money that would serve to pay for the service, but was used to pay for another. Thus thinking, the cinema competes with dinner or with the theater. This is the first understanding on this point of view, before declaring that it has no market competitors.

On the jackfruit foot, jackfruit is born!

It is very difficult for innovation to happen within the business itself. Venture Buider for example, which are organizations that develop promising projects, offering intellectual and operational resources to startups in their portfolios, are still a great methodological challenge. It is necessary to deconstruct everything that is known and sure to innovate, and this is difficult to accomplish with your feet and hands tied to the day-to-day processes of the business that is already under development. Therefore, it will always be easier to provoke innovation in an environment protected from the relationship with day-to-day.

In this aspect, accelerators and Hubs, as is the case of CyKlo Agritech focused on agribusiness, have fulfilled this role of hosting innovative projects for companies already in the market. Talking about innovation is questioning the truths of the business that already exists and that pays the bills, so an alternative environment allows to realize this dynamic with less wear and tear of the teams involved.

Exactly in this sense of helping is that the impact of the pandemic in the area of acceleration of startups was very significant. The interest in routines involving physical presence became smaller and then it was necessary to adapt to the moment. Opting for smaller physical spaces or creating new shared uses for the large areas, which were once full of people.

There was also a change in the validation processes, in the case of biotechnology and related areas, which require the accelerator team to have more professionals verticalized in the theses supported by it to do a complementary work in loco similar to when you hire a dispatcher to do something on your behalf, in this case it is this new accelerator team that takes over some of the tasks at the acceleration site. For example, it may be the execution of a germination protocol in a research center or monitoring of the test areas on the client farm where the solution is being tested.

That is why if Muhammad does not go to the mountain, the mountain has to come to Muhammad. After a pandemic then, the appeal for quality of life has been causing a phenomenon with this name, Muhammad. The accelerators are opening complementary offices, close to geographies where the Smart Cities (urban centers with a focus on technology). Where they, the entrepreneurs study, live and work there and are seduced by the possibility of developing partnerships with these accelerators that are present in their geographic region.

However, it is important to note that in the case of accelerators 2.0, which are nichadas in accelerations of a specific vertical market, it must also maintain headquarters in the polo places of its operation. For agtechs, which focuses on agribusiness, the headquarters must be in cities that are living this segment and activities of this business chain. In the case of Cyklo, this is reducing the space in Matopiba (headquarters of the company) and creating two more offices, one in Sao Paulo, directed to startups in the interior of the State and another in Santa Catarina, with an eye on those of the west of Catarinense.

Last but not least, it is worth noting that financial resources for startups in the preliminary phase of their lives are becoming scarce. Banks and traditional financial agents working in this acceleration stage that we call the beginning of the journey, has been reducing its presence worldwide.

Here in Brazil, a restructuring movement begins to occur among these actors, which start, for example, to unite accelerators and venture capital managers in new financing models (funding). In the coming years, we will see several partnerships between seed money, angel capital, accelerators and hubs, reorganizing the offer of funding + acceleration + smart money + post acceleration funding + financing for a more intense operational phase, as well as growth that will be previously combined and offered as packages, reducing effort and cost of sale and negotiation.