5 Ways to Make the Most Out of Your Startup Accelerator

April 18, 2016

Bootcamp Done, What’s Next on the Lisbon Challenge Accelerator?

Until the day comes when we can learn new skills by uploading them directly into our brain, just like in The Matrix, learning processes will always take time. Speaking of intensive learning processes the Lisbon Challenge Accelerator Bootcamp ended last Friday and now it’s time for the next phase of the acceleration program, for four weeks, where execution is the keyword: We saw each Startup presenting their plan of «attack» for the next month. Of course mentors and experts will always be available to guide you, however don’t expect any kind of babysitting – in the end it’s your planning and execution that will decide everything.

To excel in execution, you can be sure planning is a basic need. In this early-stage of a Startup, it always seems there are a thousand things per day to focus on and most of them in the same level of relevance. Without a plan any team can easily get lost in the way, so here’s how you can make the most of this Startup Accelerator.

5 Things to Revisit and Better Prepare for the Challenge Ahead

Vision – Have your vision clearly stated: it’s your ultimate goal and the one that will allow to see the big picture when dealing with the upcoming barriers.

Set your Goals – If you set goals for everything you do, not only you’ll be highly motivated to achieve them but also you can measure performance and detect what needs improvement.

Roadmap: Essential. This will help you to continuously  be aware of your focus. You have to bring to life your MVP as soon as possible and work on it so a more general roadmap should be wrapped around your Product Roadmap. Since it’s not easy to know how detailed this one should be, depending on the number of techies on the team between other factors here’s an insightful article on How Detailed Should Your Startup’s Product Road Map Be by Andrew Cohen, Founder & Ceo of Brainscape and Startup Mentor at Techstars.

Decision Making – You shouldn’t rush on hard decisions nor let your emotions guide them, but at the speed you should be progressing you can’t lose too much time overthinking every single decision. Here’s a Decision-making Framework made by Adeo Ressi, Founder & Ceo of the Founder Institute, that will allow you to save time whilst assuring that you’re not making your choices based on impulse.

Priorities – This is another tough challenge. Between all the feedback  you’ll be receiving from everybody you’ll talk to and all the ideas for your product that will constantly pop up your head, you have to find a way to prioritize them. Alex Iskold, Investor and Managing Director of TechStars in NYC, tells you how in Use Action and Idea Lists to Prioritize Tasks and Get Things Done

And last, but not least..

Productivity – With so much work to do, even the most focused entrepreneurs can sometimes get lost. On the other hand, maybe working 20/7 can burn you out in less than a month (missing the amazing final day at Lisbon Challenge accelerator) so here’s How to Hack Productivity  with tips from 65 Startup Founders collected by Founders Grid on how they deal with Productivity and manage the minimum balance between working hard and having the basic time to rest and unwind.

Make the most of this opportunity

Beyond these guidelines, don’t forget to use all the resources and people that you have available at the Lisbon Challenge Startup Accelerator. Try to get as much feedback as possible, and if you ever feel a conflict between two opposite given opinions, there’s nothing better than getting those two persons to talk.
There will be also an incredible number of persons crossing every day the same working space as you – mentors, speakers, investors, other startups – so leave your shyness aside and don’t miss the chance to network, a lot of opportunities might come up from the people you meet along the way.

Luck is pointed as the number one reason for success by numerous founders, but behind that ability to get lucky there’s always an incredible amount of hard work, so Good Work & Good Luck.