Agency for Science, Innovation and Technology (MITA) and Vilnius University (VU) invites startup teams to register for the third co-hort of the “TechHub” pre-acceleration program. During the program 25 startups will participate in a three-month training course, in which, with the help of personal mentors and innovation experts, will develop their ideas, get acquainted with investors and business angels, gain the necessary knowledge for further business development, find new team members and receive services worth 25,000 Eur.
“Speed is the main condition for the survival of a startup. However, young or less experienced in business people as well as those concentrating in technological solutions usually lack the so-called “soft skills” and understanding of where to start developing their business, how to test its potential and attract first customers. Personal mentors and lecturers can speed up these processes up to four times and help avoid critical mistakes. As the saying goes, smaller businesses get conquered not by the bigger ones, but by faster ones,” says Gintarė Narakienė, “TechHub” project manager.
The pre-accelerator contains a total of twelve training topics. Startups will refine the target customer, perform market and competitor analysis, create market entry strategy, learn about business and product development, positioning, branding, team building, intellectual property, investing. The best performing teams will be awarded with valuable prizes – opportunities to participate in meetings, events and accelerators abroad.
During the program, startups will receive intensive care from mentors that will help them achieve desirable goals. Eight professionals in various fields will look into the individual problems of startups and the teams will continuously consult with experts in strategy, marketing, team building, information systems projects, technology, sustainable business, health innovation, etc.
Startups (small companies with high and innovation-based business development potential, operating for up to 5 years) as well as teams with an innovative idea intending to register a company during the pre-accelerator can apply for participation. Each applicant team will have to provide information about the startup, team and service (product). The received applications will be evaluated and the participants will be selected by the project experts.
You can also find out more about the program at the Pre-accelerator Info Day Event, during which the program manager dr. Gediminas Rumšas will present the content of the program in more detail, talk about the application process, benefits, mentors and prizes. During the event, all questions will also be answered by participants from previous co-horts.
Registration is open until May 9. The pre-accelerator will start on June 7, will be held remotely in Lithuanian or English, depending on the needs of the selected teams.