The Shotput Ventures partners have been in the throes of deciding what startups to fund for this upcoming summer 2010 class. But in doing so we’ve discovered that the time has come for us to adapt, change, and morph the way our organization is going to deal with potential portfolio companies. But first, a little history.
In 2009, we got together to launch a seed-stage accelerator like those that are thriving in many other cities from Silicon Valley, Boulder, D.C., New York City, and even Rhode Island. Overall, we think this explosion of early stage opportunities is great for entrepreneurs especially given that all of the partners of Shotput are also entrepreneurs. But this ongoing explosion has created a problem, at least for us although we suspect it has (or will) hit other incubators as well. Namely it seems that the number of these programs has grown so large that the supply of good seed-stage startups isn’t filling the capacity these programs have. So we had two choices: iterate or die. Since we’re entrepreneurs…
We’ve decided to iterate. Last year we were iterating during the summer program when we discovered things weren’t working as well as they should, but I digress – this post is about the future, not the past. What we’re doing now is blowing up the whole concept of the “summer program” for Shotput. No longer will our investments be focused on one single summer class. We will have an ongoing application process and as we find startups that fit our profile, we’ll make investments. There are some potential downsides to this approach like losing camaraderie among similar staged companies progressing in lock-step through a defined program.
That said, we think the upside is far greater. No longer do entrepreneurs have to wait to apply to Shotput or think about timing their launch with the end of our summer program (you read that right, no more demo day for us). We will also now have the flexibility to look at entrepreneurs who we would like to fund but who aren’t ready for funding. For these folks we will give feedback and guide them to a point where we think we could fund them and increase their probability for success.
And that brings us to an important point – what is not changing. The current partners of Shotput are still committed to being involved and investing in startups. Each startup that we invest in will be assigned a Shotput partner (based on expertise and interest) who will meet with that team one to three times a week. The three month intensive program will be tailored to what that company needs and to ensure that they can execute on a plan for success.
So there you have it. Like all good entrepreneurs, we’re adapting and iterating to changing market conditions. More details about the ongoing application process will be coming soon.
[cross-posted at Shotput Ventures]