The reason Google, Apple, Microsoft, Oracle or Nike have such motivated teams and the greatest minds in their field is the work environment. These companies certainly have the budget to improve their workplace and meeting rooms. You got smoothie bars, bean bag chairs, ping pong tables and of course, floor to ceiling windows to see the real world and nature.

You’re probably thinking, “Yeah, but they have billions of dollars and all I have is my life savings for my startup.” Well, turns out there are many other options to change the dull workplace that could save you money and get your team more energized at the same time.

They are called remote meetings. It means that you and your team go to another location for a meeting. This doesn’t mean you decide to have a meeting in another office building. This means you try a new place where they have delicious food at your disposal, like a restaurant or cafe.

But oh no, it’s Tuesday morning and your meeting is scheduled in one hour. What do you do now? Well, that’s when you should use a service like Mustard. This app has worked together with restaurants throughout your city to give you VIP access to spots at their venue to have your meeting. The restaurants on their app have been thoroughly vented to make sure the environment is cozy, yet does not affect work efficiency. This means that you can have your floor to ceiling windows, gourmet coffee, and a full lunch if your hard working heart desires.

With a Mustard annual membership, not only do you have the ability to make a last minute reservation at the vast selections of available restaurants, but you will be given special discounts. This ranges from percentage discounts to specials on meals or snacks.

Now, you’ve booked your meeting. It went flawlessly, your team is refreshed and now ideas and work are flowing like never before.

The great thing is that Mustard is a start up too and the list of restaurants are constantly expanding globally! So, make sure to get your membership before it becomes too exclusive : https://saucemoutard.com/acheterlacarte/

Austin Grey Maxwell, Quentin Le Gall, Dmytro Pavlenko, Mattias Ots.

In my first article I explained why and how I started an adventure in the Startup world.

This article will be different. Indeed after my first experience I decided not to start a new project but to learn everything I could and meet as many people as possible.

I had no idea about the difference between an incubator and an accelerator. So I did my first internship as a Startup Manager Junior in one of the most famous French Startup Accelerator. My vision about startups completely changed.

I had to scout startups. By scouting I mean looking for early stage startups that could be taken in the accelerator. As a beginner the first question I asked myself when evaluating was : would I use it ? This was the worst question ever because 90% of the startups where B2B. So my boss taught me a thing I will never forget :

« Stop scouting products as a customer, ask yourself if the startup has identified a pain point, if yes how does the startup respond to it.»

The first thing I noticed is that our French ecosystem is very dynamic. Every 4 months we had hundreds of different applications from all around the world. In the meantime, dozens of new (corporate) accelerators and incubators were building up. The competition became rude, so did the selection .

My second remark refers to the innovation cell theorized by Joseph Schumpeter. Most of the startups that I met were not changing the world but making things easier or adding a new feature/use on an already existing technology. This was one of my biggest disillusion. As a huge dreamer I would have loved to meet real innovators. Not people who have identified a business but people who are focused on structural problems and looking for long-term solutions.

The competition in incubation/acceleration offering was getting rude. Today, if you are a founder looking for a structure to help you, you are probably going to get lost. They promise you a network of mentors, experts, a beautiful demoday and a potential fundraising.

These are my recommendations. You should first ask you what you want to get from this structure : are you looking for business development, opportunities ? If so, then you should target a corporate accelerator. Those corporate accelerators are business focused, you will benefit from field-experts and start a POC.

If you are looking for intense growth and if you operates in different sectors then go for a non-corporate accelerator. But watch out those criteria : tack records, mentor and VC network and overall ask yourself in what extent this fast-track period will accelerate your business. Among all of the startups I’ve met, the biggest part of it had just started a viable growth strategy and were looking for funds in order to scale.

Accelerators are mainly attracting early-stage startups. I’ve seen startups accelerated with no product. It didn’t work out at all. If you are too early don’t apply. Get a first minimum viable product with clients and feedbacks. Justify that people love your product then apply. If you think it’s the right moment then go for it. Accelerators are very helpful in growth framing. They will help you to stay focus on the metrics you need to improve, they put you some very pressure on your KPI’s so that you will reach milestones more quickly.

The right choice at the right time.

With what I’ve seen, I tried to build up a scheme of the help that startups can get from the idea stage to growth. It’s based on success stories and researches I’ve done. Once again It’s not mandatory for a startup to be enrolled in an structure but this can really help.

You have an idea, a team and dreams : Build a (first but fake) business plan and if you are a student in a private business/engineering school or alumni then apply to your School Incubator. It is a good way to get feedbacks from teachers, experts and alumnis. You can have free desks for a year at least and get a network of thousands of professionals. This will help you to get your first clients (network power). If you are in a public school I recommend you to apply to the PEPITE Network in France, It is a status for French entrepreneurs students.

You have your first clients so your MVP is validated : You need to move to the next level so if you read before you should apply to accelerators. It will boost en frame your growth. it will help you to raise funds. Use these funds to hire people not for goodies even if this is cool.

This fast-track period may not work… It doesn’t mean that you should stop : Even if I believe in accelerators benefits, I recognize that it is not a magic box. Some succeed, some fail and some need time. If you need more time then don’t waste money on renting offices, apply in different incubators (public are better because cheaper). It will help you to pursue and find your growth strategy with all the knowledge you have accumulated during your fast-track.

And you finally got it : GROWTH IS HERE. It’s been a long long way since you’ve started this journey. You did it congrats!

First problem : Where to start ?

I guess some of you may be at this point right now. You have the idea, and you don’t know where to start. In 2013 the Business Model Canva was trendy. It was the first thing to do before starting anything else. Ok, right, what’s next ? I ended up with nothing new. I just wrote down some ideas without execution plan.

Execution : this is what matters the most according to me. Go down the streets, meet potential users and clients, tell the whole world about your startup. I wasted a lot of time thinking about the product and not about what users wanted. Stop thinking that everybody will steal your idea. People can’t steal your idea. You are the one that believe in the problem and decided to build a solution. People can copy you, but they don’t believe in this solution as hard as you do. So please stop saying “I have an idea but I can’t tell you right now, it’s secret”.

If only few startups survive it’s because a lot of founders build a startup in order to make money, or because it’s trendy. Obviously your goal is to make money, but I think that the best entrepreneurs are those who fall in love with their problems. If you have ever watched the Simon Sinek Ted talk, you know why I’m telling you that :

“People don’t buy what you do, they buy why you do it”

I truly love this quote. This is so meaningful to entrepreneurs. Once you have understood this you make a huge step forward.

But finally we failed. We never quit the Beta-zone. We had some users (I’m still wondering how did they knew about us), we had a quite good product but we had no execution plan. We were too young, no sales experience, no long-term vision.

This experience taught me three things about entrepreneurship :

• Don’t fall in love with the solution but with the problem. The problem is the soul of your company. Don’t fake, be honest.
• Don’t be shy : stop trying to convince yourself and your team that you have the best product or solution ever. Go down the streets and test your idea. Test, adapt and repeat. By doing this you will stop wasting time and money.
• The team : Your cofounders are family, it’s like being in a relationship. No taboos, no bullshit. Once again be honest. I admit that it is hard to find your co-founders. I’ve met wonderful startups with bad teams. Those startups quickly collapsed.

This is my first article. I want to share what I learned. I’m not pretending to be a guru. I’m just giving my point of view. Would be glad to see what are your thoughts. Cheers !