The Insides Of An Accelerator: Amsterdam Startupbootcamp Secret Data and Winners For Next Batch


    Startupbootcamp shared some very sensitive and secret data with us that helps us understand how the selection process and the accelerator in general works, who tends to apply and which industries tend to be the most popular.

    Let us begin with how exactly people tend to find accelerators and according to the data, the most popular method by far remains the search engine followed by direct approach and social media.

    However given the fact that they get around 400 applications it would be interesting to see and compare the quality of applications depending of the source. Are the search engine based applications just driving volume while the referrals from the alumni are where the true quality hides? If so, would it make sense to get acquainted with the alumni and try to apply thanks to their referral or perhaps find an angel investor or a mentor in the program and apply through them?

    When people do apply, it is interesting to see exactly who they are, where they are from and what stage of development they are in. According to the data, the founders come from over 40 different countries with the top 5 being Netherlands, UK, USA, India and Russia. Our region is underrepresented in the applications, which you can fix by going here. This is also the first time in the last four batches that nobody from the region got accepted.

    Most of the people apply with two founders (35%) and 13% of applications are done by teams with a female CEO. Which is great, but unfortunately nowhere near what we would like to see.

    It would be interesting to compare this with other accelerators that offer a fixed amount of capital per partner, compared to Startupbootcamps fixed €15 000. If there are more 3-4 founder companies in those it would mean that the monetary incentive is pushing the business sense of startups to get more founders on board early on. Which is probably not a good incentive, but still makes sense for startups that genuinely have 3 or more partners.

    Startupbootcamp tells us that on average there is 3 people in the teams that actually get selected. They have also noticed that the proportion of women in selected teams is much larger compared to the applications.

    Perhaps it is most interesting to see what stage of development the applicants are in. The data reveals that only 17% are at the idea stage with a majority nearing minimum viable product (51%) and 32% have a working, finished, packaged product. Out of those that apply, 11% have received some sort of previous funding and 20% are generating some revenues.

This is very interesting and according to Startupbootcamp a new but strong trent. It shows that a lot of the startups do not see acceleration as a way to bring an idea to life but as a way to get access to mentors, funding and growth. This is especially true for the ones with revenue.

    So with all of that data, what is it that people want to build nowadays? The top 5 industries are:

    • Social networking and collaboration ( 19.5% )
    • E-Commerce ( 11% )
    • Travel, Leisure and Sports ( 10.2% )
    • Games, Music and Online Entertainment ( 9.8% )
    • Advertising & Marketing ( 9.8 % )

    Now, that is is a lot of inside information on who applies, but who gets through? Let’s take a look at the latest 9 winners that are going to start with the program on the 2nd of April:

    • 7Write – Write and publish your book easily. Industry: Media and Publishing. Stage: MVP. From: Australia.
    • Aliveshoes – Create and sell customized sneakers. Industry: E-Commerce. Stage: MVP/Ready Product. From: Italy.
    • EasySchool – Student Administration… made easy. Industry: Education (6th in Ranking). Stage: Idea. From: Cyprus.
    • Fuel TouchIdeas.com – Find the best ideas and startups in the world. Industry: Other/Market Research. Stage: MVP. From: Holland.
    • iLost – Find your lost property. Industry: Other. Stage: MVP. From: Holland.
    • Presentain – Supercharge your presentations. (Very similar to Presentation.io by CanvasDropr) Industry: Other. Stage: Ready Product/Advanced MVP. From: Ukraine.
    • Kinems – Game-based learning method for children with learning disabilities. Industry: Education. Stage: Advanced MVP. From: Greece.
    • Swogo – The best way to choose consumer electronics. Industry: E-Commerce. Stage: MVP. From: UK.
    • Twoodo – Collaboration and productivity tool in a text box. Twitter of collaboration. Industry: Other. Stage: MVP. From: France.

    We will let you make the conclusions from this, but it does seem that having an MVP is advantageous if anything, but it doesnt mean you can’t get in with just an idea.

    The application round for the next Copenhagen round opens on the 1st of April, but you can check out all of the information here and sign up to one of the Open Pitch Days that will be happening all over the globe in 2013.