Budding founders are being encouraged to join the latest cohort of Techscaler – the national tech startup accelerator programme.
The Scottish Government’s flagship startup creation and development scheme – delivered by Edinburgh headquartered CodeBase – begins its 10-week ‘Cataylst’ accelerator for early stage founders on March 3rd.
Led by industry experts and supported by visiting entrepreneurs, the programme is now in its fourth year, and has supported over 1,500 startups across Scotland, increasingly working with founders of startups with high-growth and scale-up potential.
Natalie Hotchkiss, Head of Early Growth Acceleration Programmes at CodeBase, said: “Catalyst is designed to meet founders’ needs on their startup journey, with dedicated support that evolves as founders progress. With visiting entrepreneurs helping to guide them throughout the process, they’ve got that invaluable input from founders who have ‘been there, done that’”.
All founders on Catalyst begin with ‘Build’, a core programme of sessions that focuses on understanding customers and markets, which Hotchkiss says gives participants, “a clear vision and validated direction of travel.”
Founders then either advance to the ‘Grow’ sessions, building minimum viable product (MVP), focusing on customer acquisition strategies, business model development, and tackling real world challenges, or to ‘Refine’, where founders exit the accelerator to receive more ideation-focused support from the Techscaler team.
For founders aiming to raise early stage capital, a further track, ‘Raise’, offers advanced workshops and tailored support to align the business model and funding strategy. Here, visiting entrepreneurs provide guidance on strengthening investment propositions and preparing for funder engagement.
Andrew McGinley, entrepreneur-in-residence at CodeBase, said: “Raising your first investment as a founder is rarely a straightforward process. Pairing Catalyst founders with entrepreneurs who have raised investment before gives founders access to real, lived experience and a trusted sounding board to help them navigate the highs and lows and maintain momentum throughout the journey.”
Georgina Hollis, Catalyst visiting entrepreneur, said: ”It’s hard being a founder at the early stages, navigating the world of not knowing what you don’t know yet. The Visiting Entrepreneur role in Catalyst provides quick access to ad-hoc mentorship and support throughout the 10 weeks of intense activity. We’re here to unblock blockers, provide a sounding board with a founder who’s been there before, and general cheerleading support during these key early stages.”
Applications for the Catalyst accelerator are open until Tuesday 17th February. For more information, visit: https://www.techscaler.co.uk/education/techscaler-catalyst
