StartupFarm: a new approach to create and accelerate startups in Brazil
Tuesday, August 2, 2011 at 2:45PM
The entrepreneurial scene has been evolving faster and faster in Brazil in the last months. After some editions of Startup Weekend (São Paulo, Campinas, Rio de Janeiro), the 6th edition of the Brazil/Intel Challenge, the Buscapé Challenge (Your idea is worth 1 million), the recently launched CampinasTECH Meetup – Investments and even more, on the 20th starts the first edition of StartupFarm.
StartupFarm promises to create and accelerate digital startups in 30 days. The program will gather up to 50 entrepreneurs that will have one month to present and develop their ideas, being supported by experienced mentors. Starting in São Paulo at the co-working space Hub, the following edition will occur in Campinas.
Looking at the whole picture, the program starts with a Welcome Saturday, when the teams will be built, and ends up 30 days later with a Demo Day, when the teams will present their startups to an investor’s panel. Meanwhile, Lean Startup, team building, market research, business modeling, concept test, prototyping, investments and the pitch will be the main topics explored by the mentors during the 3 times/week applied classes.
Felipe Matos, partner of Instituto Inovação (Innovation Institute) and leader of this initiative, says that this program was based in the Silicon Valley’s accelerator programs. “We’ve visited incubators and accelerators in the Valley e we’ve brought the model to Brazil, but adapted to our reality: here the entrepreneurs need much more support than there, where the market is more mature”, says Felipe.
How does it work?
Every week the entrepreneurs will handle with a specific task, based on the lectures given by the mentors. It happens 3 times/week, from 7:30 to 10:30pm. Each lecture is followed by a testimony of a successful entrepreneur related to the topic. According to Felipe, “everything is pragmatic and will use the startups being built as the subject of those tasks”. Besides the lectures, each entrepreneur will have 40 additional hours to spend at Hub, working on their startups.
The mentors are investors, entrepreneurs and specialists in subjects such as agile methodology, e-commerce, mobile apps, finance, business model, etc.
The program is designed for entrepreneurs and startups in the concept stage. “We are looking for entrepreneurs with complementary skills and backgrounds to mix up technical and business entrepreneurs”, says Felipe.
The final will occur on September 19, 2011 and is open to the community.
To apply for this program, visit www.startupfarm.com.br. The investment is R$ 2,200 and the early bird discount goes until August, 5.
You can also follow the program @startupfarm (hashtag: #startupfarmsp) and contact the organizers by email (hello@startupfarm.com.br).
Who is organizing and supporting the program?
StartupFarm is organized by Grupo Instituto Inovação (Innovation Institute Group) and is supported by Microsoft, Inventta, Inseed Investimentos, The Hub São Paulo, Associação Brasileira de Startups, ReadWriteWeb, Startupi, Brazil Innovators and Innoveur.
The Grupo Instituto Inovação has been working with innovation management in Brazil and Latin America since 2002 and has offices in 7 Brazilian cities, besides Bogotá and Cali in Colombia. The group has two verticals:
- Invennta: an innovation management consultancy, working with strategy, culture & education, financial resources, technology, competencies, structure and processes.
- Inseed: an investments fund manager, co-managing funds such as Criatec, a R$100M Brazilian seed fund.
Felipe Matos is founder of Instituto Inovação and a serial entrepreneur, mentor and advisor of startups, angel investor and an enthusiast of the startup culture and digital life.
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