ARM Labs Lagos Techstars Accelerator 2023

Each year, they choose over 500 early-stage companies to join one of their 3-month, mentorship-driven accelerators, investing $120K and providing hands-on mentorship and access to the Techstars network for life.

Techstars accelerators have one goal: to help entrepreneurs succeed. During each three-month program, they surround companies with the best mentors and unrivaled corporate partners, investors, and alumni network. They provide funding and fundraising opportunities, workshops, and curated resources, not to mention countless moments where you can learn from your peers. It’s a proven model that’s helped build thousands of successful companies, all over the world.

Techstars is the worldwide network that helps entrepreneurs succeed. As one of the largest pre-seed investors in the world, they’ve funded over 3,200 companies that have gone on to have a market cap of $79B+. Techstars portfolio companies include more than 100 companies with valuations of over $100M, and 19 of them have already reached unicorn status including SendGrid, ClassPass, and Chainalysis. Each company receives up to $120,000 in funding, and access to the worldwide network of investors, hands-on mentorship, and over $4M of perks.

Month One: Grow Your Network

During month one, the 10 companies in each program typically meet around 100 mentors from the Techstars network, each of whom are super connected and experienced in their respective fields. After these initial meetings, fondly known as “Mentor Madness,” some programs match founders with three to five who will act as their lead mentors, and a pseudo Board of Advisors, throughout the program. When there’s a particularly good fit, mentors will often continue to work with the companies after the program ends.

Mentors help with many areas of the business that may need support, including — but not limited to:

• Product development

• Market-fit

• Marketing

• Technology

• Hiring and firing

• Fundraising

• Company culture

• Unit economics

• Business development

• Customer discovery

• Go-to-market strategy

• Legal

Month Two: Execute

Month two is the time to take all those learnings from month one and put them into practice. Working with the managing director and program manager, founders go deeper with their lead mentors, gain traction, and hit milestones — whether that’s a prototype, building out the next phase of a product, getting a first customer, etc.

During this month, founders focus on identifying their most important KPIs (Key Performance Indicators) and achieving them. If there’s a corporate partner for the program, this month may even be the time to prepare for a proof of concept.

Month Three: Fundraising Strategy & Demo Day

In month three, the founders go deep in telling their stories. This is crucial to fundraising and Demo Day preparation.

Founders work with their mentors, managing directors, and program managers to refine their pitch, develop and design their pitch deck for Demo Day, and prepare investor collateral.

Storytelling isn’t just about fundraising: it’s also about communicating your vision to customers and future team members.