iWhisper graduates from UtrechtInc Pressure Cooker Program
iWhisper joined the second Pressure Cooker Program of UtrechtInc. in 2012. The current program looks as follows:
Pressure Cooker
For who
- Entrepreneurs, alumni, postdoc and researchers
(preferably at UU, HU and UMCU) - You have completed your founding team and at least
one of the founders is committed to work full time. - You have a company (enlisted at the Chamber of Commerce)
- Your idea is technically feasible
- You have defined and validated your first customer segments,
product features and secured your first customers or partners. - There is a business model 1.0
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You have freedom to operate (IP, pilot, former employer, etc…)
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You have a convincing pitch
- You want to rent a work space or office and take actively part in the entrepreneurs community of UtrechtInc.
- Other criteria
What to expect
Entrepreneurs in this stage have more than enough passion and probably see chances everywhere. By participating in the Pressure Cooker, your startup will develop with a targeted approach including time, resources and money! UtrechtInc has supported over 100 startups. It’s all about bringing entrepreneurs like you and partners together in a dynamic environment. During this course of 4 months you work towards a scalable business model, paying customers, a working prototype, company culture and a complementary team.
How it works
- 2-weekly sprint sessions with peers, based on the lean startup methodology and Simon Sinek Golden Circle.
- Personal advice and coaching by experienced mentors
- Trainings: Cold Calling, Customer Validation, Pitching, Finance, Media & PR, Pitching, Marketing, Customer Development, Lean Startup, Business Modeling
- Funding through the Rabo Pre-Seed Fund (from € 18,000 up to € 50,000 per startup team)
- Determining sales targets
- Being part of an active startup community with ambitious and savvy entrepreneurs
- A network of investors, mentors, partners, students, and more.
- Access to knowledge institutions UMC Utrecht, Universiteit Utrecht, Hogeschool Utrecht and other parters.
- Access to young talent and co-founders for building your team
- Office space including meeting and brainstorm rooms and a lively coffee corner
- Expertise on Health, Climate, Education
- Support in prototyping, setting up legal structures and shareholder agreements
- Various inspirational events like hackathons, talent meetings, network meetings and our weekly network drinks.
At the end
By the end of the Pressure Cooker stage your team have developed a working prototype and brought on launching customers – x number of users or signed for a pilot project and successfully completed them. After the process of fast learning and growing the independent advisory committee and the community will judge your startup and decide if you should be rewarded with access to Stage 3 and € 18,000 equity free funding. With this pre-seed your startup will keep all company shares and can keep conquering the world. In the next stage of Build the companies need to grow their initial user base, define their cost of acquisition and start working on building a repeatable sales roadmap including market strategies.
Costs:
The 4 month Pressure Cooker program costs € 1600 in total (excluding work space(s) of office(s)).
In 2012 I co-founder iWhisper Ltd. which was the merger of the original idea Vooxl (which my partner and I founded in 2011 in Singapore) and a project of game studio Monobanda, called iWhisper. With iWhisper Ltd. we created audiotour apps and location based experiences for museums, tourist boards, events and city marketing.
After three years of working on great projects, iWhisper was merged in 2015 into the workforce of Pixplicity! So if you would like your own GPS audio app, please contact these awesome technology wizards via www.pixplicity.com