Developing Your Business

WHAT

Sort of like a grown-up Student Upstarts. TechStars provides funding and mentoring from over generous and experienced angel investors and venture capitalists. Formerly based in the US, TechStars London launched earlier this year after a merger with Springboard (which was performing a similar service). It doesn’t aim specifically at students or recent graduates – so you’ll be fighting with the big dogs – and it has a lot of dolla to invest: successful applicants in the US get $18 000 seed funding for the company and are offered an additional $100 000 in convertible debt at their option from a prominent group of VCs. Obviously we didn’t have a clue what that meant either: essentially it means that you have access to extra funding in the form of a loan that – provided the company doesn’t collapse – will be made back in the next stage of investment.

WHERE AND HOW

London; or in several locations across the States if you’re dreaming of Silicon Valley rather than Silicon Roundabout (Austin, Boulder, Boston, Chicago, Seattle, NYC). Again, you’ll need a (pretty comprehensive) plan and convincing reasons why your startup is The One.

BEST FOR

Those who could provide a better definition of ‘convertible debt at their option’ than we could; those with a developed business plan they’ve been sitting on for years. Enter that Computer Science nerd you last saw in Freshers’ Week, circa 2010.

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WHAT

Seedcamp is Europe’s leading micro-seed investment and mentoring program. What this means is it’s sort of like a mini fast-track university course for you and your startup: helping with everything from initial investment (equivalent: student loan) to office space (equivalent: halls) to mentoring (equivalent: your tutor’s usual mid-term intervention). Seedcamp invests in around 20 start-ups annually. If successful, you get 3 months of office space in London’s Google Campus, €150k worth of services like legal advice and website hosting providers, weekly sessions with a member of the Seedcamp team, and a 4-week mentoring tour of the US.

WHERE AND HOW

Runs one major event in London every September (Seedcamp Week runs 2 – 5 September 2013) and a series of mini events across Europe. Seedcamp applicants tend to to have a relatively developed business – some are already generating revenue – but the key thing is to write a killer business plan and apply to attend the next Seedcamp event.

BEST FOR

Anyone with an idea. A proper good one that isn’t a burrito van.

Can you recommend any resources? Have you got a business plan that would send Sir Alan running to the cashpoint? Stay tuned for more from The Tab’s startup section.