business-acceleration
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Paris&Co puts the startup pitch to the street test
A clever idea can survive a pitch and still lose an argument with a gym timetable. Paris&Co helps entrepreneurs and public institutions discover the difference before they commit to a rollout.
Anza Entrepreneurs and the business of getting unstuck
A Tanzanian founder-support organisation joins the dots between advice, capital and connections. Its own early funding lesson explains why those dots belong together.
New Ventures BC asks the C$200 question: who will buy it?
A startup competition with homework, a volunteer network with rules, and a prize that comes after months of scrutiny. New Ventures BC helps founders turn a clever idea into a business someone might actually buy from.
SETsquared Partnership: the value of a second opinion
Six UK universities share a business-building network that helps founders test markets, untangle research deals and meet investors. Sometimes its most useful contribution is persuading a company to chase a different customer.
Feira Preta built a market. Then it had to build the machinery.
A São Paulo fair became a network for Black entrepreneurs, linking training, creative spaces and customers. Its most revealing lessons arrived when the festival could no longer pay its own way.
Bordeaux Technowest: the shortest distance to a first customer
In Bordeaux, a startup can find a coach, a workshop and an introduction to Airbus. The interesting part is what happens after the introduction.
At xHub Addis, the startup homework leaves the classroom
Five young companies. One practical assignment: make agricultural training easier to use. Inside the Ethiopian hub that puts leadership, fieldwork and local problems on the same syllabus.
Impact Amplifier Makes Good Intentions Investable
From Nando’s pepper farmers to businesses turning waste into products, the South African firm works on the awkward middle of impact investing: getting good ideas ready for money, then checking what the money changes.
Redstart puts a cofounder on the cap table
The Paris startup studio trades daily operating help for a minority stake. Its real subject is everything that happens between a promising idea and a business that can stand on its own.
NIC Peshawar’s big pitch: Build a company. Stay in Peshawar.
Inside a repurposed telecom facility, NIC Peshawar gives founders workspace, business coaching and routes to investors. Its most useful lessons come from the businesses doing the unglamorous work of finding customers.
The Growth Hub sells a desk - and a way into tech
In Akure, The Growth Hub brings coworking, digital training, creative studios and business support under one roof. Its journey from a SalesPlat workspace plan to an iHatch host shows what a local tech hub can become.
John Sampogna Built an Agency by Treating Change Like a Feature
Wondersauce began with a Manhattan walk, a borrowed apartment and a list of people to call. Fifteen years later, John Sampogna is still betting on curiosity, clear systems and the useful art of changing before the market makes you.