a16z announces web3 accelerator, chooses the collaborative way!!
Pranav & Santosh at Team Foundership co-authored to help you understand how new Collaborative models for Web3 Accelerator work!
Collaboration is key to web3, but startup teams often find themselves without support.
Earlier last week, a16z announced an expansion to its Crypto Startup School to include an accelerator program. In its previous avatar, the Crypto Startup School, which had its inaugural cohort in 2020, selected startups went through a non-funded “educational” program that equipped them with the tools, knowledge & experience of the various leaders that a16z brought on stage.
For the last 6 months, the team at Foundership has been building away, block by block, to define a collaborative accelerator model that can help grow the web3 startup ecosystem to achieve success.
Now, a16z has chosen a model that is almost identical to the 3 pronged approaches developed by the team at Foundership. So let’s take a look at the similarities between the two and how it validates the best path forward for incubating web3 startups to take on the world.
Similarities and validates the best path forward for incubating web3 startups
Duration:
Foundership has a 6-month virtual program compared to a16z’s 3-month in-person program in San Francisco with meetings twice a week.
The 6-month duration allows Foundership to choose startups at an early stage (pre MVP/GTM) and handhold them through the first few steps of their journey. The speed & ambiguity in web3 requires a longer association to ensure that startups can adapt as the environment changes around them.
Coaching:
a16z has announced mentoring for its chosen startups similar to Foundership’s LaunchCamp, which has a 1:1 coach assignment for each startup (2-4 coaches in 6 months), with bi-weekly meetings so that advice is specific to their needs & goals.
Coaches are located globally with extensive web3 knowledge & experience. The coaches also collaborate among themselves to provide the startups with the most relevant advice when needed.
Capital:
Foundership is creating the Foundership Capital fund to invest the “first cheques” into Launchcamp startups. After trying an un-funded season in 2020, a16z has announced $500,000 in exchange for 7% equity for the startups from this season onwards. This values the a16z startups at ~US$7.14 mn.
Foundership believes that capital is key to a young startup's journey & putting our money where the mouth is shows that we believe in our Launchcamp startups without a doubt.
Cohort size:
a16z has announced it would choose 30 startups in its cohort for April 2023 compared to Foundership’s peak size of 25 startups per cohort.
Foundership’s first cohort, announced in August 2022, has 7 companies, with a new cohort being announced every quarter. They aim to incubate 50 companies in Year 1, growing it to 100 per year by year 3. Click here to see the companies in Foundership’s LaunchCamp#1
The unique collaborative model of Foundership’s Launchcamp:
Foundership has built a strong community as a platform for collaborating with users, vendors and even other startups. This is a great support to young startups that spend precious time, money & energy reaching out to users or partnerships.
Keeping Launchcamp 100% virtual reduces friction for applicants inviting global participation. In addition, this allows providing the startups with what they need without physical barriers. With 100% remote teams a reality now, we believe this is the future.
Foundership believes that a written application cant give an insight into potential. 0xCamp, a unique collaboration between Foundership & coaches, allows us to give back to applicants even before selection through a 3-week goal-based 1:1 mentoring program that also serves as our selection process.
To align the interests of Foundership, coaches & startups, the coaches will also receive a share of the proceeds from the liquidation of the startup equity that has been offered to Foundership.
True collaboration always works towards creating win-win outcomes; coaches at Foundership receive an (indirect) share of the equity that has been offered to Foundership. This aligns everyone to work towards one goal: the startups' success.
If you believe that Foundership is building something that you can win with, visit our website https://foundershiphq.com/ to
- Apply for 0xCamp/ Launchcamp
- Be a web3 coach at Foundership
- Partnerships, events & collaborations with Foundership
- Join our online & in-person community
This blog is co-authored by Pranav & Santosh at Team Foundership!
