Venture Acceleration Program

“With Accelerate’s programs, you are given an EIR who brings unlimited value to your personal growth. You are surrounded by like-minded entrepreneurs and held to a standard that pushes you to succeed.”

“Winning the entrepreneurship@AO competition gave me access to the Entrepreneurs in Residence. These advisors are helping me fill in the huge gap of knowledge that I just don’t have right now. They also help keep me focused, move me forward and keep me accountable.”

“Membership to Accelerate Okanagan has helped by giving me exposure to an industry of professionals on the cutting edge of their fields.  Fostering a collaborative tech community and hosting a place and the opportunities to collaborate.”

“Our Premium Membership is a vital channel to a broad network of both young and growing start-ups in the Okanagan we might not otherwise reach.”

“Receiving this initial [IRAP] startup funding not only helps with the development of the product, it truly gives Just Be Friends early validation of a new concept. As a result of this funding, we were able to hire 2 employees and 6 contractors. The group at AO have initiated these early successes and I feel incredibly indebted to the program.”

“ The EiRs are amazing! Without the EiRs we wouldn’t have a path right now. We started with a vision that was probably very diverse, and mentorship has helped us put a process to our vision. It has been a really purposeful process.”

“I wanted to show some respect to the peeps of AO for your tireless commitment to the success of your membered businesses and for driving the tech community in the Okanagan. The team you have assembled and the programs that you’ve built are top shelf. And at such a breakneck pace! The AO environment is an incredible place to do business in. The awesomeness in this building is palpable. Your passion for what you are doing is inspiring us to find another gear and really see this thing through. AO is the real deal.”

“By becoming an AO Premium Member, we have benefited from a raised brand awareness both locally and nationally, have gained significant access to great people and events that all combined help our company succeed. This membership is a must for any Technology business in the Okanagan.”

“I found the Jump:Start:Challenge invaluable – it’s like a boot camp for companies looking for investment.  You will learn what investors are looking for and how to present.  Along the way you will learn more about your company and ways to improve it.  Thanks to AO and this program I have gone from never pitching before in my life to now pitching to investors in Vancouver, California and Seattle.”

“Richard has provided guidance on every topic needed for Getintheloop’s development- through brainstorming, business modeling, legal advice, meeting preparation and more. Each time I talk with Richard, I come away feeling more confident about what I am doing and learn more in 1 hour than I do in 35 hours of class time.”

“Jump:Start was very important to our company for two main reasons. First, it helped us further believe in our opportunity by validating it through the mentorship process and through the practice pitches and final presentations. And secondly, it helped reshape our team mindset. Jump:Start made us analyse every angle of our project from financing, sales, time to market, scalability etc. forcing us to ask hard questions that streamlined the company.”

“AWEsome Numbers has benefited a lot from the AO community and from being on the Venture Acceleration Program.  I have learned so much in my one year at Accelerate Okanagan.  We get access to great EiRs, advisors, many free workshops and seminars put on by leaders in the startup business community.  We really couldn’t have accomplished nearly as much as we have without the help of AO.”

“One of the things that I really feel our company has benefitted from has been the AO seminars, events and workshops that we have been involved in. It is a chance to not only hear from business experts, but to talk to them and ask them in-depth questions that are really relevant to our business.”

“Joining the Venture Acceleration Program has been instrumental in helping us through the unknown. I have the drive and the determination, but working with the EiRs has helped us understand the process and flow of creating a SaaS product and all that it entails. As an entrepreneur, you look at the tasks you have to get done today and the EiRs force us to look at tomorrow. This is so important as a startup. And they are great guys also! They have all been there and done that!

“We really needed a place for Mathtoons to exist. The best thing that Accelerate Okanagan has done for us was give us a home that is lively and has a great sense of community. The office space has been amazing for us”

“Accelerate Okanagan has helped us in many ways including making the right connections, getting to know other companies on the Venture Acceleration Program, overall support and the community aspect is huge. We are always in the loop for new events and opportunities. AO also helped us to connect to funding sources such as IRAP which was a huge benefit to us.” StreetText secured funding through IRAP in April 2012

“The Jump:Start:Challenge at Accelerate Okanagan has been a big help. We’ve been getting really good feedback from investors and EiRs. We have more exposure and it has opened up new opportunities that otherwise wouldn’t have been there. ”

“The two biggest reasons I would encourage other companies to join the Jump:Start:Challenge is that it will help validate your business opportunity and give you valuable experience with pitching. That is something which is very important; in order to succeed you need to be able to pitch your company.”