We are now accepting applications for the Venture Acceleration Program Fall Cohort.

This six-month program was designed to support committed entrepreneurs who are ready to take their business to market through mentorship and training.

The program is an initiative of Innovate BC and stands apart from other programs offered by Accelerate Okanagan because of its unique cohort model. Along with one-on-one mentorship, participating entrepreneurs will build life-long relationships with their peers as they work together through the startup process. The Venture Acceleration Program applications will be closing on September 4.

Here is a closer look at the VAP experience and what you can expect to learn over the 6 months:

OCTOBER

Goal Setting | Build and implement a goal-setting framework that will help create a strong connection between your operational plan and the entrepreneur’s vision.

• Identify your founder goals
• OKRs & Quarterly goal setting
• Mentor review
• Quarterly business reviews

Business Hypothesis and Customer Discovery | Start with a handful of guesses and learn how to transform them into customer-validated facts.

• Set your business hypothesis
• Create your customer discovery plan

NOVEMBER

Learnings & Retargeting from Customer Discovery |  Creating space for reflection will allow for an initial analysis of active customer discovery and provide an opportunity to iterate.

• Analyze customer discovery results
• Introduction to positioning statements
• Retarget customer discovery

DECEMBER

Market Analysis Positioning and MVP | Better analyze your ideal customer through the use of market segmentation, market research, and competitive analysis.

• Introduction to market segmentation
• Identify your ideal customer/niche
• Research into your market size and trends
• Identify your competition
• Reassess positioning statement
• Define your initial MVP

JANUARY 

Team and Business Model | Understand business opportunities and risks through an analysis of team and business model.

• Financial feasibility model
• Assess team capabilities, gaps and external viewpoints
• Assess your own skills and honing in on how to be an effective founder

FEBRUARY

Preparing for Launch | Build a release strategy and get ready to launch!

• MVP quality and testing plan
• Finalize pricing strategy
• Evaluate marketing plan
• Evaluate sales plan

MARCH

Pitching | Learn how to take your pitch from good to great.

• Describe and pitch your business

Due to ongoing COVID-19 restrictions, this cohort will be facilitated virtually. However, we are structuring the program to continue to bring the mentorship, training, and networking that has proven to be so valuable to VAP’s education process.

Does the VAP sound like a good fit for you? Apply before September 4.

Want to learn more? Check out our breakdown of the Venture Acceleration Program.