Interactive resources for incubators and accelerators
Interactive resources for incubators and accelerators
Interactive resources for incubators and accelerators

Guide to Impact Incubation and Acceleration

Introduction

Welcome to the Guide to Impact Incubation and Acceleration!

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Why Incubation and Acceleration?

What makes incubators and accelerators so important?

How to Use

How to get started using and making the most of this guide

Sharing This Guide

How to share and credit this guide

About

Who created this guide

Working With People

How to work with and for the people that make your incubator or accelerator possible

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Building a Team

How to build, manage and maintain a strong team for your incubator or accelerator

Selecting a Cohort

How to attract entrepreneurs to your program and select a stellar cohort

Dealing With Failure

How to work with people who aren’t the right fit for your cohort or program

Designing an Impactful Program

How to design your incubator or accelerator program to be truly impactful

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Supporting Enterprises

How to support entrepreneurs to get the most out of your program

Building a Curriculum

How to build a program curriculum that is valuable for your entrepreneurs

Sourcing Capital

How to get cohorts and entrepreneurs investor-ready

Ending Well

How to best support your entrepreneurs once the program comes to a close

Helping Ventures to Measure Their Impact

How to help the ventures that you support to measure the impact of their work

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Impact Measurement 101

The key concepts of impact measurement and why it is important for your ventures

Theory of Change

How to create a story of the impact of your ventures using the ToC tool

Teaching a ToC

How to facilitate a theory of change workshop

Gathering and Using Data

How to support data gathering and management

Measuring the Impact of Accelerators

How you as incubators and accelerators can measure your own impact

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Impact Measurement Concepts

The different types and levels of impacts and the reasons for measuring them

Dimensions of Impact

A framework to measure multiple impacts of an enterprise

Value for Money

A method to measure how efficiently a program converts inputs into outcomes

Financial Sustainability

How to keep your organisation or enterprise financially sustainable in the short- and long-term

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Financially Sustainable Business Models

Options for structuring your business so that is financially sustainable

Commercial and Corporate Innovation

How to design and running programs for established organisations or corporations

Sponsorship

The types of sponsorship that are available to you and how you can go about getting it

Funding Programs

How to ensure funding for your own program needs as well as for your entrepreneurs

Angel Accelerators

How to better understand Angel-stage accelerators and the fundamentals of Angel Investing

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Introduction to Angel Investing

How to define and identify angel investment networks and acceleration for entrepreneurs

Angel Investing 101

So you want to become an Angel investor? Here’s everything you need to know to get you started

Fund Management 101

Everything you ever wanted to know about different fund structures and becoming a fund manager

Investment-Grade Accelerator Selection

How to build out and manage an accelerator program that involves investing in the entrepreneur cohort

Due Diligence 101

Figure out what you want and are looking for before you start looking

How to Invest Without Exits

An alternative approach to the current paradigm of investing

Mentors

How to find, recruit, and set up your mentors (and entrepreneurs) for success

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Identifying, Sourcing and Selecting

What you need to be thinking about when starting your own mentorship program

Onboarding and Training

How to create value for your entrepreneurs through mentorship

Mentor Care and Feeding

How to ensure that your mentor-mentee engagement activities work well

Scaling and Replicating Programs

When, why and how to scale and replicate your accelerator program into new territories or markets

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Before You Scale

Everything you need to think about before you make the decision to scale 

Design for Scale

All the initial ingredients to build your competitive advantage

Ready to Scale

How to prepare for the journey ahead

Pace to Scale

How to know the right pace of growth for your particular program

Resourcing Scale

How to scale and grow both internally and externally

Sustaining Scale

How to maintain scale once you have achieved it

Gender and Power

How to increase accessibility and inclusivity for people of all genders

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Sustainability

Why it’s important to strive for gender equality, diversity, and inclusivity

Organisation

How gender relates to your organisation, its structure and its people

Program

How gender can be incorporated into your program design and implementation

Ecosystem

The role that you can play to promote gender and equality to others in your ecosystem

Virtual Convening Strategy

Don’t just convene for the sake of convening, have a clear strategy and purpose to have the greatest success

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What is Your Convening Purpose?

Start your planning process with activities to clarify your purpose and success

Overview of the 12 Convening Objectives

The 12 objectives for which convening is a useful tool

Possibilities and Limitations of Virtual Convening

Unlock new possibilities and understand the real limitations of virtual convening

Unlocking the Power of Virtual Facilitation

Learn the foundations of virtual facilitation to achieve your convening goals

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Energy and Flow

How to manage energy and the flow of time when working virtually

Time Management

How to manage your time for sessions to achieve your convening goals

Engagement and Interaction

How to increase engagement and interaction amongst participants

On-Camera Performance

How to craft an engaging and connecting persona online

Revisiting the Foundation

Building your resilience as an Entrepreneur Support Organisation – revisiting your foundation, identifying recovery where needed, and identifying a path for growth

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Revisiting Your Theory of Change

What is the impact you want to create and what activities are needed to get you there?

Current Assessment

What is your organisation’s current state and where do you want to go?

Building Your New Plan

What are the components you need to build your new plan?

Funding Your New Plan

Where will revenue come from TODAY and in the FUTURE?