It takes a special person to pursue a venture like a startup; that path is definitely not for just anyone. When you are new to the game, it can be difficult to know where to begin. This may attribute to why top cities for startups have built strong communities geared towards serving these brave souls. A successful startup community is filled with a multitude of resources including but not limited to co-working spaces, incubators, innovation centers, active meetup groups that fit almost anyone’s specific interest or skill set, and a little something called startup accelerators.
The Dallas startup community is booming, and just like any ecosystem, there are different branches that are suitable for distinct niche markets all over the city. Something that may come as a surprise to you, is the rise of the tech-friendly accelerator.
A little Statup 101: An accelerator helps small business or startups hit the ground running with the goal of growing rapidly. Accelerator programs focus on sorting out organizational, operational, and strategic growing pains and sometimes connect those who participate with large mentor networks. They usually run somewhere between 3-6 months.
Take a moment to “speed-date” through a list of tech-friendly accelerators in Dallas and find out why their leaders think their program is the hottest one on the market.
Accelerator Type: Seed Accelerator, Data Driven
Who can apply: software based companies who are working in the B2B or B2C space with pre-revenue or revenue. Now Accepting applications through August 4th!
Length of Program: 12 Weeks
Investment: $25K
Equity: 8%
Location: 14681 Midway Rd, Addison, Tx
Website: www.collidevillage.com
How do they help tech startups: Collide Village functions under more of a classroom model. They have curated content sessions on different topics every week that help companies design experiments to validate the hypotheses they hold about their company or their target market. They then bring data back into the class to discuss what worked and what didn’t work. The process repeats thru various cycles of BUILD-LEARN-MEASURE, a key methodology that helps entrepreneurs solve complex problems in a scientific way. This leads them to defining the scope of their product in a way that is meaningful to their customers.
“Collide Village stands out in a few different areas. First off, we are a data driven accelerator program with a focus on evidence-based-entrepreneurshipTM. The data the startups in our program collect provides a validated learning experience. This lays down a strong foundation for how they will build their product. Although we are not strictly mentor driven, we do provide mentor relationships to our teams as needed. If someone is looking for specific (SME) guidance in a particular area of expertise, we have the network to connect them with someone who can help. Our mantra is, ‘In God we trust…everyone else must bring data!’ ” – Tahir Hussain, CEO and Managing Partner at Collide Village
Accelerator Type: Seed to Pre-Series A, Industry focused, Mentor Driven
Who can apply: Tech startups that are focused on Real Estate and the Built Environment. Now accepting applications through August 2nd!
Length of Program: 3 months
Investment: minimum of $40K
Equity: 6%
Location: 311 North Market Street, Suite #200
Website: www.thisismotive.com
How do they help tech startups: The MOTIVE Real Estate Technology Accelerator is an intensive 3 month program that supports tech startup founders changing the ways that we build, use, and connect our physical spaces. We leverage the biggest real estate market in the country and the world’s top real estate technology mentor network, along with corporate innovation relationships like the CBRE Innovation Lab and the Perot Group Technology Team to create instant customer development opportunities. Demo day in collaboration with DisruptCRE Dallas (the premiere Real Estate Technology conference).
“For Real Estate tech this is the best of times. Dallas is the best place in the country to innovate at the intersection of Technology in the physical environment and our mentors represent the top entrepreneurs and professionals in the space. We are looking for dynamic teams passionate about the future of real estate.” – John Backes, Co-founder and CEO
Accelerator Type: Seed Accelerator, Mentor Driven
Who can apply: B2B accelerator, for early-stage startups whose largest or primary customer base will be businesses, not consumers.
Length of Program: 12 weeks
Investment: $25K
Equity: 8%
Location: 211 North Ervay , Ste 300
Website: www.techwildcatters.com
How do they help tech startups: Tech Wildcatters is the #5 startup accelerator in the nation as of 2015, according to Inc. Magazine. They invest money and resources in promising B2B startups. Their world-class mentors are successful entrepreneurs and Fortune 500 executives who offer their experience to guide startups as they craft their vision and scale their companies. The first 12 weeks are just the beginning though, because once you’re in Tech Wildcatters, you’re part of the family. They select companies they want to work with long-term, so their massive network and resources become yours. They are also the parent company to Health Wildcatters.
“Since 2009, Tech Wildcatters has consistently been the leading B2B early stage startup accelerator. We’ve done this by holding our entrepreneurs to high standards and giving them access to a worldwide network of incredible mentors from Fortune 500 executives to successful entrepreneurs. If you want to see your business get to the next level, come visit us and apply to be in the next class. If you’re one of the elite chosen, we’ll throw everything we have to make your startup one of the best. And for the life of your company, you’ll have an incredible alum network, mentors for life and what we’ve come to call, the TW family, backing you up.”- Molly Cain, Executive Director
Accelerator Type: Seed Accelerator, Mentor Driven
Who can apply: B2B accelerator, for early-stage startups with a focus on hardware and consumer wearable technology with First Responder application.
Length of Program: 12 weeks
Investment: $25K
Equity: 8%
Location: 211 North Ervay , Ste 300
Website: www.techwildcatters.com/emerge, www.emergewear.com
How do they help tech startups: The Department of Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Directorate (S&T) is embarking on a program that incorporates business accelerators into its toolkit for finding companies whose consumer technologies could represent the next generation of solutions for DHS’ end users. S&T has chosen to pilot its accelerator program with Tech Wildcatters in the field of wearable technology, a high priority sector for its Next Generation First Responder initiative. As it applies to first responders, wearable tech is a rich source of new capabilities that span everything from physiological monitoring to environmental sensing, networked mobile communications, situational awareness and smart, resilient fabrics. The EMERGE by Tech Wildcatters accelerator is the first of its kind, working in partnership with the DHS, the Center for Innovative Technology, TEEX, and Wearable World.
“EMERGE powered by Tech Wildcatters is a beautiful collaboration of many wonderful organizations. Startups benefit from the established model of Tech Wildcatters and the vast network they cultivate while in our eco-system. However, these startups also interact with the Department of Homeland Security, Center for Innovative Technology, TEEX, and Wearable World San Francisco. The resources and mentorship that is provided in the hardware and IOT space is unprecedented. It’s the first program of this kind, and it culminates with demo days in both Dallas and San Fransisco”- Clarisa Lindenmeyer, VP of Corporate Affairs & PR
Accelerator Type: Seed Accelerator, Mentor Driven
Who can apply: Digital Health/mHealth, Medical Devices, Consumer Goods and Services, Pharma, Diagnostic Companies, open to any health-related startup
Length of Program: 12 weeks
Investment: $30K, up to $350K convertible notes from Health Wildcatters fund and its investors
Equity: 8%
Location: 211 North Ervay , Ste 300
Website: www.healthwildcatters.com
How do they help tech startups: Many digital health startups don’t have extensive healthcare experience on their teams. The Health Wildcatters network of investors and mentors include decades of healthcare delivery, leadership, and investing. This provides the right environment to develop better use cases , validate customers, and improve the go to market strategies.
“Two of our four founding partners are physicians (Hubert has both an MD and an MBA). Many of our investors are also mentors; we have a collaborative model and are actively involved in our industry. The majority of our startups get funded; our 22 graduate companies have raised over $10 million.”- Hubert Zajicek, CEO and Co-Founder
Accelerator Type: Seed Accelerator, Mentor Driven
Who can apply: Tech startups for the Retail, Restaurant & Hospitality Industries
Length of Program: 14 weeks
Investment: up to $40K
Equity: 6%
Location: 311 North Market Street, Suite #200
Website: www.revtechaccelerator.com
How do they help tech startups: REVTECH recruits mentors who are successful entrepreneurs, who have built substantial companies, and who can share real-world, hands-on experience with our startups. REVTECH partners with leading retail, restaurant & hospitality companies that serve on our advisory board, as mentors, investors, and your potential customers. Since they are located in Dallas, the city with the largest concentration of national restaurant and retail chains headquartered in the US, their network is extremely powerful.
“Dallas has the unique opportunity to really own this category because the customers are here. Dallas has the largest concentration of restaurant and retail headquarters in the US, so our location is ideal for our companies to run pilots and quickly scale their new technologies. We’re already partnering with several retail & restaurant companies, and we’re adding key decision makers to our mentor roster from Neiman Marcus, Which Which, TGI Fridays, GameStop and Trunk Club to name a few. We are extremely excited about what lies ahead for REVTECH!”- Lindsay Ellis, Operations Manager
Accelerator Type: First round will be a Condensed Accelerator, which will be mentor and resource driven. Current partners and mentors are successful, young entrepreneurs. Funded accelerator exclusively for students in the future.
Who can apply: Current high school students with development and design experience. Next year’s accelerator will accept college students.
Length of Program: 3 weeks before the program launch, and 3 weeks during program. 1 month and a half total. Partners and mentors work with companies year round.
Investment: In-Kind (not monetary).
Equity: 15%
Location: 610 Elm Street, McKinney, TX
Website: http://satusproject.com/
How do they help tech startups:
The SATUS mentors network is composed of young founders each with an industry specific background, as well as experienced Dallas entrepreneurs. Current mentors are from SF, Boston, and DC and will focus on tech based startups. The accelerator’s partners include Rhamy Belayachi, Jed Rollins, and Nathan Chiu – a full stack software engineer, a product/graphic designer, and an MIT accelerator alum, respectively.
“The largest differentiating factor with SATUS is that we understand the value that inexperienced yet passionate and dedicated young founders can have. We are willing to take a risk that other accelerators would not take. Our partner and mentor network consists of successful young founder and passionate entrepreneurs. This program is serving a community of young founders that would otherwise be neglected. We can motivate them by showing them the path they need to take to succeed.” -Gautam Bhargava, Founder and Partner
