Time to read: 8 min<\/p>\n
Guide for startups on how to get the most out of hardware accelerator programs. Amidst the many tools available to help hardware startups succeed, there\u2019s the accelerator program. These programs are designed to do just what they imply \u2014accelerate growth<\/em>. But while the concept is simple, the application is more nuanced.<\/p>\n Gabrielle Guthrie\u00a0and\u00a0Santhi Analytis\u00a0of\u00a0Moxxly, a startup developing a high performing breast pump system, have experienced this first-hand. Armed with a Masters degree in Product design and a PhD in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford, respectively, Gabrielle, Santhi, and their Co-Founder Cara Delzer were accepted into\u00a0Highway1\u2019s accelerator program last year and are currently a part of Stanford\u2019s\u00a0StartX\u00a0program.<\/p>\n In this Spotlight, Gabrielle and Santhi share their experience and insights on how hardware startups can best take advantage of accelerator programs. Read on for their candid thoughts around how to get into an accelerator program, tips for getting the most out of your program, and more.<\/p>\n A good place to start this discussion is in the exploration of how accelerator programs fit in and compare with other funding options, such as crowdfunding or traditional venture capital (VC) funding.<\/p>\n What\u2019s important here is that it\u2019s not an accelerator program\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0a Kickstarter campaign, an accelerator program\u00a0or<\/em>\u00a0a traditional VC raise\u2014it\u2019s both\u00a0and<\/em>.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not the case that you incubate or Kickstart or just use seed funding,\u201d says Gabrielle, \u201cthere\u2019s all of those things happening at once and as a startup you\u2019re constantly trying to figure out which variety and which route is right for you.\u201d<\/p>\n For example, Moxxly went through Highway1, now they\u2019re going through StartX, they will do a presale campaign in the future, they\u2019ve closed a friends and family round as well as a seed round, and they\u2019ll raise an equity round in the coming months. It\u2019s not about choosing one path or the other.<\/p>\n To know what to look for in an accelerator program experience, let\u2019s quickly explore some of the benefits.<\/p>\n The main \u201cwhy\u201d of accelerator programs is they really do accelerate your growth. You\u00a0could<\/em>\u00a0figure everything out on your own, but the fact is your team will comprise in the beginning of just a few people and you can only do so much with your time in a day.<\/p>\n Accelerator programs give you access to resources, allowing you to uncover knowledge that would normally take longer to discover.<\/p>\n Acceleration programs accelerate your network, your product growth, and your knowledge.<\/p>\n Depending on what stage you\u2019re at, structure can be another incredibly helpful benefit of an accelerator program.<\/p>\n Working out of your home or garage is exciting at first, but eventually it\u2019s tiring. Accelerators can help ground you with a place and a schedule.<\/p>\n Although there are a lot of services that make it easier now more than ever to make physical products, it\u2019s still a time intensive, capital intensive industry. This means investors can be wary of the risks involved in investing in a hardware startup.<\/p>\n In Moxxly\u2019s case, the support of an accelerator program helped mitigate some of those risks for investors.<\/p>\n One of the greatest benefits of an accelerator program is the community and camaraderie they foster. \u201cThe community\u2019s been really important because there\u2019s people at different stages that have done things we haven\u2019t yet,\u201d Santhi shares.\u201dThere\u2019s a lot of sharing between the companies that goes on, offering and receiving advice and tips.\u201d<\/p>\n And, of course, there\u2019s the 3am coffee-buzzed moments when it\u2019s just great to see friendly faces working hard alongside you. The community you surround yourself with can be a powerfully motivating force.<\/p>\n Here are the main variables Gabrielle and Santhi considered when choosing the right program for their team.<\/p>\n Is class size important to you?<\/p>\n For example, Highway1 takes around only 12 companies at a time, whereas StartX has 48 companies in its current batch.<\/p>\n With Highway1, Gabrielle and Santhi enjoyed getting to know each of the startups in a closer way and with StartX they\u2019re able to take advantage of more breadth in terms of knowledge and experience.<\/p>\n Both sizes have pros and cons, so it largely depends on what you\u2019re looking for.<\/p>\n Related to size, different accelerator programs have different focuses. Highway1, for example, is solely focused on hardware, which is generally a plus for hardware startups. Other hardware-focused accelerator programs include\u00a0Lemnos Labs\u00a0and\u00a0Haxlr8r.<\/p>\n \u201cHighway1 was a very natural choice for us in the beginning because it was hardware-focused,\u201d Gabrielle says. \u201cThe broader focus of StartX, however, has benefited us because we span so many different aspects. We\u2019re healthcare, we\u2019re consumer facing, we\u2019re hardware, we\u2019re software \u2014 we\u2019re all these things, which means we have all these challenges as well.\u201d<\/p>\n Consider whether a focus on your product niche is important to you when choosing an accelerator program.<\/p>\n Another considering factor for Moxxly was location. Both Highway1 and StartX are local in the Bay Area, which was an important variable for their team.<\/p>\n What kind of ecosystem does each accelerator exist in and provide?<\/p>\n For example, Highway1 has PCH behind them for support in contract manufacturing, supply chain and distribution.<\/p>\n Consider what kind of ecosystem you\u2019re looking for to support your growth in and beyond your time in the program.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019ve chosen which program or programs you\u2019re interested in, there\u2019s the matter of being accepted!<\/p>\n For Gabrielle and Santhi, the main components of an attractive application are fairly straightforward and involve a balance of comprehensive features including:<\/p>\n To have an attractive application, you need to show promise in all these overarching areas.<\/p>\n But the secret sauce if the Moxxly team had one?<\/p>\n Starting with user needs.<\/strong><\/p>\n \u201cOur prototype wasn\u2019t fully developed when we applied for Highway1,\u201d Gabrielle shares. \u201cRather, we had invested hours and hours and hours of time into user research to essentially provide the proof that once we built out our product, it would sell.\u201d<\/p>\n Hearing other startups talk about \u201cproduct-market-fit\u201d? A totally foreign concept to the Moxxly team. \u201cWhat do you\u00a0mean<\/em>\u00a0you don\u2019t know if people want this?!\u201d Gabrielle exasperates, playfully.<\/p>\n \u201cThe fatal error of so many startups is they begin their user research after the product is too refined,\u201d adds Santhi. \u201cThen they don\u2019t want to admit it because they\u2019ve invested so much time and effort. We put the most time and effort up front into figuring out what users want.\u201d<\/p>\n The key to acceptance into an accelerator is not a fully refined prototype. Rather, it\u2019s a fully fleshed out\u00a0idea<\/em>\u00a0that proves promise for future success, making it worth the investment in further work on the physical prototype.<\/p>\n Once you\u2019re accepted into an accelerator program, the work has just begun.<\/p>\n It can be easy to let the time pass by, hunched over your laptop or workbench without taking full advantage of the resources available to you for a limited amount of time.<\/p>\n Here are some tips to help you maximize your time in an accelerator program:<\/p>\n Although Demo Day is in certain ways an arbitrary deadline, it can help you make faster decisions and stay on track.<\/p>\n \u201cJust the act of having it there as a milestone that everything is working toward can help accelerate your pace and hone in your focus,\u201d Gabrielle says.<\/p>\n At the beginning of the program, the Moxxly team established what they wanted to accomplish by the end of the session and then worked backwards from there to establish their development schedule.<\/p>\n \u201cAt the end of the 4-month period at Highway1 we wanted to have a finished alpha prototype, a full mechanical system, a demo of our sensors, and screenshots of how we wanted the app to look like. We got there,\u201d say Santhi.<\/p>\n Demo Day, on the other hand, can be distracting if you\u2019re not careful. Make sure that milestone is truly in line with your goals as a company since you shouldn\u2019t skirt important processes solely in the interest of meeting the Demo Day deadline.<\/p>\n Though there are many resources available to you in an accelerator program, you have to be proactive in their utilization.<\/p>\n \u201cYou could most certainly go through an accelerator program and never even set foot in the labs,\u201d Santhi says. \u201cAs a hardware company, you need to have a hands-on spirit and a desire to learn, share and build proactively. No one will tell you exactly what you should be doing; you\u2019re still responsible for taking charge of your own growth opportunities.\u201d<\/p>\n So while before it may have been productive to stay heads-down at your computer, in an accelerator program it\u2019s time to engage with the staff, mentors and entrepreneurs around you.<\/p>\n The balancing side of being proactive in leveraging resources is being savvy with your time.<\/p>\n When it comes to utilizing access to incredible mentors, for example, there are many available and it\u2019s important to be prudent about who you reach out to.<\/p>\n \u201cIt takes a lot of time on your end to reach out to a mentor, so at Highway1 we honed in on a process of reaching out for help in a concise and focused way,\u201d Gabrielle shares.<\/p>\n When the team needed help from a mentor, they would pose their problem with this structure:<\/p>\n More specifically, they wrote up a one-pager with photos and diagrams, designed to get someone up to speed quickly with where they\u2019re at and clearly show what they need.<\/p>\n \u201cThe initial goal is to make them understand, get them excited, and show them how they can help,\u201d says Santhi. \u201cThe end goal is that you\u2019re able to leverage their knowledge and expertise and both parties feel really great about the experience.\u201d<\/p>\n So when reaching out to a mentor don\u2019t just fire off a thoughtless email. Do your homework so you can be clear and concise in your ask.<\/p>\n The key to successfully transitioning out of an accelerator program is in maintaining structure to stay on track.<\/p>\n Demo Day isn\u2019t the only milestone to leverage as a tangible goal to work toward; right now Moxxly is working toward beta testing as their tangible goal.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve had several revs of our prototype and now it\u2019s just about making refinements,\u201d say Santhi.<\/p>\n The Moxxly team also stays on track by implementing a structured schedule of iterative hardware sprints.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019ve been on a weekly design rev sprint for a couple months now,\u201d shares Gabrielle. \u201cWe start with a hypothesis to test, 3D print, get it out to user testing, and then come back to make refinements and do it again.\u201d<\/p>\n But the most important element of their culture, in and beyond accelerator programs, is work-life balance.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s this implication within many startup that you don\u2019t deserve to be a founder unless you give 20 hours of your life every single day,\u201d Gabrielle considers. \u201cBut that\u2019s not a sustainable model. We believe you can work hard, make kickass products, and meet your deadlines without killing yourself in the process. We\u2019re in it for the long haul.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n<\/span><\/p>\nWhy Accelerators<\/h2>\n
Growth Acceleration<\/h3>\n
Structure<\/h3>\n
Investment<\/h3>\n
Community<\/h3>\n
Choosing the Right Program<\/h2>\n
Size<\/h3>\n
Niche<\/h3>\n
Location<\/h3>\n
Ecosystem<\/h3>\n
Acceptance into a Program<\/h2>\n
\n
Getting the Most out of Your Experience<\/h2>\n
Leverage Demo\u00a0Day\u00a0as a Tangible Milestone<\/h3>\n
Be Proactive<\/h3>\n
Be Savvy\u00a0With\u00a0Your\u00a0Time<\/h3>\n
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Transitioning out of an Accelerator<\/h2>\n