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1Mby1M Incubator-in-a-Box Best Practices for VC Firms

Based on our experience with the Incubator-in-a-Box, we recommend the following:

Positioning:

A venture firm receives thousands of applications and actually invests in a few companies per year. However, in the reject pool, there are many promising companies that may be too early. These could be nurtured to a fundable stage.

The 1Mby1M partnership can be used to create a proprietary deal flow on an ongoing basis. In fact, VC firms can even use the 1Mby1M partnership as part of their fundraising pitch to Limited Partners.

Scholarships:

We recommend that you provide a set of scholarships to the Premium Program ($1000 per year per entrepreneur team) to a subset of companies you REJECT for funding but consider promising.

In effect, you have two kinds of reject pools: one, that you consider promising, and two, you don’t.

The first pool, you would want to recommend to APPLY for the scholarship.

The second pool, you could simply recommend to join 1Mby1M Basic (curriculum-only) Program or Premium Program. They can pay for their own Basic membership. It costs only $99/month. They can also pay for their own Premium Program membership ($1000/year).

Application:

It is important that entrepreneurs APPLY to be part of the program.

1Mby1M has worked well for those entrepreneurs who have the ability and interest in online learning and rigorous study. [Read What To Expect From The Premium Program.]

It is a bit like a gym membership. We have machines, but entrepreneurs have to work out to get in shape. They better make the commitment to doing the work outs, or they will waste the scholarships you will give them. The program involves a lot of self-learning and personal discipline.

In the application, we want the entrepreneurs to answer the questions in our Self Assessment to get a feel for whether they’re a good match for the program.

We have seen that programs that have a specific focus on immersing the entrepreneurs from their communities in the Free Public Roundtables tend to have a higher rate of success. Entrepreneurs considering joining 1Mby1M should attend a few roundtables to get oriented.

Incentive – Funding:

The incentive for funding is built-in. As soon as the company is ready, we will bring them back to speak with you to revisit their funding prospects.