We feel there’s a lot of resources in the ecosystem that help people build better startups and help their business, but there’s not that much out there that helps people become better entrepreneurs.
You are not just an idea, you are a person.
Too many times in the entrepreneur world, brilliant and engaging human beings fall through the cracks because their idea wasn’t good enough, or didn’t go through the correct channels to achieve its full potential. This failure isn’t a reflection of their ultimate talent ceiling, just a mere statement that for one reason or another, the idea and/or timing wasn’t completely right.
What happens to these poor souls? Some of them keep plugging along and go on to do different things, while some give up on life and spend the rest of their days ripping bongs and watching Robot Chicken. It’s a harsh, harsh world.
To help in the process of entrepreneur building, rather than the more common process of business building, Sustainable Startups has opened applications to its lean startup incubator.
“We feel there’s a lot of resources in the ecosystem that help people build better startups and help their business, but there’s not that much out there that helps people become better entrepreneurs,” Executive Director Ian Shelledy said. “We see our program being about helping people become better entrepreneurs, which will then allow them to go on and build awesome businesses.”
With a strong focus on mentorship, Shelledy has designed the summer cohort around recognizing the individual over the idea. Starting in June and running for a 12-week span, the summer cohort is welcome to entrepreneurs of any shapes and sizes — all that’s required is applicaton and ample motivation.
“We’ll look at the person first and their concept second,” he said. “If they’re an interesting, capable individual that’s coachable and willing to engage, that’s our ideal candidate. Their concept is secondary.”
The program is non-transactional (Sustainable Startups takes no equity and gives no funding) and the majority of accepted applicants can have the cost highly or completely subsidized.
“Beyond entrepreneur development, we do some lean startup business model training,” Shelledy said. “A proven concept is what you really get out of it at the end of the program, so it’s mostly for people at the early stage.”
Go prove you aren’t just an idea. Go prove you’re an entrepreneur.
For those interested, apply via this link.
Published 4/20/2015
