Iowa Startup Accelerator

Benefits include: 

• 1:1 coaching by our staff, including regular reviews of your business performance, including review of your business KPIs;
• Strategic planning and review with a small cohort of companies at a similar lifecycle stage;
• CEO roundtable discussions with peer CEOs in your cohort;
• Educational workshops with industry experts on topics like sales, marketing, operations, finance and more;
• Founder Fireside chats, in which we interview founders who’ve built, grown, and exited companies about their stories privately for you and your cohort;
• Regular office hours with ISA Ventures staff;
• Access to ISA’s extensive mentor pool when and where needed.
• Priority access to NewBoCo’s staff of experts including advanced software engineers, digital marketers, user experience professionals, graphic designers, videographers, and more, available on a discounted contract basis and subject to scheduling constraints;
• Access to technology perks worth hundreds of thousand of dollars in discounts, including AWS and Google Cloud credits, CRM systems like Hubspot and Pipedrive, payroll software like Gusto, email systems like Sendgrid, cap table management in Carta, and payment processing via Stripe
  

Who Qualifies:

• Established Startup (pre-(or early) revenue)
• Must be Iowa-Based
• Scalable on a national level with a realistic and visible path to a successful exit and or ROI
• Team of experienced co-founders (preferred)
• Demonstrated customer knowledge
• Demonstrated product / service knowledge
• Able to articulate / demonstrate a competitive advantage and value proposition. 

Application Process for the Fall 2021 Cohort:  

• Complete the application by August 15
• Participate in at least two “interviews”
• Give a product/service pitch (no longer than 10 minutes) followed by Q&A

Key Dates:

• Applications are due Aug. 15
• Selection will be complete by August 27
• Program starts September 13  (three days of face-to-face – in CR)
• Majority of programs* will be Virtual (Zoom)
• One day of programming in DSM (November 9)
• Demo Day (2 days in CR) December 16-17
• Investor Demo Day – By invitation March 15

* Courses Include:  Agile, Customer Discovery, Product Positioning, Traction Channels, Sales, Legal Contracts, Building Your Leadership Team; Pitching Your Startup, Story Telling, Crash Courses in Financial Models (4), Investor Readiness (4)