Transform SY’s Cohort 3 Boot Camp - workshops, pitches, mentors and beyond
Cohort 3 + Transform SY team members + Pitch competition judging panel
Two weeks ago we completed Transform SY's Cohort 3 Boot Camp - a 2-day event we start every accelerator we deliver with, and it was a resounding success.
We started recruitment back in October, and while the number of startups joining us is lower than for Cohort 1 and Cohort 2, this new group is coming in with high expectations, tackling problems in the finTech, edTech, energy and more spaces. 10 hungry entrepreneurs from South Yorkshire are joining us for the last (for now) iteration of our programme, and as it has become a tendency for Transform, the diversity stands out - both gender- and race-wise, but also the founders' personal and professional backgrounds, and their chosen industries to build a business within.
This Boot Camp was different from the first two for a number of reasons - Boot Camp for Cohort 1 was hosted online due to the still high risk of Covid at the time (Jan 2022), and Boot Camp for Cohort 2 was the first we've done in the region, so there were a lot of hits, but also few misses which we took into account when organising this one. And I'm confident that this was the best Boot Camp to date - full of learning, but also action, of connection but also time to work on your own, of serious and productive work but also fun and space to relax. Underneath I will summarise both days.
Day 1
We welcomed our cohort at the Hallam iLab - a fantastic space provided to us by the Sheffield Hallam Enterprise Team - and started the day with coffee and introduction to Entrepreneurial Spark, Transform SY, Boot Camp and the team.
Then, day 1 was all about learning - as we delivered four workshops on the following topics:
Mindsets & Behaviours - at Entrepreneurial Spark, it all starts with the mindset. We explore the way people limit themselves unconsciously, how to be in control of your mind and utilise it in your role
Customer Discovery - every business starts with a problem that people are willing to pay to get solved. In Customer Discovery, we explore this topic and show our entrepreneurs ways to do customer discovery - and then we deep dive the processes
Value Proposition - it's not just about 'figuring out a solution' - you need to refine it, maximise its value to customers and remove the unwanted parts. We use the 'Value Proposition Canvas' to help the entrepreneurs do that
Pitching Masterclass - pitching is essential for founders and we go through the whole act of it - from creating the content, through structuring it, to delivering it
All of these sessions had a 'theoretical' part which was about content delivery but still involved a lot of discussion with the cohort, and a practical part where the entrepreneurs were utilising the tools and concepts to work on their businesses.
With more than 6 hours of workshops in day 1, we knew that day 2 has to be different to keep everyone engaged, involved and energetic. And did we make it different!
Alumni from Cohort 1 and 2 joined us on Day 2 for ‘Entrepreneur panel’
Day 2
We started at 8.30am again with coffee and in the first session for the day we 'enrolled' the entrepreneurs onto the cohort fully. Aside from the introduction we did on day 1, this session was when we covered all logistical details regarding the accelerator, and also established expectations towards one another.
The rest of the day was very dynamic - first, the Cohort participated in a 'Mastermind groups' activity, where each of them shares a current challenge or priority and discusses it with their peers. 'Mastermind groups' went a bit overtime as the entrepreneurs loved working with each other, and then we welcomed alumni from Cohort 1 and Cohort 2 for an 'Entrepreneur panel'.
An accelerator experience is something still quite unique for most South Yorkshire-based founders, including the ones that joined us on Cohort 3, so we wanted to give them the chance to hear from people who've just completed the journey they are now embarking on. We welcomed Daniel Blaney from Ferrio, Grant Ripley and Craig Malcolm from TieTek and Lenka Mudrich from Vyoo and they spoke about their experiences, challenges and successes, and answered the cohort's questions. Dan, Grant, Craig and Lenka also stayed for our networking lunch, which saw some of the Transform SY mentors join us too!
Next on the agenda was a 'Meet the mentor' session and all around from South Yorkshire came Duncan Hoyland from the Department for International Trade, Zara Smith from Zara Smith Coaching, Hannah Duraid from The Great Escape Game, Paul Treherne from HSBC and Mark Hughes from Tutorful. They introduced themselves and their expertise to the cohort, and few links between mentors and entrepreneurs have already been made!
After the mentors, we did an exercise for the cohort regarding their future on the programme and what changes they want to see in themselves and their businesses, and then we moved on to practice for the upcoming pitching competition - another one with a £1000 prize!
Steve Lyon from UKSE, Ceri Batchelder from TEAM SY and Mike Stephens from Entrepreneurial Spark formed the judging panel and the pitches began! Each entrepreneur had 1 minute to deliver their pitch and then 3 minutes to answer questions from our panel. Everyone did outstandingly - especially considering that they had less than 24 hours to prepare.
In the end, there was place for only one winner, and that was Rachael Summerscales from Honest Childhood! She went home with the £1000 prize provided by UKSE and Entrepreneurial Spark, and a certificate announcing her as the best pitching founder at Cohort 3 Boot Camp!
Rachael from Honest Childhood with the judging panel after winning Boot Camp’s pitch competition
2 days of customer discovery, value prop, pitching, networking, building businesses and creating entrepreneurs - here are my takeaways from Boot Camp:
2-day sprints work better as part of a programme, rather than on their own - sorry, BizJam! As much as I loved the event and we got fantastic feedback from the participants, Boot Camp was created to be a setting stone for the entrepreneurs for everything that's coming in the next 5 months. And even if we run another BizJam, this takeaway will surely be reflected onto it as there will be some post-event follow-up mechanism
There's still a lot of 'undiscovered' brilliant startups in South Yorkshire - while recruiting, I connected with entrepreneurs from places I wasn't even aware of, and all of that in the small South Yorkshire! There's still a lot of work we can do to improve the overall connectedness in our region and increase the visibility of startups, but also to increase the reasons why startups might want to be visible
'Accountability' is the secret ingredient - one group of people struggle with accountability, and the other group are lying. Having now heard from more than 50 people their motives for joining us, I can see that being held accountable is always on the top of peoples' lists.
As a whole, Boot Camp was a great experience, but it is just the start - now there's 5 months to see how the founders from Cohort 3 will grow and what they will achieve. And just so you can keep up with them, here are theirs, their business' names and a brief overview of what they do:
Eli Etemadi, CarLer - Eli and her team are revolutionising the way people book driving lessons
Endre Kiss-Toth, StemcellX - Endre is developing affordable stem cell treatments for osteoarthritis In animals
Ruta Lendraitiene, Ruta Lender - Ruta utilises her rich professional sporting experience to deliver nutrition and exercise plans to increase productivity for employees
Michelle Slater, Charge Ur Vehicle - Michelle and her team want to be the primary electric charging point installers in South Yorkshire and beyond
Rachael Summerscales, Honest Childhood - Rachael supports early years providers and professionals with pedagogical development
Marvelous Jibogi, NutriToken - did you eat poorly when you were a student? Marv is trying to change that by incentivising students to eat better
Taiwo Ojo, Dimension Logic Tech - Taiwo wants to change the way organisations manage employee expenses
Vish Mistry, Affinity One - Vish is now focusing on the circular economy, refurbishing and upselling 2nd hand office tech equipment
Kris Mackay, Mobi - Kris aims to create new community level solutions to support green travel and tackle the climate emergency
Aaron Jack and Hannah Weinhold, SlickDuck - Aaron and Hannah are creating a new tool for digital agencies to manage their customer relationships and projects (you might recognise Aaron and Hannah from Transform SY BizJam)