Start Me Up: ‘Secret Sauce’ for Startup Success

In November, the Betaspring team watched with pride as the 13 startups participating in our fall accelerator program presented to a sold-out crowd of investors, mentors and partners from across New England. This is always a bittersweet moment–it’s thrilling to see our companies rise so far, so fast, but in the weeks following the conclusion of the program, I always miss the intense, day-to-day moments we share while in the trenches of the 12-week session.

The wistful, “day after” feeling we and our companies experience after the conclusion of the program is important: it’s proof that we’ve created deep, effective relationships with the startups we serve. It’s the secret sauce in our recipe for startup success.

Betaspring is focused on high growth, technology driven startups. We use a 12-week, full immersion model, providing our companies with $12-$20K in seed capital, intense mentorship and workspace in an active startup community.

Our year round program is run by full time staff. We have two sessions per year, one in spring and one in fall. Even when we are not in active session, Betaspring is working with our alumni, recruiting companies and building our network. Being focused on our companies 12 months a year allows us to customize our services and find the right resources for each company.

We’re entrepreneur led and entrepreneur driven. Our programming is designed, developed and delivered by people who have started multiple companies. We understand the highs and lows that our founders face and have been navigating the high seas of new venture creation for over a decade.

We take a stand on issues that matter to startups. Startups–and the founders who drive them–don’t typically materialize out of thin air. They evolve. This is why we focus on being active in the startups across New England and participants in national conversations about what it will take for America to launch more startups, faster (visit our blog at betaspring.com to see what we’re focused on).

We have a 24/7 galactic headquarters that includes private and shared office space for our companies. We also run a co-working community for startups that includes many of our alumni companies. Experience has taught us that nothing is more powerful to a startup than being immersed in a community of entrepreneurs.

As a bonus, we offer 10 weeks of free office space to our companies after the accelerator wraps and we run activities to enhance our companies’ growth. It’s like 2 accelerators for 1.

Providence, and really all of Rhode Island, plays a major role in our success–it is the ecosystem our startups flourish in while they are with us, and it’s a great place to build a start up. We’re like The Brooklyn of Boston, connected to a world class metro but unique in many ways. Startup costs are low, the community is supportive, quirky and proud of it, and Providence is perfectly positioned in the northeast corridor, one of the richest, most populous and diverse places in the US.

Since 2009, Betaspring has accelerated 57 companies. Our companies have raised $20M in follow on funding and we had our first major acquisition in early 2012. And even though we just launched the fall companies, it’ll be time to do it all again when we kick off our 6th session on February 11. You can read more about us on our website at betaspring.com.

Our companies come from all across the country to participate in Betaspring and many stay after completing the program. The 13 companies that participated in our fall session well-represent the diversity of our portfolio. They are:

AutoBike
AutoBike’s automatic shifting bicycle creates the smoothest, most comfortable riding experience ever. No shifting, just fun.

Crunchbutton
Crunchbutton curates the top food items from the top restaurants within a community, so you can order favorites online and on your phone with just one button. Brought to you by the creators of One Button Wenzel, the cult phenomenon that sold over $60K of a single sandwich at Yale.

Greentape
Greentape uses sensors and a mobile app to calculate shopper intent, tracking their interests, movement, and in-store location to instantly provise offers and loyalty points via smartphone.

HealthID Profile
HealthID Profile is a mobile solution that works with unique medical ID bands to offer simple, chronic disease management tools coupled with emergency communication.

Kuratur
Kuratur lets social media users filter out the noise and keep track of only the people, conversations and topics they care about.

Pennant
Pennant is a powerful ad creation tool that enables ad agencies to create interactive advertisements, delivered via advertising networks to desktops, phones, and tablets.

Plandree
Plandree is a collaborative vacation planner that helps you discover incredible experiences and makes planning easy. Simply create an itinerary and start group planning with your friends and family.

Rootless
Rootless is a ridesharing community that safely connects passengers and drivers to get them where they want to go.

Scholrly
Scholrly makes it easy for companies to find and collaborate with researchers. Fostering collaboration between academia and industry unlocks the value of billions of dollars of research that goes unseen and unused.u.

TennisHub
TennisHub connects tennis players with high quality playing opportunities while providing tennis clubs with powerful tools like online booking to help them grow their business.

TouchVu
TouchVu allows small businesses to instantly turn their Facebook business pages into websites that are fully optimized for mobile phones, tablets, and PCs.

Umbie DentalCare
Umbie DentalCare is a web-based management solution for dental practices that provides all the functionality that a modern dental practice needs while meeting the HITECH law requirements.

WorldBrain
WorldBrain enables more students to travel the world than ever before. GoWorldBrain.com serves as a teacher’s salesperson, marketer and accountant to double the chances of a trip taking place.

Betaspring Fast Facts

• Founded in 2009
• 57 companies accelerated to date; $20M in capital
• In 2012, Betaspring expanded to two sessions per year
• Betaspring companies receive seed capital, intense mentorship, workspace at Betaspring HQ, immersion into a startup community and access to Betaspring’s mentor and alumni network.
• 24/7 facility with private and shared workspace
• Run by full time staff with deep experience in technology entrepreneurship

All photos from the event were taken by Cat Laine of Painted Foot (http://www.paintedfoot.com/)

Leave a comment