StartupMonthly is back at home in Silicon Valley

by Vadim Slavin (StartupMonthly co-founder, COO)

StartupMonthly started as a grass roots movement in Silicon Valley but as many already know is quickly spreading to other parts of the worlds. Here is why. Firstly, it offers the entrepreneurship school which teaches (through hands-on workshops)

• how to articulate an idea
• how to perform effective Customer Development
• how to recruit the right co-founding team of capable people who will work well together
• how to convert an idea into a business model
• how to validate the business model and adapt it to the market needs

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• how to build the right Minimal Viable Product
• how to show and prove product traction to investors
• how to pitch to investors
• how to become a fundable startup

Secondly, StartupMonthly, supports ecosystems where startup co-founders can benefit from the collective knowledge and wisdom of many mentors in various domains (technical, business development, marketing, user experience). Each ecosystem attracts investors interested in seeing the outcome of the school and startups it produces.

It is therefore no surprise that StartupMonthly was quickly invited to other corners of the world where startup ecosystems are not as vibrant and where not only entrepreneurs but also mentors and investors need to be educated on what it takes to create a vibrant ecosystem which is capable of growing talent and startups.

The StartupMonthly team recently visited Russia and the Baltic region (Lithuania, Estonia and Latvia) to run some of our most successful workshops to understand the viability of creation of entrepreneurial ecosystems in those regions. Here are some photos from our workshops in Moscow and Vilnius:
https://www.facebook.com/startupmonthly/photos
https://www.facebook.com/StartupMonthlyVilnius

The conclusion was that there is definitely a potential there. For example, over 500 people turned out for the opening ceremony in Vilnius, Lithuania to welcome the StartupMonthly team and hear the address of the Lithuanian prime minister. In Moscow, the conference attracted top 70 startups from accelerator and incubators who submitted their applications for consideration. In these locations, StartupMonthly identified top 15 most promising teams and invited 5 of them to Silicon Valley for the two month long startup accelerator. 

MonthlyVentures is the investment arm of StartupMonthly which invested in teams that we brought to US and provide the 2 month startup accelerator program to make them fundable in US. This accelerator caters to the unique origin of the startups and helps them find the US and global market fit. In addition to receiving the usual mentorship the teams also get legal, bizdev, cultural, user experience, English lessons and consultation support unique for their background. The distinctive methodology of the startup accelerator is the expanded version of the StartupMonthly Entrepreneurship School which is based on Lean Startup principles and Customer Development methodology developed by Steve Blank, an adviser to StartupMonthly. 

It has only been several days for the young startups in US and they already received several mentorship sessions, evaluation of their strategy, advice on their plans, networking tips, and even some inquiries from prospective investors. 

MonthlyVentures is going to leverage the success of StartupMonthly in order to provide opportunities for discovery of talented individuals and capable teams around the world. The team has close ties to the former USSR communities and chose these regions as the starting points of the global expansion  (Pre-Accelerator chapters). However, the team has already been invited to open chapters in Great Britain, Colombia, Brazil, Israel, Singapore and it is only the beginning. In fact, the team behind StartupMonthly and MonthlyVentures is working on developing a franchise model which will empower local communities and provide a channel and access to the Silicon Valley for investing into promising teams. Support to local chapters will include packaging the school’s methodology and workshops, providing mentorship and advisory support, and providing access to Silicon Valley talent and investment community.