What Incubators are looking for?

If you're applying to an organization that supports early-stage ventures, something to note is they get to review hundreds of ideas annually.

In reviewing ideas, they are looking for experiments worth taking and they have developed a system for filtering these ideas.

This is quite important for you because they are placing their hard-earned cash, time, expertise and networks behind those experiments and are looking to increase the likelihood of success at all stages.

Invariably, some fail but that is expected as it wouldn’t be experimenting if they could predict a 100% success rate every time.

Programs want ideas that solve clear problems for a significant number of people.

What are they looking for:

• Simple, interesting, and creative solutions to the problems. These solutions should demonstrate an understanding of how the target audience currently meets their needs and the deficiencies in those existing solutions.
• Seek individuals or teams with the passion and competence to execute their ideas immediately and in the future.
• A clear need, a large potential customer base, the right solution, and the right team are essential.

A lack of any of these three may result in them not engaging with submitted ideas.

This combination of a clear need, a large potential customer base, the right solution & the right proponent/team are necessary conditions for Incubators to engage with ideas submitted. A lack of ANY of the three may mean not engaging.

There are certain bare minimums they need to see in these three areas or they won’t engage. In the following posts, I’ll explain what they mean and look for in the three areas.

1. A Very Clearly Defined Problem/Need/Opportunity

The businesses that get support are not created solely to make the most money possible. They are created to provide important value to a large number of potential customers.

To maximise the value you want to produce, you need to demonstrate clarity on why the value you are producing would be considered important by your customers for it to be paid for.

This “Why” is encapsulated in the need you are seeking to address, the problem you are seeking to solve or the gap you seek to fill for the customer. This seems very easy & obvious but many stumble at this stop due to some common mistakes.

To do it right, explain the need from the point of view of the pain you are seeking to ease for a specific customer segment.

The pain, need, gap, problem or opportunity is often negative which is why the customers will value the solution you are providing. Express the need in all its negative glory.

The clearer you are in expressing the need, the easier it will be for anyone to realise the value of your potential solution & business.

2. For a clearly defined segment of our society

Who has the problem you are creating a solution for? This has to be a clearly defined customer segment and it cannot be EVERYBODY.

Be specific about your target demographic. i.e. primary school children attending public primary schools in big cities in Nigeria; working professionals aged between 24 & 30; low-income households in Lagos.

Even if your product will eventually be used by everybody, you need to clearly state who the early adopters are. This is the linchpin target that you will use for your product at launch.

The clarity with which you describe this target segment and your understanding of their needs & why they will adopt your solution says a lot about how much thought and work you have given your idea.

3. Simple, Interesting and Creative Solution

Your idea to solve the clearly stated problem should be describable in 140 characters.

If it takes too long and a lot of context to explain your solution, it is too complicated and will be too hard to sell.

The link between the solution and the problem you want to solve should be direct. It should be clear how the solution is solving the problem. The more indirect the solution is in bringing the desired change, the more is revealed about how much you don’t know about the problem you are trying to solve.

4. The passion and competence to execute

Some investors say that they invest in the people and not the idea. Some go as far as saying they don’t even care if the idea is crap, but a great team can execute a crap idea into being good.

Incubators buy into the sentiment that a good person/team executing the idea is critical to whether it’s a winner or whether it goes bust.

Two things are critical in the founding team — Passion and Competence.

Passion defines how driven you are to effect the change your idea is designed to bring. It is reflected in a deep desire to make that difference and it’s usually the last reserve fuel in the tank when motivation is at its lowest (and trust me, at some point, it will be very low).

It speaks to the affinity of the founders to the problem they want to address and sits in the emotions.

Competence is the left brain side to starting a business. Do you have the skills and experiences required to execute the idea you have defined?

Competence comes from training (education) and your work experience. It speaks to the skills required to run the day-to-day operation to deliver your business.

You need to be able to communicate the passion and competence that exists in your team to execute your idea if you are to be taken seriously by supporters. This is the answer to the question, “Why YOU?”

2025 TONY ELUMELU FOUNDATION ENTREPRENEURSHIP PROGRAMME + $5,000 grant funding is currently on

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