North Forge East’s four-stage Startup Program combines market-first best practices with regional wisdom and international experience. The Startup Program supports and guides entrepreneurs as they formulate ideas, develop products and services, launch businesses and grow their companies.
Who You Are: An entrepreneur with an idea. You need to gain an in-depth understanding of the opportunity, the market and the critical supports required for success before investing money
Goals: The Validate stage aims to solidify your business and financing strategy and confirm your positioning for the product and market fit.
Who You Are: A startup who has done the research and confirmed a product/market fit. You’re ready to develop your idea into a minimal viable product (MVP).
Goals: From the Build stage, you’ll complete your minimal viable product to prepare for the market, and you’ll start to generate some early customer interest or sales in your product.
Who You Are: A startup with an MVP looking to refine your business ideas while expanding your network to support your business growth. You may need a clearer idea of the funding sources available to you and guidance with fine-tuning your financial plan to become investment-ready.
Goals: The Grow stage will focus on building the business infrastructure to make your plan actionable and sustainable. This could include strategy for sales, marketing and finances, as well as talent recruitment and retention and customer and investor growth.
Who You Are: A startup with a growing customer base and revenue. You need a network of specialized supports to help you realize scalable growth, connect you to investment and help you access an accelerator that is right for your business.
Goals: The Accelerate stage works off the success of the Grow stage, but aims for higher goals to quicken the growth of business. This could include pitching your company to top startup mentors, building an advisory team, and connecting with potential investors, customers and partners.