iDealMachine is one of the first St. Petersburg accelerators. What are the advantages of this project? During the four years accelerators haven`t become extremely wide-spread.
It was a fresh idea not only in St. Petersburg, but also in Russia and all over the world. Those who currently promote companies using accelerator facilities at that time only just broke fresh ground in America. Furthermore there were little accelerators in the world. Then we became very competitive that is why it was very hard for other organizations to get to this market. Moreover in most of cities except Moscow startupers don`t produce lots of innovations, thus there is no need to initiate many accelerators. Speaking of our advantages iDealMachine has its` own session plan and experienced entrepreneurs in the team.
Please tell us, is accelerator a routine or constantly changing organization? How to adjust to unstable market?
Today all companies undergo changes taking into account new technologies and methods. During these four years we have changed the program, selection standards, session structure and lesson plan several times. We teach future entrepreneurs to check all hypotheses and choose the best ones quickly. So we also apply this idea for our development.
What are common features of all newcomers who want to launch their business?
The main their disadvantage is that all of them are not ready for startup activities. They don`t want to spend free time for making contacts with clients and promoting their product. We help our students to learn the rules of the global market as well as explain what goals should be achieved first of all.
Is it correct to say that your “machine” works like conveyor by performing monotonous functions?
iDealMachine is a flexible mechanism. We use personal oriented approach to assist all our students, each of whom is unique as well as develop different methods and then apply them.
How many companies were organized last year?
In 2015 S&G and InGredients.pro joined our team. S&G was initiated as an application for online shopping for men. Then it was turned into a large platform for virtual marketing. InGredients.pro is an app for interaction of vendors and product engineers, which give an opportunity to buy product samples online. Currently iDealMachine includes 23 portfolio companies, nine of which have been invested.
What were the main goals that iDealMachine achieved last year?
We launched new program iDM USA Landing, which assisted startups to reach the American market. This program focuses on experienced businesses that have already been in black. We spend 12 months to help companies to launch and increase sales in the USA. Furthermore we sale accelerator services to investors, corporations and development finance institutions.
Last year iDealMachine entered the top-5 university-based accelerators according to UBI Global. Did you receive some privileges?
We appreciate the opinion of our colleagues and international experts. We are proud to be at the top, it helps us to be more recognizable and achieve new goals!