A new programme for launching tech startups, Start with Seven (Sw7), is to set launch in Johannesburg and Cape Town in mid-July, providing a different take on traditional incubator and accelerator programmes.
Sw7 has signed up more than 20 prominent IT executives to act as mentors during its nine-week and two-day programmes, including Kagiso Media chief digital officer Craig Corte, Quirk managing director Justin Spratt and PrivateProperty.co.za founder Justinus Afriaanse.
Startup founders can apply to take part in part-time evening courses, with the nine-week option costing ZAR$,800 (US$450) – due to support from Microsoft Bizspark – and the two-day course costing ZAR6,100 (US$570), though scholarships may be offered.
Co-founder Keith Jones said he and his team had found the dynamics and needs of the South African market were slightly different to other markets, hence the need for a different model.
“We don’t have the volume or quality of businesses coming through the market to support the traditional equity-based international acceleration programmes,” he said.
“On top of this, we have a world class B2B IT sector, which means that many of the businesses are able to bootstrap and fund the build of their products through services without the equity dilution.”
Jones said Sw7 was benefitting from the support of a number of organisations.
“There is strong support from large organisations like Microsoft and Jobsfund, where job creation and innovation are measures for success, rather than the ‘home run’ kind of exits we hear about from Silicon Valley,” he said. “Support has also come in the guise of free mentoring from the recent visit by the Sendgrid team from the US, arguably one of the most experienced startup advisory teams to visit our country.”
Co-founder Odette Jones said the “cookie cutter” approach to treating all founders and startups in the same way had yielded limited results, something Sw7 was looking to diverge from.
“Sw7 focuses on making sure the founder is firstly aware of what they need to do to succeed, and secondly has a good understanding of their strengths and weaknesses, so they can build the right team and approach their business in a way that sets them up for success,” she said.
“A balanced view of the business, combined with an understanding of where the main strengths of the founding team are, is the optimum recipe for success. Understanding where you are likely to fail is important, but understanding ‘the why’ is often the difference between success and failure of your venture.”
Sw7 intends to implement a global best practice approach combined with strong support from the local community. The team said it is focused on building a national tech startup community and bridging the geographical divide between Johannesburg and Cape Town.
“There is a strong focus on building a community of people that can help each other and ‘pay it forward’ by helping new businesses get to market and learn from the mistakes of others,” Sw7 said. “Creating an action oriented, vibrant startup community nationally will create more opportunities and ultimately more jobs for everyone.”
Applications for the first semester are open online until June 30, will the programme commencing next month.
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