The Tampa Bay Innovation Center has just completed its most recent Startup Accelerator Program, finishing the 12-week course with a demo and pitch event for six companies.
The Innovation Center hosts two accelerator programs each year, focusing on startups creating products for B2B (business to business) customers. There are monthly Office Hours open to any potential founder that wants to explore the possibility of starting a tech venture and needs guidance on the startup process, finding resources, or just taking that first step.
The Spring 2022 Accelerator program is for B2B tech ventures. The Pinellas County-based program sought high-impact tech startups from a wide range of industries that serve enterprise and SMB (small and medium business) customers. Participants engaged in a rigorous 12-week program that includes user research, design thinking, coaching and insight from other industry professionals. It was held in person at the Innovation Center’s downtown St. Petersburg office.
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“A startup’s journey to find a sustainable product-market fit is one that is achieved by understanding the user’s job, their ideal outcome, and points of friction that impede them from meeting their objectives,” said Ken Evans, managing director of the tech accelerator program. “Startups that focus only on the technology often fail to achieve the traction they need to turn their ideas and efforts into a sustainable flow of paying customers. This program helps founders build the credibility and confidence they need to launch and grow scalable products based on that user insight and real market demand,” he said.
Founders taking part in the accelerator program create a demand-driven product strategy and go-to-market roadmap to gain insights from extensive customer discovery and market research. “They develop strategies for testing and implementing thought leadership, pricing models, industry partnerships, and hyper-focused demand generation,” Evans said.
More about the startup accelerator program
The program is run by a network of over 75 mentors and advisors, many of whom are the region’s top technology and business leaders. So far, 26 companies have taken part in the program since its inception in late 2019. People can view their final showcase presentations on the Tampa Bay Innovation Center’s YouTube channel.
The program focuses on several areas:
- Preparing business founders to build revenue-ready tech ventures
- 12 weeks of group workshops, plus weekly one-on-one coaching sessions
- Mentor-driven startup operators and industry experts who guide participants with their knowledge of shipping products.
- Include 10 company founders
- Celebrate with a demo and pitch event at the end of the 12 weeks, which is open to the community
- No equity is required, and the program is free
Participants must have a unique and scalable tech venture in either B2B or B2G markets, be self-funded or have raised seed funding, and have a minimal viable product or proof of concept. They must also have a team of two or more members.
The most recent participants in the startup accelerator program include:
- Janet Craig with Destination Better
- Roy H. Han with Cross Compute
- Lee Ann Biafora with Beacon Advocates
- David Charlot, PhD, with CBio
- Tom Lavi, with SueApp
- Ian Annase with Zing Drones
Evans says they will launch a date for the next accelerator shortly.
