What an accelerator can do for your business: 3 takeaways from Vaughan Shanks, Founder at CYDARM.
We understand it’s not always clear what kind of impact an accelerator can have on your business progress, so we invited Vaughan in to give you the run-down of his experience as part of CyRise cohort 1.
Meet Vaughan Shanks, CEO and Founder of CYDARM. Here are his top 3 takeaways from the CyRise accelerator program.
1. Validate the problem
The first step in any startup is to confirm that there is a problem to be solved. Even with my background and industry connections, there was still great benefit in validating my product through the accelerator program via conversation with leaders in the cyber security industry. A good accelerator program can provide the connections you need to validate the problem you are addressing. Validating that there is a problem to be solved ensures that a startup does not waste time building something that nobody will value.
2. Seek advice from mentors
Mentors have been an integral part of accelerating the progress of CYDARM. Mentors can help by providing domain expertise, objective advice, introductions, or sometimes just a sounding board for ideas. CyRise mentors include people from the cyber security industry and the startup ecosystem, and have helped CYDARM immensely with business strategy, connections, and fundraising advice.
3. Hone your pitch
To connect with customers, collaborators, and investors, startup founders need to be able to sell the benefits of their idea. Learning to pitch your business idea is an essential skill, as is knowing your audience, their background, their incentives, and their attention span. It is very easy for a technical founder to get excited about features, when customers and investors only care about benefits. A good accelerator can provide you with objective feedback to refine your pitch, and build confidence in delivering it.
Want to know whether your cyber security idea is viable? Chat to CyRise CEO, Scott Handsaker, for free, friendly and insightful advice. Book a time here.
