Accelerator and Incubator Management

OUR CAPABILITIES

The LightCastle Way

Fostering entrepreneurship development is critical for the growth of Bangladesh. To that end, we strive to impact the ecosystem in parallel with developing both the startups and the SMEs. Regardless of the type, our model comprises a holistic approach that is flexible to the changing needs. Working at the intersection of business knowledge, access to markets, access to finance and digitalization, the Accelerator 3.0 program curriculum can be easily customized to cater to the needs of the entrepreneurs and enterprise development projects.

Having worked with 700+ SMEs/startups and investors (from angels to venture capitals to private and public equities), we understand how to help entrepreneurs/SMEs frame the right answers to some of the key questions such as – What’s going on in the market and how to design the right business model? How to analyze risks? What are the ways to build a customer-centric business and how to scale? What kind of market fundamentals do investors feel comfortable with? How do they measure founder conviction? Through the Accelerator 3.0 immersive program, we take the startups/SMEs through an immersive four-step journey – investing in them to become scalable and sustainable.

Refining business model, market fundamentals and getting ready: This step focuses on running self-diagnostics of the business and streamlining the business model blocks. This includes defining/refining the core value proposition, customer discovery/target market, channels and relationships, partnerships, key resources and activities.

Breaking down capital raise requirements, milestones and financial forecasts: Once the business model is ready, it’s time to develop an understanding of the investments required at the current stage of business. Considering the business has an initial product prototype and early traction numbers, we first calculate key ratios like client acquisition costs and customer lifetime value. Based on that, we can work with the team to develop a concrete set of financial forecasts taking into account market growth, competitive intensity and any future raise that may be required.

Developing pitch investor relations document, creating investor hit list and practice plus: With the business model, market fundamentals, financial projections in place, it’s time to orchestrate a winning pitch. We also prefer to develop a 20 to 30 page investor relations handbook about the company, future prospects and key milestones in the journey. Next, we develop an investor hit list – what their existing investments look like? what kind of sectors they are interested in? and who would be a strategic fit? Finally, we work with companies to practice, practice and practice pitches – until the business and market details become second nature.

The Real Deal – demo days, meet and greet, events: Fundraising is often a full time job and we usually ask an entrepreneur to dedicate specific time commitments to fund raise. (S)he has to attend events, do demo pitches, set up meetings with all types of financing institutions. We help open doors with connections we have, set up appointments, put in good words and help them learn from real life experiences.

SPOTLIGHT

Entrepreneurs of Bangladesh

The rural SMEs play a dominating role in Bangladesh’s growth story, contributing 25% to the country’s GDP and creating employment for over 7.8 million people. Entrepreneurs of Bangladesh (EoB) features the unheard voices of our rural entrepreneurs, whose stories of hope, resilience, and dreams against all odds, in effect, emerge as real gems from the soil, driving economic and social advancements in our beloved Bangladesh.

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