MassChallenge: The high impact of the volume-retailer accelerator business

John Hassan (John harthorne) and Achille Nigem (Akhil Nigam) earn a living by giving away things like office space, mentoring advisers and millions of dollars. As the founder of MassChallenge, a start-up competition and accelerator program based in Boston, Hassan and Nigem each year accepted 125 start-ups, offering 1 million of billions of dollars of grants without any equity in return.

MassChallenge has a strong patron group (including Blackstone Group < Blackstone Group>, Microsoft and Verizon), a network of 200 advisers and a generous commercial real estate developer, with their help MassChallenge 125 start-ups in its 27,000-square-foot office every summer for three months. In addition to being able to use the world's longest continuous writing service (a continuous whiteboard attached to the walls of the office area) (verified by the Guinness Book of Records), these companies that work at 1th Marina Park Avenue (one Marina Park Drive) also receive free legal advice and PR support, And will be targeted to introduce customers and investors. Every October, a 1.1 million-dollar grant is allocated to teams that show the greatest potential.

MassChallenge was formally established in April 2010, but the real time was June 2009, when 37-Year-old Hassan and 34-Year-old Nigem resigned as a consultant to Bain Consulting (Bain & Company) to start the idea of setting up an entrepreneurial competition project. As the U.S. economy enters crisis mode, the two find it more meaningful and more helpful to the country than being a consultant to a large multinational company to help entrepreneurs.

"We recognize that entrepreneurs are the main value creators of society and we want them to be the center of the equation," Nigem said. "The whole country is thinking about how to capture value." And we say, ' Why not think about how to create value? '

Under the guidance of Sycamore NX founder and former billionaire Desh Dehibande (Desh Deshpande), Hassan and Nigem in June 2009 from the Massachusetts Bureau of Housing and Economic development (housing and economic Development) Director Gregg Biaretski (Greg Bialecki) got the first cheque. In Biaretski's view, the project appears to be an excellent way to create jobs and consolidate the entrepreneurial community in Massachusetts. Deshpandé himself also made 100,000 dollars equal to the cheque, and the donations from Blackstone, Microsoft and the Kauffman Foundation helped them to meet the 1 million dollar sponsorship target by April 2010. Later, Chow Fahren Joe Fallon, a local real estate developer, donated the 14th floor of a newly built building overlooking Boston's Boston Harbor.

At every crossroads in the project process, Hassan and Nigem have chosen the way to help more entrepreneurs in less rewarding ways. MassChallenge has not become a means of investment for its founders, but is completely free. It does not differentiate industry-wide companies-even those still at the conceptual stage-and more start-ups than other similar projects in the world. Companies that do not receive a 1.1 million dollar reward will still receive three months of free sponsorship and guidance. According to Ingram, the 2010 participants since the end of the project so far, the total amount of financing has reached 100 million U.S. dollars, and created 500 jobs.

"I would suggest that every start-up, regardless of the state of development, try to participate in MassChallenge," Alkeus Pharma (Alkeus Pharmaceuticals) CEO Allem Reonide Saad (the company is developing a cure for blindness) ( Alum Leonide Saad said, "There is a huge amount of value lurking there." ”

MassChallenge judge the applicant's standard is whether its business can form a "high impact." They deliberately used this vague word. Applicants can cite social impact, revenue, job creation or other indicators to illustrate their strengths. Previously defined as the "High-impact" Company, Sanergy, a company dedicated to improving health and energy use in developing countries by turning human waste into electricity, also has Abroad101, a website that helps college students choose to study abroad programs. After submitting a two-page summary, the initial 300 applicants will be invited to Boston for a 20-minute self-promotion before a panel of experts from local angel investors, VCs and CEOs. The final 125 teams will spend the summer at MassChallenge headquarters, a simple, sprawling area that is affectionately known as the "fun layer" of the mansion's corporate tenants. If you are interested in participating, the deadline for application for this year's project is April 11. )

After the award ceremony in October, the team that finished the training program will be invited to continue using MassChallenge's "concierge service", as they have never left; that is, Hassan and Nigem will tame their interlocking networks and connect the "cadets" to almost all the VIPs in the Boston area, Even those who are not directly involved in the project are included.

"Because MassChallenge is a non-profit organization, it's hard for company executives to say no." "Saad said. With the help of Massachusetts governor, Boston Mayor, President Barack Obama and a range of corporate sponsors, there is little chance of a busy business executive.

While there is news that it will open a new branch in New York, Nigem says MassChallenge is currently focusing on promoting its existing projects and is weighing the pros and cons of setting up divisions in other cities. By partnering with the US venture partner (startup America Partnership), a privately funded project led by AOL founder Steve (Steve case) to promote entrepreneurial activity, The two founders hope to enhance Masschanllege's brand influence and make it equal to other more expensive acceleration projects. MassChallenge is also working with the Russian Development venture capital (Russian Venture company), a government-funded venture capitalist fund, to design similar ventures in St. Petersburg and Moscow. Last February, the fund donated 100,000 dollars to MassChallenge.

Some skeptical reporters like to ask Hassan and Nigem whether they plan to invest personally in the company under the MassChallenge project in the future. Although Nigem said the two people do not have so much money at the moment, the question is not even thought of, he pointed out, "We are creating a very important project at the moment." We are happy and awake every morning. ”

"We're focused on doing it right now," he said. ”