The Accelerator’s Launchpad programme has been running for five years and this year’s winning ideas are on their way to becoming a business reality.
Date: 27 September 2016
The fifth annual Launchpad programme has wrapped up and this year has not disappointed. The programme is run by Accelerator, London Met’s business incubator.
Open to London Met students and graduates, participants are given the chance to turn their business into a reality. The ideas are pitched in a ‘Dragons Den’ style in front of a panel of judges; Toby Kress, Head of Accelerator; Emma Thatcher, Creative Enterprise Manager; Simon Boot, Student and Graduate Enterprise Manager; as well as the founders of Zealify, Lucidica and Urban Things.
The 2016 winning cohort pitched ideas including an app for booking global venues for musicians; sports betting analytics software; bringing African-style smoothies to London; a social enterprise bakery; software for financial advisors; and app that helps you queue in busy venues.
Toby Kress, Head of Accelerator, said: “Launchpad is built on the revolutionary lean-start-up approach fuelling the start-up booms in places like Silicon Valley, New York and Tech City in London. It pushes participants to turn the traditional approach to starting a business on its head. Gone are the business plans, the strategy sessions and the early focus on product.
“Instead participants are encouraged to focus on deeply understanding the problems their customers face by conducting up to 100 face to face interviews and rigorously testing that their business idea really is a solution that customers are willing pay for. Most ideas change dramatically through the programme as the graduate participants learn more about what the market really needs.”
The participants are put on an intensive 10 week programme in which they are equipped with the skills and knowledge to start a business, ranging from talking to customers, creating landing pages, branding, finances and pitching. Their ideas are presented to panel of judges from the industry.
Previous winners of the programme include Melting Pot LDN who has since come back to London Met to sell street food to London Met staff and students.
