Basecamp
Product validation
Ascent
Market validation
Summit
Market expansion
Accelerator Program
For founders who have launched and want to grow and scale.
We provide up to 42 months of intense, inspiring and stage appropriate support for our startups. Our expert mentors and industry veterans will provide you with the guidance and coaching you need move from product validation to market expansion.
Basecamp
Duration: 12–18 Months
Basecamp is for earlier stage companies still refining their value proposition and still in the process of proving customer validation as well as companies with early customer validation that need to develop the core processes necessary to scale. The vast majority of companies will come into Winston Starts’ Basecamp program.
In Basecamp we will assist you in achieving clear customer validation for your product/service, implementing basic accounting and financial reporting systems, augmenting your team, developing competencies in essential functions and preparing you to pitch to potential investors.
Ascent
Duration: 12–18 Months
Ascent is for companies that have clearly demonstrated customer validation, have commenced meaningful, repeatable, and growing revenue, and are well on their way to establishing the processes, infrastructure, and team to be venture capital ready.
During Accent, you’ll work with mentors who understand your scaling needs and who will apply their extensive experience to help you be successful.
Summit
Duration: 12–18 Months
The Summit stage is for rapidly growing, sophisticated companies with fully-realized business models and financials. They have leadership maturity (generally including a board of directors), reliable revenue streams and are ready to get in front of serious investors.
Our Summit program delivers a tailored program customized to your specific development needs. We help you become financially, operationally and organizationally ready to move from market validation to market growth and expansion
Fees
- $150/month per founder for open space work stations
- $22/square feet for private offices
Fees include space, free wi-fi, mail station, 9 conference rooms, kitchen, mail center, copier access, fitness center, garage parking and 24/7 access and security.
Admission
We review Explore program applications as they are submitted and admit founders on a rolling monthly basis. We use the criteria below to evaluate applicants:
- Coachable: Team is willing to lean into Winston Starts resources and be positive in interactions with community members.
- Commercial: For profit with a navigable, timely and sustainable commercialization path
- National: Potential to be a sizable regional, national, or global business. Have competitive and relevant differentiation with sufficient marketplace space to grow into a meaningful player.
- Scalable: Potential to grow at reasonable pace. Can grow profits as it grows revenue.
- Local: Demonstrates a commitment to Winston-Salem as its headquarters and/or site of a significant portion of its employment.
- Mature. The business has been formed and has demonstrated early market validation through customer discovery, a convincing level of secondary research, and /or actual revenue.
