Accelerator 2.0

Over the past year I have been a mentor at an accelerator called Haxlr8r. Haxlr8r, based just north of me in Shenzhen, China, is a unique accelerator since it is the only accelerator to focus exclusively on hardware startups. The targeted hyper-focus of the cohort paid dividends as everyone is in the same space and learned from each other and shared their experiences.

That got me thinking, why not do the same for software!?!? Over the past few months,  I’ve been helping organize the first ever early-stage startup accelerator in Hong Kong. This accelerator is not like any of its kind. It is the only accelerator to focus exclusively on startups doing hybrid mobile development. Why the focus on hybrid? Gartner predicts that by 2015, 80% of all mobile applications developed will be hybrid or mobile-Web-oriented. Just like at Haxlr8r, the laser beam focus of the cohort on hybrid mobile development will only enhance the experience. Why Hong Kong? There are two mobile phones for every man, woman, and child in Hong Kong. In a country of 7 million people, there are 7 independent 3G mobile phone providers with coverage everywhere, even in the subway and on top of the tallest mountain. Facebook penetration in Hong Kong is one of the top per-capita in the world. Hong Kong is not only all over Twitter, but Weibo as well. This is one mobile crazy town, the average taxi driver even has 2 phones. Hong Kong is a great place to validate your mobile app and one of the top places in the world to do business.

The accelerator runs from Nov 5th to Feb 8th and we are going to to provide mentors, investment ($15k USD), lean startup education, co-work space, demo day with investors, just like the gazillion other accelerators out there. In addition, we will also add a little on software development best practices, provide access to free developer tools (Telerik’s Icenium and KendoUI), do agile development training (I think accelerators forget about item #2 in the Customer Development Manifesto), and include free Pluralsight subscriptions.

I think that this represents the next stage of accelerators; laser focused with a little extra love for the tech team.

Want in? Apply today, we close out the cohort applications in a few weeks.