LAB
You already have a team and you are all working on a specific business case? Perhaps even already registered a company?
In that case, the Founders Foundation’s Lab is perfect for you. In the Lab, complementary founder teams are working continuously and critically on validating their business idea.
The teams have the goal to reach the Problem-Solution Fit for their business case and to transform their theoretical idea into a real startup.
On a daily and individual basis, our program managers support the startup teams during their time in the Lab in their efforts to formulate and analyze hypotheses that are critical for success.
Format
Continuous program
Average program length: 3 months
Individual support through the program manager and experienced mentors
Target Group
Complementary set-up teams with a clear product hypothesis in the B2B tech sector
Focus
Content-based & KPI-based validation on the market
Team Building & Leadership Skills
Goal
Reaching the Problem-Solution Fit
Conception & launch of first MVP
Program Contents
The contents of the Founders Foundation Lab are divided into three topic blocks. These three blocks are adressed every month through various formats.
Team & Operations
Customer
Product
Because implementation and speed are key during the founding process, we support you through need- and problem-focused formats such as Q&A’s, learning and experience exchanges and one-on-one mentoring.
In our Lab workshops, you get input from experts and mentors on specific topics and challenges of early stage startups so that can you build soft and hard skills. You discuss individual problems you are facing with experienced founders and startup experts and work on a scalability basis for your company, whether it concerns the product, sales, finances, or a smart tool setup.
You get direct and regular feedback from our mentors, both about your general progress and about specific problems and challenges. You can ask specific questions and get hints and pointers in return which will help propel your startup forward towards becoming a sucessful company.
Once a week, we get together and discuss your goals and your progress. You share your learnings and your challenges with the other Lab teams and teh program manager. The Lab Weekly format helps you to structure your week and claim responsibility and ownership for your goals.
In our investor AMAs you can get a headstart with establishing contacts into the investor scene and learn to understand due diligence and investment processes. In a monthly lunch sessions you can ask all your burning questions and get to know various early stage VCs, like Neoteq Ventures and Venista Ventures, at the same time.
The roundtable is a form for peer-to-peer learning where the expert panels of the Founders Foundation or our alumni community and the participants exchange knowledge. In addition to the Lab Weekly, this event offers the opportunity to discuss experiences and ideas to specific topics or find the right help within the community to adress the obstalces you are currently facing in your startup journey.
The Challenger Day marks your chance to extend your scholarship by convincing the jury in a five minute pitch of your progress. That way you secure your spot in the Founders Foundation Lab for three more months.
Benefits of the Program
NO COSTS
Teams receive a 3-month scholarship for the Founders Foundation Lab
Top-Class Mentoring
Individual support through a Program Manager and experienced mentors
Fixed working space
24/7 access to the Founders Home incl. all benefits
Community Access
Access to community events and workshops available through the Education Program
STRONG NETWORK
Access to our unique network of Hidden Champions and global leaders
This Is What Qualifies You For the Program
YOU ARE A TEAM WITH COMPLEMENTARY ROLE PROFILES
YOU HAVE A CLEAR MARKET OR PRODUCT HYPOTHESIS FOR B2B TECH
PREFERABLY, YOU ARE FROM OSTWESTFALEN-LIPPE
Your Way Into the Founders Foundation Lab
Every quarter we give emerging tech talents and their teams the chance to push their B2B business idea to the next level in our Founders Foundation Lab!
If you and your startup team convince our jury with your idea on Challenger Day, you will get a 3-month scholarship for our Founders Foundation Lab including all benefits, such as a permanent workplace in our Founders Home and individual mentoring by our top experts.
This step offers you the perfect basis on the way to our Accelerator Program!
What do you need to do?
- Prepare a convincing pitch deck for your business case and fill in the application form on this page.
- If your B2B tech idea is convincing enough to get through the preliminary selection you will be invited to Challenger Day
- On Challenger Day, you will have five minutes to pitch your Business Case to our jury. The winners will go through the onboarding in our Founders Home
Your Supporters
Get valuable support during your time in the Founders Lab through our uniqe network of international entrepreneurs, top-class mentors and leading startup personalities.
Elias Weike
Programm Manager
Startup School
Julia Gerner
Program Manager Accelerator
Stephan Jacquemot
Director
Founders Education
Our Alumni Startups
We were able to support help companies in their development phase and help blaze a trail for their innovative ideas. Some of those are:
Participant Testimonials
Find out what our alumni founders are saying about their time in the Founders Lab.
The Founders Foundation Lab was the perfect jumpstart for us. We were able to avoid many mistakes and grow much faster thanks to the mentor support and the exchange with other experienced founders.
I lready have given a home to two startups in the Lab. I can only advise any founder to join because your work will be put to the test every day. That way, it will improve bit by bit.
Collaborating with the Founders Foundation and exchanging know-how with other startups is extremely valuable. It has helped us to progress enormously, from a product and market perspective.
The creative spirit in the Founders Lab has helped locarl reach the next level. I was able to learn a lot from the other founder's ideas. The teams are happy to help each other while the Founders Foundation gives their support wherever possible.
The Founders Foundation Lab was the perfect jumpstart for us. We were able to avoid many mistakes and grow much faster thanks to the mentor support and the exchange with other experienced founders.
I have already given a home to two startups in the Lab. I can only advise any founder to join the because your work will be put to the test every day anew. That way, your work will improve bit by bit.
Collaborating with the Founders Foundation and exchanging know-how with other startups is extremely valuable. It has helped us to progress enormously, from a product and market perspective.
The creative spirit in the Founders Lab has helped locarl reach the next level. I was able to learn a lot from the other founder's ideas. The teams are happy to help each other while the Founders Foundation gives their support wherever possible.
The Startup Journey
In the Lab, you and your team members further develop your business idea into a preliminary product, the MVP, and solidify your validation. You become experts for the problem, the solution, and the potential market. This is how you achieve the Problem-solution fit.
To accomplish all of that, you receive individual coaching from program managers and mentors and enjoy all the advantages our Founders Home has to offer. Once during a quarter, you face new startup teams on the Challenger Day where you pitch your progress and receive feedback from mentors and other founders.
During the 5-months full-time Accelerator, you go all out: You acquire the first customers, build your product, iterate your assumptions and insights, until you are on the stage of the Demo Day, with a solid Product-market fit and ready to launch into the first round of financing. On Demo Day, you show off your business case, and yourselves, to the German VC scene and become part of our alumni network.
The Road of Your Startup Journey:
The Startup Journey
Get Your Business Idea to the Next Level!
Are you ready to make your B2B business idea into a successful startup?
Then apply for a place in the Founders Foundation Lab.
Frequently Asked Questions
The Lab houses teams with diversified role profiles and a clear market and product hypothesis for their business idea aiming at the B2B/tech field. The teams often already successfully completed the Startup School and are predominantaly from Ostwestfalen-Lippe. Usually, they work full time and on-site in the Founders Home.
Entering the program happens once a quarter. An application is possible every time though. Teams pitch their ideas In front of a jury and face a 10 minute Q&A by an expert jury. After, they review the team’s and their idea’s eligibility for the program. If a team was able to convince the jury to get a place in the lab, they usually receive a free 3-month scholarship for the Lab including a working space.
Teams which were able to get into the Lab, usually receive a 3-month scholarship for the lab. This also includes 24/7 access to the Founders Home with all entailed benefits. The Lab gives participating teams individual support through the program manager and mentors who are experts in the field the team is working in. Additionally, the participants have access to various workshop formats through the Education Program and other events. The teams also gain access to an active network of global leaders located in the region, B2B tech startups, and investors.
The main focus is the KPI-based validation in the market as well as team building and the development of leadership skills.
Also, the teams are working on generating the first monthly sales, creating a basis for interacting with possible investors, and conceiving and launching a first MVP.
With the Founders Lab we pursue the goal to give founders the best possible support in the early stages of startup development. We we want to help them to progress from a theoretical business case to a real, successful startup – which is achieved by reaching the Problem-Solution Fit and continously improving the product.
Teams which do not generate signficant sales yet can apply for a 3 months Lab scholarship and use everything we offer for free. Startups which already generate regular larger sales or have relevant external funding, usually pay a member fee of 159 EUR per month and per person.
Any Questions?
Our Program Manager Elias Weike is happy to answer all your questions about the LAB
After you have successfully completed Startup School, the Gründerstipendium .NRW offers you and your team the ideal opportunity to get the your business idea started.
The Gründerstipendium .NRW is grant awarded by the “The Ministry of Economic Affairs, Industry, Climate Action and Energy of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia” (German: MWIDE) offers you the chance to receive financial support.
You Have Questions?
Talk to us!
We are happy to answer your questions about our programs, our mission and the events we are hosting.
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