There is nothing wrong with Dopamine.

We are entering our last week in our 1-month Now Sprint! Accelerator Program. It has been an amazing journey with learnings on both sides. The Pitch Day is on the 4th of July and we will immediately start preparing the 2nd cohort for September. We had great guest workshops by Yasemin, Eren and Branka and the last week is all about KPIs and preparing the pitch deck. Very exciting!

We are very lucky to have an amazing volunteer, based in Vancouver, Canada. Zoe Leung is doing very important work as to help prepare the next Program and trying to understand the sentiment of the teams. She is using Surveys that bring very good insights but what makes me most happy of all are the feedbacks in our Whatsapp Group. Of course, the idea is to have a positive impact on the teams so they get better on their road to success. The lack of direct contact is often a pity but somehow I could create a bond with all teams and I even dare to say that I understand their personalities, strengths and weaknesses. A message like above is also what makes me thick. C8H11NO2 or Dopamine plays a big role in how we feel pleasure. And even I need that and what is more, I get it each time we collaborate. So thank you, teams, to make this worth :-D.

When I compare mentor-based accelerators to program (content)-based accelerators I must admit, yes, it depends on the stage of the startups, that I prefer what we do, content-based. Especially for early stage. There are basics that even funded and income-generating startups do not understand. That always comes back in their faces and there is a price to pay. Money, time or/and disillusion. I know it, as I was a bootstrapper who lost 10 years learning the basics, losing time and money and a private life.

“The empress attracts you but oppression distracts you”. The Dylan song “No time to think” is a poem with amazing content. If you want to spend 8 great minutes, then listen to this song and open the lyrics. It will bring you to another world. Listen here.

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Kolay Gelsin,

Patrick Bosteels

patrick@stage-co.com