LAUNCHPAD

Rockets Only Get One Chance for Successful Lift-Off

We are the experienced co-pilot you need for this crucial mission

Launchpad is the highest level at SPARK! reserved for the most advanced entrepreneurs.

We select a handful of startups every year to join launchpad,
as with all SPARK! programs we have a very high admission bar.

For the few companies that are fortunate to make it past our rigorous selection process, we act as a co-founder bringing in a wealth of experience to navigate the various challenges of turning a startup into a global enterprise.

Do you have an exciting startup?
Are you feeling overwhelmed by your goals or falling behind on your ambitious milestones?

SPARK! Joins your team as a co-founder and receives a 15% sweat equity stake in your startup in return for the following benefits that your startup receives:

I. Cockpit

As a Launchpad company we work with you on a monthly basis, to set goals, milestones, deliverables and identify critical challenges. We call this the Cockpit, it shows how well you are doing, how fast you are going, how much fuel you have left in the tank, its the command and control center of your startup. We monitor the various meters in your Launchpad cockpit, in order to adapt or pivot according to data generated and how you are keeping with your targets and new market developments. The cockpit is key to stay in control of your company, dictate the pace and not fall victim to changes in the industry or your own personal bias.

II. Network

By tapping into our rich and diverse global network, we identify strategic partners for your startup that are crucial for your growth and success. It could be a major client, financing partner or key technology provider. Moreover, we also leverage our network to set up or expand your board of advisors and board of directors with industry leaders and influential personas that will bring invaluable insights to the board room.

III. Finance

Fundraising, Financial Planning and Competitive Cost Structure are 3 key points for the long term success of startups. In the fundraising process it is not just raising money that matters. What terms you raise funds at and who you raise funds from are even more critical and can prove to be fatal mistakes or some of the best decisions you ever made. SPARK! helps you negotiate term sheets with investors, identifying critical clauses that are missing and highlighting others that are deal breakers. Introducing you to value-add investors that bring more to the table than just the money they are investing, while also being known for their patience with startups and business ethics. Finally ensuring that you have a competitive cost structure and strict financial planning measures.

IV. Marketing

"If I had $1 left, I would spend it on PR"
- Bill Gates
Successful marketing and public relations strategies are crucial to carve a place for your startup in the industry you are entering. Our goal is to generate the WOW effect on all your marketing and PR channels. Starting with your website, social media channels, and then moving to developing both conventional and guerrilla marketing campaigns throughout the year. Our strong network of media partners comes very much in handy in getting your startup regular media exposure.

V. Technology

If you are not fully utilizing technology to empower your business then you have a very high opportunity cost. In today's age clients expect the best service at the lowest price in the shortest period of time. Your choice of technology, its limits and reliability can become a bottleneck to your growth. Whether your product is a web/mobile application, a hardware product or a service, we fully utilize our tech savy to help you make the right technology decisions and connect you with competent technology partners. In a world where technology is constantly changing, your technology strategy has to constantly move with it in parallel.

VI. Governance

Auditors, accountants, lawyers, complying with regulations, board meetings, these are all important things a startup needs to stay on top of to achieve good governance. Startups that have their books in good order have a much easier time raising money from investors, closing financing from banks and entering into partnerships with large players. All of this could be quite a burden on a first time entrepreneur and we guide you through the process to make sure you are on top of it.

VII. Community

SPARK! is a community of high caliber change makers working across diverge industries and age groups. The bond between SPARKANS is like family, and having such a strong support system is crucial to an entrepreneur that is always stretched and under pressure. Expanding your network to a large group of people with a similar mindset with diverse skills is very valuable, and as a launchpad participant you are invited to many year round SPARK events and annual retreats. Moreover you can work out of the SPARK! office for the first 3 months of joining the Launch Pad.

VIII. Go Global

Ambitious companies need to have a global outlook, yet its one challenge to establish a leading company in the local market and another to expand to multiple markets abroad. We are keen on building truly global companies and thus ensure that your products are designed to be expanded to global markets and we use our know-how and international network to facilitate your international expansion. It is also key for some startups to have regional hubs in crucial cities whether its a fashion startup that needs a hub in Paris, a FinTech startup in New York or a Tech startup that should be in Silicon Valley.

4 Reasons Why You Are Worse-Off if Your Startup is not part of Launchpad:

  • Experience
  • Capability
  • Equity
  • Time
How do you know how you can get somewhere that you haven't been before?

There is no Google Maps to building a $100 Million company, or even just a $1 Million company.

The best way to do that is if you have someone with you on the journey who has done it before.

SPARK! puts behind you a core team of supporters and advisors whom combined have created billions of dollars worth of enterprise value.
If we give you a $10 Million check today, you wont be able to maximize its full value because you never handled such a large amount before.

The point we are highlighting is most startups believe that their biggest need is capital, which is not true.

Most startups actually need to develop their execution skills, their marketing savvy, refine their business model, perfect their customer offering and many other such domains.

Once you have developed your execution capability as an entrepreneur you will then be able to extract $10 Million of value out of an amount as little as $500 thousand.

This is also why we are not focused on investing capital in startups because there is a lot of money out there that is looking to invest, but they don't because the right caliber is hard to find.

Our goal is to improve your caliber so that financing chases you instead of the other way around.
How much equity would it cost you if one of your friends wanted to start this company with you?
25-35%?

What if it was an industry veteran?
40-60%?

Launchpad can easily justify taking a much larger equity stake than the 15% we take, in return for all the value we provide.
The reason we limit it to 15% is because we want to empower the entrepeneurs.

We want you to stay in control of your company and retain as much equity as possible because we are here to support you.

All other avenues that lead to acquiring anything near the same value Launchpad provides will lead to you directly or indirectly giving up much more than 15% in equity.
A big mistake many first time entrepreneurs make is they get too obsessed with their idea, thinking its the most precious thing in the world, its the best idea they came up with, and that they should hold onto all the equity like they are holding onto their child.

The fact is you will either become a successful entrepreneur that will then start many other successful ideas in your career or you wont succeed and you will spend most of your time trying to make this idea work and eventually move on beyond entrepreneurship.

So if you are destined to be the first type then you should be choosing the ethical path that gives you the fastest route to success so you can establish a successful track record that will lead to many other ventures throughout the rest of your life.

Trying to hold on to 15% equity because you think you can do it yourself but it will just take you 2 years more, is a waste of those 2 years.

Ready to set the world on fire?

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Contact Us

You can get in touch concerning our programs as well as opportunities at SPARK by contacting:
info@spark-ventures.com