Turn Business Failure on its head – It’s About Damn Time!

The world is going through some major changes, and we are all feeling the effects. While we experience with increasing intensity the negative side of our impact in the world, this is also a very real opportunity to recognize the progress that has been made in the last decades to improve the world. But it's not happening fast enough, so we must learn what has and has not been working, re-tool, and accelerate our next stage of development. Through this coordinated action which has been mapped out by the UN's SDGs, we have an ability to experience extraordinary growth that really does achieve the changes that have been dreamed of throughout human history.

People have incredible ideas. Unfortunately, ideas alone are not enough. Turning an idea into a functioning business that can perform its function is really hard. Add to this the Cyclical, Secular, Socioeconomic, and Institutional cycles, (not to mention our new friend, COVID-19) and we have a challenging environment for any business to thrive.

Disheartening? It doesn’t have to be. There are more dangers ahead and always will be, but with the right leadership and support, together we can build an incredibly strong future.

Accelerators have been changing the way business starts for decades now, and are arguably one of the more powerful tools for getting great companies started. Many well-known brands came from accelerators like TechStars and YCombinator who interestingly started near the trough of the Tech Hype Cycle. Some of these names include Reddit, Stripe, Dropbox, and Airbnb. We are again in a place to lay a solid foundation for some revolutionary developments.

This is precisely what we at Fuse42 are here to do.

We are bringing stability, clarity, and maturity to emerging entrepreneurs. Injecting business fundamentals, best-in-class mentoring, world-class venture development, seasoned pitching skills, powerful team-development, and much more.
Entrepreneurs acting alone are known to be affected by a failure rate between 70-90%. As discouraging as that is, support from an Accelerator can invert that success. 

Why is there such disparity between these models? At first, it doesn’t make sense. In both scenarios you might have an amazing idea, a cool prototype that has been loved by everyone you show, a huge amount of expertise in the field, or grand levels of excitement in what you’re building. Unfortunately, these don’t necessarily translate to success. 

There are loads of different cliché sayings that bear truth here, but let’s focus on this one: “I’m not standing at the pinnacle of success, but rather, my success was built on a mountain of failures”. This touches on the spirit of entrepreneurship, but also why accelerators are so valuable. It is absolutely not necessary to build your own “mountain of failure”. Rather than add another cliché, let's say that learning from other’s mistakes is exactly what happens in an accelerator. The entrepreneur has the opportunity to tap into the community of those gone before her.

So, what are the steps for success? You can read loads of articles from successful entrepreneurs across the internet who say the same:

1. Get a damn mentor
2. Join a support community
3. Start sharing your ideas and be open to feedback
4. Don’t be afraid to try things that might not work – do it quickly and cheaply
5. Learn to communicate your ideas, problems, and solutions
   

OR

1. Join an accelerator and get everything above, plus targeted training, people who have a specific interest in your success, and the potential funding needed to move forward.

How we can help

At Fuse42, our mission is to help you build an investable, tractionable business. Whether you require investment or not, we help ensure you have a business in which you can create success, and then work with you to get there.

We support entrepreneurs at all stages of their development and provide guidance through the journey. We have also created a system where our interests are aligned: You must succeed for us to succeed.

It starts with an application. Apply online at Fuse42.ca/entrepreneur. Once you fill this in, you will receive a link to the assessments we do with each team. They are found at Fuse42.ca/assessment.

If you are an entrepreneur without a team, there are opportunities to run with ideas that have been given to us by others in and out of the industry with dreams. There is also the opportunity to join a team who needs help.

One major differentiator with Fuse42 is we offer an equity pool that each team in the cohort contribute into and share in. We’re creating a system of collaboration, and we are confident that we will be stronger together.

It starts here.

Every team is different. Each needs a different mix of our core services:

1. Venture Development – Build a business that will serve as a strong foundation for years to come as you scale.
   
2. Product Development – We help you get all that is needed to ensure your product is ready for the market. Whether it is introductions to prototypers or designers, or help thinking it through how to make it ideal
3. Market Validation – The goal for every business is to ensure you are building something people want. We have several tools and experts to help you with this.
   
4. World-class Team Development – The most important element of a scalable company is the team. We help you know when to hire, who to hire, how to hire and ensure there is strong accountability, productivity and engagement
   
5. Investor Readiness – The ability to pitch clearly and well takes a lot of work. Understanding the investors perspective, their key asks, and building an investable, tractionable business are how you will win them over.
   

We cannot invest money into every company, but we recognize the value of the success programs we offer and want our programming to be accessible to all entrepreneurs. Innovation is what will generate the prosperity we seek. For this reason, we have created a system to support those who might otherwise get a "no".

Next Steps

If you haven’t filled in the online registration, please do so at Fuse42.ca/entrepreneur. You will also be asked to fill in the Assessments at Fuse42.ca/assessment and send them to us.

Once we have all the documents, we will conduct an interview with your team and ours. 

We would be excited to have you as part of one of our upcoming cohorts where we can celebrate your immediate and future successes.

Sincerely,
The Fuse42 Team