From Vision to Venture: The Power of Incubators and Accelerators in Silicon Valley

Tom Leonard 

I'm Tom Leonard. I'm the host of the Gamers Change Lives podcast, where we talk about how eSports can create jobs anywhere in the world. In season one, we talked about jobs. In season two, we talked about follow the money. We talked to sponsors. We talked to investors. In season three, we talked about business basics. Now in season four, we're calling it accelerating eSports success. We're talking to people around the world. We're telling stories of how entrepreneurs can tap into the resources provided by accelerators, by incubators and other platforms to hone their business skills. The goal of the conversation is to provide inspiration to e-sports entrepreneurs, both new and established, to seek tools, training, mentorship, networking through more established programs. Today, really happy to have Sara and I am probably going to mangle your last name here. Is it Raunch? Raunch Werger?

Sara 

It's fine. It depends on the language, but it's fine. It's fine. And English is probably fine.

Tom Leonard 

I should have asked that before. That was my mistake. It's like, so Sarah, Sarah Rauchwerger, she's the founder of TechLAB Innovation Center in San Francisco Bay area. And, um, welcome Sarah.

Sara 

Thank you very much and thank you for hosting me.

Tom Leonard 

Yes, so where are you speaking to us from today?

Sara 

Today I'm sitting in France, but normally I'm in Silicon Valley.

Tom Leonard 

Great, great. Now it's a good time to be traveling probably. So first question I was gonna ask you though is, are you a gamer?

Sara 

Am I a gamer? I like to play games, not all the time, but yes, I do. Not all the time. I'm not addicted to it. But once in a while, depends what kind of games.

Tom Leonard 

Good, good. That's always good to hear. So yeah, Reginald.

Reginald 

Yeah, we are really privileged to have you join us today. But Sarah, can you tell our listeners a little bit about yourself and your background?

Sara 

I'd be happy to. Great to see both of you again. So a little background about myself. I have a, let's start with the school. I have a bachelor's degree in engineering and a master's degree in international business. The reason I got my master's degree is because I realized that having an engineering degree is not enough. It's good if you want to be in the technical world, but I realized that my passion is not the technical world. It's part of it. But I love learning and seeing how products actually get to the market, not only building the products. I've been working in the startup world probably for almost a little bit more than 10 years. I started TechLAB Innovation Center in partnership with a bunch of investors in Silicon Valley who are looking to source deals. And what does that mean? You know, there's a lot of startups out there who are looking to build companies. And one of the aspects of building a company is you do need investments, not all the time, but the majority of the time, if you're working with technology companies, it's very hard to just stay in your own little world. It's nice to go after funding. So we built a center where we allow companies to come in and we help them build their business. We help them scale their operations. We help them accelerate an opportunity through different means, finding customers, partners and naturally investments. So this has been my background the past few years, kind of working with a lot of these companies in a physical space for quite a few years until COVID did and now it's online. But I've learned a lot. I have a lot to share about what it takes to grow a company. I'd be pleased to share all that with you today and kind of provide guidance for anyone out there who wants to start a company.

Reginald 

Wow, that's great. I mean, working in the startup world, everybody is sort of excited about something new being birthed out of companies. And now I think. It has become classy to be in a startup, to work in a startup, or to start something. I think everybody calls himself an entrepreneur these days. It's a little bit more fashionable. So which type of industries or companies do you look out for TechLAB Innovation Center? Do you have any areas? Yeah.

Sara 

Yes, I do. Actually, I very much want to validate that it's true. Even universities are now putting programs out for entrepreneurs. So you could go out there and study entrepreneurship. I actually teach at a university as well. So I completely understand that we've kind of migrated into that direction. I mainly look at technology. I've been working a lot with core technology, including gaming companies, anything that's on the backend that creates some sort of technology platform for a backend environment that makes things work. It could be in many verticals from, a lot of it is software and some hardware, but targeting many verticals because today the software and hardware applies in all verticals. I mean, if you look at the gaming industry. I've been working with Nvidia, which is right across the street from my office. We've been helping them for years to find startups because the games have become more powerful and they're using those Nvidia chips that make games work much faster. Nvidia hosts an annual event where they invite startups to pitch their ideas. So like I said, it's different verticals in software and hardware that goes from gaming to medical, to anything that makes something on a software platform work or something else to do some sort of process. It also includes social media, everything. So it's across the board.

Reginald 

Yeah, that's great. I think the whole concept of incubators and accelerators, can you give us a little bit background of how the whole concept, has it always been the way companies were being developed and groomed to become who they are, or incubators and accelerators are sort of a new thing?

Sara 

Incubators and accelerators are actually relatively new. Um, I would have to say they did start probably in Silicon Valley. A lot of things start in Silicon Valley and kind of takes off everywhere. There were different ways of doing it before, but this concept has accelerated because you know, it was an easy way for startups to get benefits quickly.

If you look at ideas that Bing developed, most of the time it's an engineer with some sort of idea, a cool idea that they want to build, but they don't have enough expertise on the business side, on the legal side, on the operations side. And joining these type of environments helps you gain that knowledge quickly. So they built, it's almost like going to school but focused on a very specific product or service that you're building. And it helps you target what you're doing versus being general. They do have some programs like early stage for incubators. It could be a program that's very generic and you would be in a classroom environment just to learn the basics. If you did study engineering or software engineering or anything in the background and you didn't take any business classes, you would now get that through the incubation program and then you can apply it. But then there are other types of incubators where it's very specific. You work one-on-one with these companies and you truly go through all the process to look and evaluate what these companies are doing to help them facilitate and guide a direction down to helping them hire people and bring the right resources to get them to that milestone that they need to reach. There's also many types of incubators. There's some incubators that are actually funding these companies. So they're willing to invest. They become investors to some degree a little bit. You could get in some incubators like $100,000 and they want you there. Because for them, they could have, for example, a million dollars. 

Sara 

It's not a big deal to then plant a couple of seeds, many seeds, and hopefully one of them will blossom. One of the top incubators that started this is Y Combinator. If you look at what they've done as well, they've also changed a means of signing a term sheet. They came up with the safe, and now it's around the world. Everybody's signing a safe agreement because it makes it easier to get investment quickly and accelerate your company.

Reginald 

Yeah.

Sara 

So there are different types of incubator and accelerator. It's just about finding the right facility that meets your needs because some of them are very narrow focused on a specific industry. So you wanna be in that environment if you want to be in that specific industry because you want people with know-how on your product and service. If you're looking for something more generic because, you know, for example, people don't think about it, but the legal environment behind a startup, you don't even think about having to write a contract for a customer. You know you're selling a product and service. Just like anywhere, what is your receipt for the agreement? People don't know how to do this. But that's generic. So you can go and learn how to sell to a customer. What are the right documentation legally that you would need to put in there? So like I said, there's different types of incubator and accelerator. What's the difference between incubator and accelerator? I think that's also very important to understand. And incubator is very early stage. It's really about basics, learning about the basic environment of what it takes to build a business. And accelerator is the first step taking you to the next step. It's really now you already have an MVP, you have something, but you need to get it to the market, you need to accelerate it, that's the difference. It's the early stage versus a little bit later stage. But we're not talking about, you already have 10 people that are working within your team. Accelerator is still targeting the early stage company where you already have an MVP.

Reginald 

Yeah.

Sara 

I hope that answers your question.

Reginald 

Yeah, yeah, it's on.

Tom Leonard 

When you're talking about these different programs, it's great to hear a little bit of differentiation there. How, if you're an entrepreneur, particularly if you're just starting out and you have an idea, but you don't have anything more than an idea, where do you find programs to join? And I'm sure the answer is different if you're in Silicon Valley versus if you're in some other parts of the world. But in general, is it getting on Google? Is it networking? What's the best advice for people to find qualified programs that are gonna help?

Sara 

Well, there's a couple of things to look at. Number one, if it's only like, if you want basic, I mean, if you just have the idea, I think it's good to get a sense of what it means to build a business. And that information going through some sort of generic program, you could probably go anywhere. There's lots of them around. It's good to get references. It's good to talk to people. If you interview anyone who is in an incubator, I would always ask for reference, can I talk to one of the companies that has gone through the program to get a sense of what they thought? How many have gone through the program? What is the program like? Because it is time consuming. If you just have an idea, that means you're not quite ready to move and you probably have a little bit of time to learn the basics so that you could go anywhere. The other thing to look at is go and find an incubator that does have help on your subject area. Because just because it's generic, at the end of the day, if you're going to go through this program, it's good to know if there's people around this facility or space or program that would have a network later on to get you to the right location. So always ask and inquire, what is their expertise? What verticals are they focusing on? Because building software, versus building hardware is different. There's different expertise. I mean, hardware is about manufacturing. When would you manufacture your products if that's what you're after? Versus a software, it's a little different. I mean, how do you sell a software in the market? And every vertical has its challenge. If you're biotech, clean tech today, there's so many different verticals. Find the right people with expertise because I think that helps. Now, how do you find them? There is a tool that I enjoy, LinkedIn. Up until now, I feel that it is resourceful. It's not your Facebooks of the world where it's become commercialized, but even there, you need to be careful. So it's good to connect. Not everybody will connect with you, but it's a good way. Network with people you know.

Sara 

Talk to people, interview. I think that's the best resources to find the right location. Look at reviews. Just like going to buy a product, what would you do to buy a product? You would do hopefully a little bit of research. The other location is universities, especially in an early stage. What's wrong with going through an entrepreneurship program because they do have short programs? What's wrong with going to university and doing that as well? Because they could be very resourceful. It depends. You know, there's so many... I mean, you can go from the Stanford's of the world, some probably very expensive, to others 

Tom Leonard 

Are the university programs expensive?

Sara 

So in the United States, for example, there's a lot of incubators and accelerators that have been built that are sponsored by cities and governments. SBA programs puts these together. There's private sectors that put this together. When you look at Europe, for example, there's a lot of facilities that are also sponsored by the government that you could go and leverage on these facilities. They're also incubators, accelerators. I mean, there's just these physical spaces where you could get these benefits. There are like in Europe, there are these conferences that are hosted annually. Like one of them is called Viva Tech and startups come from all over Europe and they come into these facility, does this event where there's all the countries are represented but some come from Africa as well. And these are accelerators and incubators that you can inquire and get to know and talk to them. And you can also talk to the startups who've gone through that program. So you could attend conferences. Um, there's a lot of online programs too. It really depends on what you feel you're missing. And you know, learning, that's a good thing. Anything you learn is a good thing. Um, it's never a waste of time. The more you absorb, the more you're going to know what the right path for you. Uh, cause it's going to help you differentiate and the right opportunity for your idea. One more place to look, especially when you're early, early stage, a lot of corporations have an innovation center. And they also bring people from the outside. If you see an idea that could have a market fit for the corporation, put it to people that run these innovation centers. I know many, because I was in corporate venture. And I know a couple of companies that actually got in that way with an early idea and they have a space that's kind of inside the company and you can build your product or service in association with some sort of targeted opportunity within a business unit. So evaluate that too because I think that becomes very valuable. Because guess what? You could potentially having your first customer, your first partner.

Tom Leonard 

Yeah, back to you, Reginald.

Reginald 

Yeah, I totally agree. I mean, I'm someone who has been through an incubator and an accelerator. And I remember the first incubator that I went was the one organized by my own university in Ghana, sponsored by the World Bank. And it was an intervention to fight against or lower youth unemployment, graduate youth unemployment, which had become prevalent. So the World Bank came and made joint forces with my university and then they were looking for 20 people with ideas. You know, you could be an individual, you could be a team and then we got into an incubator. So, you know, my idea where my roommates qualified and then we were able to go to that program, which was very good. And one other thing too that I would also say is that for developing countries, a lot of times, the governments, like you said, also have a lot of accelerator programs. In Ghana, we have an enterprise agency that is set aside just for that. And they always advertise, sometimes on the radios, they reach out and then they come around and then they look out for entrepreneurs to join these incubator and accelerator programs. The same thing with corporations. I know even there are banks that have their own fintech incubators and accelerators. So it's like everybody's getting into it, looking for the new idea, the new innovation, and it makes it really, really great and exciting. But Sarah, I mean from my experience also, I want to know is it the right choice for every entrepreneur, you know, at the early stage is it always the right choice to when you think about starting a company, starting a business, whether it's esports or whatever, is it the right thing to go head-on looking for an incubator or you have to wait or how do you go through that process?

Sara 

And we're going to be able to do that. So, I'm going to try to do a little bit of a little bit. So there are a couple of things to evaluate. If you've built companies before, normally you wouldn't need this because you've already had experience from one company and you've learned a lot. You might need a refresher. Then yes, you can join some of these facilities. One of the greatest benefits of these environments is the resources. And sometimes, many times, just like you said, they're funded. You get funding to do what you want, but you also need to get selected. So as much, so this is one thing that I want to talk about is these facilities, these environments are not open for everyone, unfortunately. And you're gonna have to look and you're gonna have to get accepted because as much as everyone wants to evaluate every company and give them the opportunity. I've seen so many ideas. You might think the idea is great, but from experience after a while, you kind of realize, well, okay, well, great idea, but you know, you reject them anyhow, because you already know that this is not going anywhere. So one of the most important thing, the first thing to do is if you have a great idea and you want to develop something, do your homework, figure out if it's truly there's a market demand for it. I've had so many early stage companies and engineers, who say, I'm going to build this, don't worry about it, someone's going to buy it. That's very rare. That's that. It's a successful company. Yes, there's this thing that you could push to the market, but it's so hard to do. It's really an innovative new idea, and you have support. But most of the time it's a pool. It's basically you need to find customers. So there's got to be a demand. If you cannot prove that to yourself, what are you going to do at an incubator? Or what are you going to do there? If you can't find a customer that wants your product, what are you going to learn in this environment when your idea cannot even succeed in the market? Because you yourself cannot find anyone who says, yeah, I love this idea. Build it. I'll buy it. That's the most important. Start with that before you even go and search for an environment that could teach you everything else. And then, Matt, go ahead.

Tom Leonard 

I've got to...Sorry, I'm gonna ask a question actually for both of you. It's like, because you both have worlds more experience than I do in this field. What can someone do that's identified a program that they think is for them, but they need to qualify, they need to become accepted and not, as you're describing, organizations don't accept everyone. What can you do as an entrepreneur to make yourself a more likely candidate to be accepted?

Sara 

Reggie, do you want to start? Do you want me to start? It's cool.

Reginald 

Okay, okay, okay. Well, so I think for the early stage incubator for us, we had to show that our idea had, you know, first of all, they wanted to see that you've done some work on the idea whether you have you have done so. So for us, our idea, we had already started working on it from second year and third year during our summer vacations. So the incubator was sort of you know, passing that first stage, you know, whether you are ready psychologically, whether you've already done some work on it. And sometimes I just want to know how, you know, how you think and, you know, just looking out for some characteristics that they call for the incubator. For the accelerator programs also, we had to show some of our financial information that we already had paying customers, that we already had done some partnerships, we already had registered with the banks, for example. Our business was registered. We had a way to process payments and accept payments. So, you know, we have to do all that. I've also seen some accelerators that you have to write exams and do some analysis. So there's one that I applied for, and then they give you a case study of a situation, and you're supposed to analyze it, and then do some reports, and then send it. So they have different stages. You do a telephone interview, they ask you questions about how you work with people in a team, conflicts, how you communicate, they see your pitching ability and all that and then you do the case study with you pass a telephone interview. So you know step by step until you are finally accepted. That's for like high-end programs. So those are some of the things that I for me yeah that's how I'll answer that.

Sara 

What I've seen very common, it's become standardized now, it's submitting a pitch deck. Not everybody knows how to build a pitch deck, but today you can go online and at least see an example. At least you start. I mean, one of the incubators is going to do is going to help you polish this pitch deck. But to get accepted is exactly what Reggie described. But it's in another format. It's a couple of slides that kind of show your basic idea of what you want to do. Just like Reggie mentioned, if it's an accelerator program, then yes, they already want to see that there's a product out there, that there are customers, that you are able to at least get that business off the ground and accept payment, which many companies don't have that piece finished. They need to build it. They have this great product, but they can't accept payments. But yes, it is a pitch deck. It is evaluation. Sometimes it's just an online forum where you fill out a lot of questions. And it is almost like a pitch. They ask you different questions on what do you see the market opportunities are, who do you think your competitors are. What is your technology? What exactly, if it's not technology, what exactly building or service it is? So it is questionnaire. So there are many different formats on how to submit these applications. But more importantly, before you even apply, if you want to be selected, I cannot reemphasize it. Go back to school. Think of what it takes to pass a test. You've got to do your homework. How do you stand out? Because you're not the only one applying. They cannot accept everyone. There are large organizations that do run programs, but even they cannot accept everyone because it's just, today, as Reggie mentioned earlier, this has become more and more popular. This whole entrepreneurship, everybody's becoming entrepreneur. Well, then everybody's applying to these platforms because many of them do fund you. Do your homework before you apply.

Sara 

and carefully respond. You know, ask someone to read your material as well, to see that what you wrote, they understand it, because this is all about communication. If someone else understands what you're doing, normally whoever reads that application should understand what you're doing. Many times it's easy to build a product and service, but have zero knowledge on how to describe what you're doing.

A lot of entrepreneurs have that difficulty. So go to your friends, go to colleagues, go to somebody before you submit. Get validation if you wanna get accepted.

Tom Leonard

Yeah, Sarah, one of the things that I also was going to ask about here is what's the best way to participate well? There's probably a better way to say that. But to get the most out of your experience. You know, you've been accepted, you're going through it. What are the kinds of hints that you can get? It was probably a lot like how do you do well in school sort of things.

Oh, the other thing I was also going to ask about, sorry to pitch more multiple questions. Are most participants in incubators individuals or companies? And if it's companies, is it a team that goes through the same experience? Then we'll get back to the other one. I was more interested in that, the individual versus the team.

Sara 

Well, let's look at your second question first. So it depends on the criteria for the acceptance. Sometimes, you know, the requirement is that if you're a company or at least two people, you and a co-founder, and then both of you can go through that program. It's very rare that it's an individual, but it depends, like I said, the program could be just individuals.

Tom Leonard

Yes.

Sara 

That has to do with where you're looking and who you're going to be engaged with. I believe, personally, if you're going to build a company, it's good to have two people and two people participate because it also helps you be aligned with yourselves to make sure you're both going the same direction. So you're getting the same information. And then as you build this company, you know that you're going to be able to do that you're moving the same direction. Most of the times companies fail because of communication among their own team members. And it becomes disarray and a conflict because people want to go left and right. Now answering your second question about participation. You went into this, you need to leverage on this. You need to leverage on, and there's multiple ways. If you're in a group, get to know the other group. Even though it's not in the same vertical, it's like, you know, it's a resource to watch other people make mistakes or learn from them. You know, what have they done? Because that's a learning experience in itself. Pay attention to what they tell you. Go out there and, you know, do your homework. It's all about homework. You're gonna get material. Go back and, you know, you get to focus on yourself now. Go back and work on it. But while you're in this environment, ask questions because you're going to go back. When it's generic, they're going to be tossing a lot of information at you. But now you need to apply it to what you're doing. So go and apply it. Leverage this opportunity to ask them specifically about your company. So raise your hand during these sessions and say, look, so if I'm doing this in my company, based on what you told me, does this make sense? This way you're leveraging it for yourself versus a generic program because there are one on one. Like I do a lot of one on one programs and I do like one on one because it really focuses on them. And it's much nicer to some degree. It's not generic and you could really go through this program very quickly. But if you have time, you know, there's three months program and you're slowly building it. Well then leverage on this opportunity. The other thing to leverage on is resources. Find out who are the individuals that are providing these programs, get connected, get connected to their network because that's what you're there for. It's not only about building a business, it's about everything else. I'm going to come back to the legal. You know, finding a lawyer is easy. I mean, we say that it's easy, but it's the same thing. You want to find the right lawyer. So they're going to know a bunch of lawyers, go ask them to meet all of them, have a meeting with all of them while you're in this program, because how are you going to meet them afterwards when you leave? This way you can enjoy these resources benefit. Financial advisors, you know, these are the things that are kind of on the side. Normally we don't focus on that when we're early stage, but start doing that, because those are the things that you always put to the side. Use that opportunity to get connected to, you don't need to pay anything, just get to know them because at some point you're gonna build a business. But naturally the other piece of it is if they're in the vertical layer in, leverage that as well. So who you know in this industry, we wanna meet. We wanna meet. We wanna let you know you're in this environment. I'd love to meet people to talk to them. I wanna share my ideas. I wanna share what I'm doing. Maybe they could be my customer's apartments. That's how you leverage on these programs.

Tom Leonard 

Thanks for watching.

Sara 

You're not always going to get what you want, but if you don't ask, you won't get it. You won't know.

Tom Leonard 

Yes, yes, that's definitely true. The other thing, maybe both of you could give an answer. How do you leverage the alumni network? So we talked about how you identify, how you get in, how you might qualify, what you do while you're there to make it successful. How do you then leverage that experience in the future? What's the role the alumni networks can bring to it? Reginald, let's go with you first.

Reginald 

Yeah, thank you for that. I think a lot of the accelerators, I think Sarah will agree with me, most of them have a reputation that they want to build and then they have this community managers and alumni coordinators who do very, very well to ensure that kind of networking and engagement happens. So there are some alumni that you might not even have met during your cohorts, but they always make sure that when they have the demo day and then the pitch, they call all these companies together. So, you know, you leverage that and the good thing is that a lot of times what you need at that early stage, there's another company or startup that has passed through the same incubator that is doing that same work. So let's say you need some help with your cyber security, you need some help with something and you cannot afford that scale. You know, it's very easy to get somebody in that network who can help you or who can support you. So, and one of the things I've also realized is that there's a lot of intra businesses, you know, deals that is around that same thing and everybody there maybe someone has is in a particular area there's a lot of referrals that you can use they are even some that can even pass some credits to you um you know so it is it is it is great and there have been times where you can use someone else's office for a meeting or something so it's very good to stay engaged when they when they call for

Reginald 

You are always speaking you are introducing yourself and you cannot stop talking about your business and what you do it's like is rehearsed. It has to be your second person. Hey, I'm right now that my company is this and this what we are into and It's that's how you build connections and I think that

Sara 

Thank you.

Reginald 

In that environment, everybody wants to help you. So there are times that people will just give you a business or give you a lead just because they want you to succeed because they have been through that same process. So that kind of encouragement and that kind of team support is there because a lot of times when I succeed, sort of the whole system has succeeded. And so it's, it's great to be in that kind of environment because being a founder is very isolated. I remember one in our incubator program for about a year and a half. We had no business. We had no customers. We would go out and market. We would go out and market. We would go out and market. All we had was a desk and a laptop and that was it. But when you turn around, they see the next five companies on the same block who also don't have customers. So when we meet, you know, well, we meet and we are discussing and, you know, we have the near misses and we are sharing ideas and hey, there's a startup conference coming up. This bank is giving this credit. We can get funded from here and we all sort of build it together. So when we win, everybody wins and you are motivated. So I think it's always, you know, a great place to be just in all in all things yeah

Sara 

Yeah, I agree very much with Reggie. One of the things that Reggie emphasized, and I would like to emphasize as well, you are your own marketing. You represent yourself. And if you want to leverage on the alumni, these networking events, no matter where they are, yeah, you should be there. Because you're selling yourself too, and you're getting to know them. And they could, they normally, they're very, they want those who participate, the alumni participate, is because they also want to see what's out there and they want to benefit. So it's a mutual engagement, and you're there to sell yourself. So why not leverage on these opportunities, leverage on whatever resources these facilities give you, including the alumni. Become an alumnus yourself, because you never know. You might be able to leverage on a new startup. Maybe there is some plug that you can get or your business. And as you grow, you might acquire these little startups to help you because you're missing that piece. So there's a lot of ways to benefit from the alumni. But I think Reggie covered pretty much all of it.

Reginald 

Yeah, okay. Yeah, so, Sarah, what do you look in the founders when they come, you know, in the, what are some of the key lessons that you drive that is universal? Whether you're, it's an esports business, whether it's a health business, what are some of the key things that are, that you really want to drive based on your experience that if a founder can exhibit that or work on that, he's more likely to succeed. Because we all know that the startup success rate is very, very low.

Sara 

I missed the first part of the question because of the network. Can you, somebody repeat?

Reginald 

Yes, yeah. Yeah. So I'm saying that. Yeah. So what are the key things, the key principles, mindset, attributes, whatever that you really as an incubator, you make sure that the founder, you know, exhibits that because sometimes one thing I've realized is that the business I went to with the incubator is not what I exited with. But I made sure I got some of the principles. Yeah, so what are the key things that are universal, no matter the business, that's, you know, at, you know that works, that if a founder can work on that, you'll be successful.

Sara 

Ah, pivots. The famous pivots.

Sara 

Well, more important is the first one that I already mentioned is, is there a market opportunity for your product or service? And if there isn't, do you need to find it? And if you do, then this is the point where you will probably, as you learn about how to reach a customer or how to engage with a customer that you realize, maybe I need to pivot. This is not the right business thought would work, but I still love this opportunity. Let me find another way to reach that market. That's probably key, because I have seen a lot of startups that come up with great ideas, at least they thought it was a great idea, and then they pivot. Nothing wrong with pivoting. Sometimes pivoting can happen because the idea is great, but you're just targeting the wrong customers. Let's go after the right customers. So you discover what the right customers, the right team are. You know, we all have expertise and we start with an idea based on our own expertise but then we realize that our partners doesn't have the exact same expertise and we have to start moving along or aligned with the direction because we realize that maybe my idea and your idea are not the same. That's another pivot that could happen. Building a company is about building a team, making sure that the co-founders, if there are any, are aligned. That's the other thing that comes out in the incubator because you start seeing the path and you start understanding what it means to bring resources from the basic of hiring the right types of people to work on this, to get you through all these milestones. And if you're not in agreement, you will be in agreement once you go through these incubator accelerators, because it will help you visualize your mission and an objective of what it means to build this company as a team. If you go in as an individual, you may not get that benefit because it's me, myself and I, and I can hire whoever I want. Is that a real company? It depends on what you're trying to do and where you're going. Most companies are two or more people that can work together. The other thing that you could benefit from these environments that you may not realize ahead of time is how to structure your business. Because a product and service does not sell on its own. I mean, it's people who build a product and service and get it to the market. But how do you structure your company to make sure it gets to that market? I mean, if we're gonna give an example of manufacturing, now where do you manufacture?

Sara 

Where do you get the parts? Where are your supply chains? How does that all work structurally for a company? You don't know that at the beginning. You may have some ideas, but you don't know that. But as you participate in these programs, you will start putting that structure together. And that's true for your software. How do you structure a company? What is it? Is it self-service? Is it? But how do you now engage with customer ID charging? So all of these pieces, because the other thing that these facilities or these programs have are those famous resources. For example, like cloud hosting, you get resources for free. A lot of people don't know that. You know if you're building a software platform and you're going to have something in the cloud, all these Amazons and Googles of the world, they love startups. They want to get you hooked on. Some of them give you like 100K of credits that you can use to build your platform. If you don't join these programs, it's sometimes hard to get that because these resources are attached to these programs. So that's the other thing that you will gain from these programs is these benefits from, and there's different kinds of resources. It depends on what you're doing. 

Tom Leonard 

One of the last things here, because we don't want to take your whole day, because we really appreciate your time here. What do you see as the future in this industry of incubators and startups? What are the kinds of things that you see coming down the road that make you really excited? Yeah, in that whole industry, what are the kinds of changes that you're seeing then? Just like, hey, this is gonna be a good thing.

Sara 

If you have a passion for startups, you really want to help them out. And I noticed that a lot of them would like to move towards the investment. Because once you see something cool, and you meet the team and you say, wow, they could execute, they could actually build. How can I get my hands on this, you know, and help them out and actually invest in them? So I noticed there is a move in that direction as well. Invest in these companies to really help them in that. There's multiple legs, but this is one of the legs that you can help by funding it and finding ways to fund these companies. I noticed that's becoming more and more popular, but it's not easy because, you know, getting the funding and then finding the right company. There's so many great companies out there. There's really a lot of great companies, a lot of great ideas. But each one, you know, depends on the market opportunity. Some are lifestyle businesses. Some are, you know, businesses that can scale. So from these accelerator environment, incubator accelerator environment, it's really about capturing an opportunity and benefiting from it as well, because it's like having a child. You show them the path, you're gonna keep your eye on them up until they leave the nest. You're going to invest in them throughout that cycle. And a lot of these facilities would like to do that. Another thing that they get is you get to see the future sometimes. You get to see all these cool products and services.

Tom Leonard 

That is something that we talked about that you mentioned in our earlier conversation. And I'd really like you to repeat that because I think that is that that's one of the big benefits of being involved in the whole thing overall.

Sara 

Yeah, that is so cool. You get to see the future of how we evolve. Like I said, some are great, great products and services that are gonna be introduced to the market someday. So you're ahead of it. Some of them you'll probably sit there and question because no, that can't be possible. And then it takes off. So that is part of the joy of doing this is getting to see a little bit of the future and the changes that are coming our way and being adaptable and flexible to these changes. You get to see them first. Because a lot of these companies have, you know, these trials. So you get to see what it looks like ahead of anybody else exactly. So you're influencing environments, industries.

Tom Leonard 

And yeah, you get to be a part of making it happen. So, Reginald, did you have any last comments?

Reginald 

Yeah, for me, I think I am talking from a more of a developing country's perspective. And I think that what is happening is that we are turning problems or, you know, difficulties into opportunities with the incubators and accelerators. And in the sense that we are developing the entrepreneurship skill, sort of, you know, and, and that is bringing a lot of problem solvers into the world or into our nations and our economies, people who see a problem. Sometimes a person might not even build a huge company, but he will do something that can be of immense benefits to the community. And I think that incubator entrepreneurs do make very, very good citizens or they make very good people in society because they are always looking out for the opportunity that exists in, you know, in making someone's life. I think I heard a quote from Richard Branson this week that “Entrepreneurship is just a good idea to make someone else's life better”. That's what true. So it's just the idea. And sometimes the idea might not be too great. You need to polish it. Sometimes you need to, and that is what happens. So I really like it. And in the idea of that creating jobs in my country, for example, you have.

Sara 

Exactly. I do agree.

Reginald 

About 90% of people working in the informal sector, what we call the informal sector, small, small businesses, you know, SMEs, what we call SMEs, and these companies that I've grown with. So it's a great time to see, you know, something start from very little from an idea stage, and then it starts gathering and adding steam to it. Yeah, Tom, so it's great. And if you're listening and you have an idea, the ideas that we shared here, make sure you look out for the opportunities that exist for you and the experiences life changing. For me, being an incubator accelerator really, really changed change my life and change how I see things and how you know even how you look at an idea, you know, and yeah so Tom that's what I have to say.

Tom Leonard 

Yeah, that's great. So yeah, to wrap up here, Sarah, where can people connect with you?

Sara 

I could share my email address or you could just go to techclubcenter.com and connect to me directly. I'd be happy to. I love listening to startups. So don't hesitate to share your idea and I'd be happy to recommend any incubators around the world. I travel the world. I've worked with a lot of incubator accelerators around the world. I'd be happy to share more content. I completely want to reiterate what Reggie mentioned. It is entrepreneurship is not only about building a product of service, but it is about building an opportunity for others to be employed, to have jobs that are satisfying. So I think this is, I love this environment because it does build jobs in different sectors, which is the beauty of starting a new company. It's exciting. It's an exciting time for a lot of people around the world to do something that brings value because there are always things that we can improve in our society.

Tom Leonard 

Yes, yes, that's really true. And one of the things that we find is we don't, you know, we don't have the largest podcast audience out there, but we have a lot of people that will listen to every single minute of this podcast and she saved the best part. Sarah saved the best part for last. I mean, feel free to reach out to her. I mean, because she's one of the things that, um, that we didn't really get talked about is the importance of Silicon Valley in, in the world, because it, it is important. I mean, there's history, but also that's, because they do what they do, there's just a lot of learning involved with that. And that could be a whole other podcast.

Sara

Oh, it is. It is a whole, I mean, I'm proud that, you know, being there and the environment is, it's a wonderful environment. I highly recommend anyone who can go there just to meet the people. We're very down to earth people, very sharing. We do want to learn, but there is an angle that kind of dominates. There is a little bit of the arrogance of dominant. But it's been positive and negative, but there is a lot of innovation, and I think people can learn from this and just adapt to their own environments. So Silicon Valley did provide a little bit of a platform for the world, and I've been watching for a long time now how the world has taken that platform and created great things around the world as well. I mean, Red U's sitting in a completely different part of Earth and goes through an incubator accelerator that didn't exist before and creating new opportunities adapted locally. I think that is a phenomenal influence.

Tom Leonard 

And I think one of the things I think Silicon Valley likes that. It's not like they feel like they're in competition somewhere else. It's like, it's everyone benefits from connecting and learning and so on.

Sara 

That's exactly. Well, I know this is a bad thing to say, but it's a little bit of our arrogance that we're doing something innocently to benefit others, but it is still a business. Cause if you look at it, it's all surrounded around the business. But other people, like I said, from that innocent of great people, sometimes these engineers are sitting there and building something. They don't know the impact cause it starts off with one idea, but then it you know, moves off into other different ideas that create, you know, bad things as well. But most of it has been positive. Look, look at how we're communicating. We're able to talk together anywhere around the world now. You know, the lines of communications have just opened up for anyone to get resources and build stuff to benefit the local communities. And I think that's the most positive impact, but I would say that has come out of this.

Tom Leonard 

Yes, yes. Okay, I'm gonna wrap it up here. Thanks, Reginald, for being a host and a guest at the same time on the same podcast episode. We'll be seeing more of you this season. So thanks for joining us. And then thanks to you, Sarah, also for joining us for all the information and the connections that you have generously provided already to me on some other projects here. So if you are still listening, do not hesitate to reach out to Sarah. And if you can't find her, you let us know and we will track her down for you. So take advantage, take advantage of these resources that are handed out. So thanks again, Sarah.

Sara 

It's been a great pleasure to join both of you. Thank you very much for inviting me.

Tom Leonard 

You're welcome. And thanks, Reginald.

Reginald 

Yes, thank you too for having me.

Sara 

And Reggie, thank you for staying up.

Reginald 

Yes! It's 1:17am! Hahaha! Yeah, yeah, it's not bad.

Sara 

I don't. Three time zones. That's not bad.

Tom Leonard 

Ha ha ha! Yes. So, okay. Thanks again for listening to the Gamers Change Lives podcast. What we ask is go and subscribe. If you're listening by now, you're interested in what we say, go and subscribe to the podcast wherever you listen to podcasts. Follow us on social media. Most importantly, engage with us. That's how we learn from you and how maybe we can help you learn from us and the content that we put out there. Do not hesitate to engage. So thanks again, Gamers Change Lives podcast. Play games, create jobs, change lives. Thanks.