The Market Opportunity
- A gap exists in the entrepreneur ecosystem between friends and family and venture funding – the Valley of Death.
- A fundamental weakness exists in the identification of investment-worthy innovation.
- San Diego talent and innovation looks north for support and opportunities.
- New product/new venture failure rate is at least 75% for VC’s and all companies.
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SoCal Accelerator focuses on concept to commercialization stage innovation, with elements of an incubator and an accelerator.
The Early Stage Opportunity
- The ideal client is finalizing their concept, in the latter stage of product development, or in the early commercialization stage.
- Our target client is in technology, either hardware or software, or infrastructure. We will look at medical device opportunities but avoid pharma because of the time required for clinical trials.
- Our process starts with selection standards and sourcing prospective portfolio ventures. We look for coachable entrepreneurs who demonstrate character, values, and a temperament compatible with our consulting team. We also seek a balanced, managed portfolio by industry, development stage, and perceived risk.
- SoCal Accelerator mitigates some of the risk associated with early stage investing through improved assessment and mentoring of innovative new ventures. We screen our prospective ventures to assess market and strategic opportunity and risk, financial model, and leadership and personality factors. If we decide to invest in the venture, we will help the entrepreneur shape the new enterprise and provide periodic formal assessments supplemented by near-continuous monitoring and guidance leading to a liquidation of our investment, which we would generally expect approximately two years after our investment or the beginning of revenue.
- Our target connects with us through word-of-mouth, the internet, and networking.
- Unlike some incubators, we do not necessarily initiate the innovation idea and build an entrepreneur team around our idea. While we will shape an entrepreneur’s innovations, we prefer to start with their ideas and their passion for those ideas. Our goal is to accelerate the new venture’s generation of revenue and its valuation
SoCal Accelerator serves seed and early stage ventures in the concept-to-commercialization and development-to-commercialization, focusing on:
- Telecommunications
- Software
- Networking & equipment
- Medical devices & equipment
- IT services
- Industrial & energy
- Financial services
- Electronics & instrumentation
- Computers & peripherals
- Business products & services
