How is the interview in the most famous accelerator 500 Startups. Our experience

The network recently appeared information that the company must have at least $ 1 million (attach photo). However, you need to look at the document. It says that the company "even attracted companies with a million turnover to acceleration."

A little bit about the accelerator. The headquarters of the apartment is located in San Francisco, and about a hundred startups are produced annually. Basic rules for participation:

1. You must have at least 2 people in a team;
2. You should have a minimum developed prototype of an IT product;
3. You must know your market.

A little about our product. Workly is an innovative time tracking system. Workly - allows you to control employee visits and know exactly which employee came at what time and for how long. Our market is a small and medium business, with up to 1000 employees. A multilocation business by type of chain stores, coffee shops, restaurants and hotels. Production businesses are factories, plants, etc. The Workly system will save huge amounts of money on working time and identify the most disciplined employees. The system also considers the salary of employees in accordance with the number of hours that he (a) worked (a).

What was the application process and our interview.

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Initially, it was necessary to fill out a long form on the site, then upload a video about the company on Youtube. David came to us with feedback. And planning a day, we contacted him on Skype.

His questions and our answers:

- What is the company's market?

- It is obvious that at the local level the market cannot be compared with the American or European markets. However, development in the post-Soviet region is noticeably noticeable every year. There is a market, and moreover, it is ready for our product. In the international arena, the market has long been ripe for such projects.

- Who are the main competitors of your startup?

- It all depends on the market of the country in which we operate. We can say with precision that in the territory of the CIS we have no competitors. There are many companies involved in access control systems, access control systems and video surveillance. But in terms of working time, we are the first company. Especially in the mobile time tracking market. In developed countries there are many such companies. The most striking of them can highlight WhenIWork.

- What are the advantages of your company's product?

- The benefits are enough. However, our main advantages remain the affordable cost of goods, mobility and, of course, cloudiness, which allows you to have access to all the capabilities of the product and information about the company from anywhere in the world.

- Why did you choose exactly 500 startups ?

- It is obvious. We know that you mainly invest in international companies. This is a clear advantage of your company over all its counterparts, since there is no such approach in other venture funds. It is in our interest to contact a company that wants to stimulate companies in emerging markets for those who do not have a developed eco-system like in a silicon valley.

- What is the income of your company?

- The income of our startup for the previous year amounted to about xxx xxx US dollars per year.

- At the expense of your product, do you have a garter of events to geolocation?

With geolocation, we started working with our first project - Maxtrack GPS vehicle navigation. Now we are implementing work and care staff in office geolocation.

- What is the product of the company?

- The “Workly” time tracking system is designed for companies of 5 to 1,000 people. If necessary, the technical support service can also set it up for use in larger organizations. Its application is especially convenient in the sphere of trade, public catering, hotel industry, that is, in companies where work goes beyond the use of a computer.
Using the system allows you to reduce document flow, keep records and inventory of assets.

- You have listed other products of your company. How are they managed?

- The MyTaxi project has other co-founders and a member of our team, Akmal, serves as a consultant. Maxtrack is already established by us and he works independently and he was needed to start the project Workly, as we have a lot of trouble with investors and investments. It should be noted that after problems with biometric equipment, for which Workly was created, this product was recreated from scratch and now works without the need for expensive hardware.

- Have funds been attracted to a startup from outside investors?

- Project Workly was created from its own funds. The Maxtrack project allowed us to reinvest profits from sales into the development of the Workly timekeeping system.

So the conversation went. David thanked us and promised to unsubscribe the results in a short time. As a result, his answer was:



Thanks guys for your time. I like what you are doing and it seems very promising. At the moment I do not think that you are suitable for us, but remind of yourself in the future.





To this we answered him. It is very important for us to undergo acceleration in 500 Startups, so please write the reasons for which we were not selected.





And the final answer from David: For 500 Startups to be effective you need to have 100 percent focus and it’s good that you have several projects, I would separate the business if you were in order not to be distracted.



Actually, this was our conversation. We did not take us for the simple reason that we are developing several projects at the same time.

I hope this article will be useful to those who want to apply for participation. I wish you success!