30 participants went through the pilot from August to October 2020.

We looked for people who were at the very beginning of their entrepreneurial journey, were serious about starting their own business, but still needed some time and support to  formulate and kick-start their businesses.

The pilot was presented to them as a valuable tool if they had a full-time job and/or other duties (e.g. small children) which made it difficult for them to access the start-up ecosystem which caters mainly to (young) people who have much more flexibility and free time. 

Participants from a smaller or middle-sized town, where options of getting quality start-up support compatible with other duties are limited or simply not available, could have also benefited from the pilot.

Our promise to the pilot participants was that we will take them step-by-step from the "no idea, no plan" situation to the stage where they know what they want to do with their business and are ready and confident to take it forward.

If participants had any questions, concerns or simply got stuck, frustrated or overwhelmed, they could have reached out to their mentor who was readily at their disposal.

‍We were looking for people who had no idea, no prototype and no team - they usually only had an ambition or a dream to start their own business.

‍Coming up with an idea, conceptualizing their business or putting together some basic prototype were one of the several steps that they took during the pilot.

Expectation was that participants will finish the programme with a clear idea about their future business. They were supposed to have a tangible business concept, a good idea about next steps, resources needed and risks involved.

They they were free to decide whether, how and when to pursue it further. We also promised to help them through the transition and connect them to our partners who could assist them further in their entrepreneurial journey.

It was up to them to decide how many hours they wanted to invest per week and when exactly. Our recommended minimum time investment to keep traction was 4-6 hours per week.

They were generally able to reach their goals in 10-15 weeks with this time commitment. Investing more time per week will enabled them to reach their goals faster.

When the participants spent time during the pilot was completely up to them. As everything took place online, they were able to always pick up where they left off, the online engine guided them.

The duration of the pilot programme was limited to 10 weeks, so participants were expected to finish by October 15.

Participants who signed up early were eligible for a major discount or joined for free.