145 The first accelerator for ambitious SaaS bootstrappers | Podcast with Alex McQuade - TinySeed
TinySeed is the first startup accelerator designed for founders who would traditionally bootstrap. We are the next generation of startup accelerators. TinySeed is an accelerator, but it's remote, runs for a full year, and focuses on SaaS and "non-unicorns" (companies that don't aspire to grow at all costs to reach a $1B valuation). To venture capitalists, a company doing $10m in annual revenue is a miss. To us, it's a great business. Connect with Tracy 👇 TinySeed: https://tinyseed.com LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/alexmcquade Tekpon is a SaaS marketplace born out of the genuine desire to help people change how they consume and purchase software products and services. Tekpon has behind a team of enthusiastic tech lovers whose main goal is to help users boost their lives and businesses with the right software. Connect with Tekpon ⚡ Website: https://tekpon.com SaaS Entrepreneurs & Startups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/tekpon Listen to the podcast 🎧 Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/show/0sf7X3sC8Pg8gzpphTYxgi Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/tekpon-saas-podcast/id1637493062 The topics we've discussed 🕐 00:00 Intro 00:13 What is TinySeed? 00:52 TinySeed funding terms 01:42 How many companies per batch? 02:40 Most well-known companies from your portfolio 03:05 What are the strong points of TinySeed? 04:55 Weekly educational calls 06:03 Why the program takes 1 full year 07:50 What motivates your mentors to help startups? 09:00 What are the requirements for joining TinySeed? 10:00 How do you choose the startups? 11:10 Fully remote accelerator 13:05 When did you join TinySeed? 13:55 Why did they choose you? 15:25 What are the traits of a successful startup program manager? 16:55 100 companies, 200 founders 17:30 What has been your biggest challenge? 18:40 Working with so many founders, what is the most common mistake you see? 21:10 What is MicroConf? 21:40 Upcoming events 22:55 How big is the MicroConf community? 24:45 The traits they're looking for in a founder - Fast&Furious 29:05 What is your story, Alex? 30:55 Top 3 favorite SaaS products 33:25 Outro