START is a 7-week accelerator designed for early-stage tech startups in the ideation or pre-revenue phase. The program helps founders validate their problem, assess market demand, and refine their ideal customer profile before investing time and resources into product development.

Held three times a year, START follows a hybrid format with virtual and in-person sessions on evenings and weekends, making it accessible to founders who aren’t yet full-time.

Program Overview

• Conduct customer discovery interviews to validate problem and demand
• Identify key pain points and refine your ideal customer profile (ICP)
• Develop a clear, compelling value proposition
• Learn best practices for customer research and testing early assumptions
• Gain hands-on experience in problem validation before building your MVP
• Receive 1:1 mentorship and support from Cultivator’s programming team

Program Benefits

• Exclusive access to Cultivator’s founder community, experts & mentors
• Hands-on guidance to de-risk and validate your startup idea
• Exclusive perks and discounts to startup tools and resources
• Priority consideration for Cultivator’s BUILD accelerator

Program Expectations

To get the most out of START, founders should be ready to:

• Conduct 25+ customer discovery interviews
• Attend and actively participate in all cohort sessions and 1:1 mentorship meetings
• Dedicate 10-15 hours per week to research, customer outreach, and program activities
• Engage with feedback, iterate on problem and solution as needed
• Be open to pivoting based on customer insights

Program Schedule

• Week 1: Cohort Session (in-person)
• Week 2: 1:1 Coaching (virtual)
• Week 3: Cohort Session (virtual)
• Week 4: 1:1 Coaching (virtual)
• Week 5: Cohort Session (in-person)
• Week 6: 1:1 Coaching (virtual)
• Week 7: Cohort Session (virtual) & Exit Interview (virtual)