Morrissette Accelerator - Winter 2022 Cohort

Beyond the start

The Morrissette Accelerator Fall Program is a great opportunity for high growth startups to accelerate the growth of their businesses. Over the course of 15 weeks (Jan 6, 2022 to Apr 22, 2022), ventures accepted into the program will receive hands on mentorship and educational training from in-house experts and industrial partners. Our goal is to accelerate the life cycle of high potential ventures and to compress a year’s worth of learning into a few months for these entrepreneurs.

The Morrissette Accelerator is a critical component of the cross-campus Morrissette Entrepreneurship ecosystem and is open to all Western students, faculty, and recent alumni with an expectation of a full-time commitment. The program culminates in a Demo Day that is usually attended by 100+ investors from a variety of industries.

What to expect

During their time in the accelerator, businesses can expect:

- Weekly Programming - Twice a week, half-day educational sessions on leadership, sales, investors, pitch skills, etc, as well as mentoring sessions with successful entrepreneurs and in-house experts.
- Networking Opportunities - Join us for networking events with successful entrepreneurs, industry experts, investors and service providers
- Pitch day - Participate in "Demo Day" at the end of program—a dynamic event where teams deliver their idea and business plans to a large investor centric audience from the local entrepreneurship, business and investment communities
- Mentorship - Weekly / Bi-monthly milestone meetings help you to discuss your progress and to set goals for the upcoming month
- Funding - Receive a CA$3,000 / month in the form of a stipend to support your business venture.

As part of your Morrissette Accelerator experience, you are offered programming that will give you the education and real-world feedback that you need to launch your business. Workshop topics include:

Value Proposition
Design Thinking
Legal landscape and Intellectual Property
Digital Marketing
Public Relations
Sales Strategy
Accounting
Financial Planning
Leadership
And more!

Eligibility Requirements
We look for teams who have a high-potential to scale and who meet the following criteria:
- At least one founder must have a connection to Western (Student, Faculty, Staff or Alumni)
- Teams must be willing to contribute a full-time effort in-person at Western University in London Ontario (Monday to Friday from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.). While we may not be able to predict with absolute certainty what the COVID-19 situation will be, it is our hope that the Winter 2022 Morrissette Accelerator program will be carried out on Western University’s campus. A final decision regarding on-campus will be made in December 2021. Based on Covid restrictions, a blended or online approach may be followed.
- Teams must operate their business from the Morrissette Accelerator (Based on Covid-19 restrictions)
- Teams can have up to three founders
- Founders working out of the Morrissette Accelerator must have decision making ability
- Founders are required to participate in all the scheduled events, workshops and competitions throughout their time in the Morrissette Accelerator.

What we look for
We look for startups who have completed product development and are ready to launch! If you are still in the idea or build stage, you may not be a good fit for the Morrissette Accelerator yet. Teams who are in early stages can find great resources available for you at Western’s Incubator and Entrepreneurship Centre.

Competitive applications for the Morrissette Accelerator are startups who have high potential to scale (i.e. have IP and/or have a clear competitive advantage addressing a large potential market). We also look for a founding team who have the skills, ability and determination to launch their product offering into the market.

Market readiness
Teams applying to our Accelerator should have a functioning prototype or minimum viable product (MVP) that can be offered to their customers.

Application process
Entrance to our Accelerator is a competitive process. We accept 6-8 teams per cohort (Fall, Winter and Summer).

There are two parts to the application for the Morrissette Accelerator.

Stage 1
All teams are required to submit a written application via this GUST platform. Please ensure the application is complete and all links are functional.

You will be required to share / upload the following:
- Executive Summary
- Company Logo
- Company Website
- Youtube Link to your 3 min Investor Pitch Video
- Investor Pitch Slide Deck - Here’s a sample of the details we look for in your pitch deck. https://entrepreneurship.uwo.ca/services/ondemand-learning/archived-webinars/2021/archived-webinars/pitch-deck-basics/

Stage 2
Applications are reviewed by an anonymous and diverse panel of Judges, the top ranked teams will have the opportunity to pitch their business to a selection committee. In this round each team will be given 5 minutes to pitch their startup, followed by 5 minutes of Q&A.

Timeline
The Morrissette Accelerator consists of 3 cohorts per year (Fall, Winter and Summer). The Fall and Winter terms are for teams who have an MVP that is ready to go-to-market. These cohorts are all 15-16 weeks in duration. The summer cohort is designed for validation-stage startups who have put significant effort to understand their business model and are ready to validate their idea with early adopters.

Please visit our website regularly or join our email list for exact dates for the applications.

All teams that are selected to enter our accelerator in Winter 2022 cohort, are mandated to pitch at Amplify in March 2022 and the qualifying teams have to be prepared to pitch at Demo Day in April 2022 (If selected)