EDINBURGH, UK, Oct. 24, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- The Startup Race, a UK-based Startup Accelerator which prioritises a startup’s sales and revenue over pitching skills, today announced a list of the companies leading and competitively emerging, at the midpoint of the competition, which kicked off in May 2022. The current competitive and contending companies range in industry, and scope, but all are seeking to win the £10,000 Cash Prize. The Startup Race founders still believe there is room and time in this last quarter for more companies to have a chance of winning the competition, which closes on the 24th December 2022. The winner will be awarded in January 2023.
“We are now a few months into The Startup Race, and we are very pleased to see many of the startups growing quickly, gaining customers and traction,” said James Shoemark, co-founder of The Startup Race. “We are disrupting the standard model, known as ‘Pitching Parades.’ in order to enable entrepreneurs to prove themselves in both product and market fit, through sales and revenue. May The Startup Race methodology be proof that UK Startups can lead the world in generating significant sales in such a short period of time?”
With more than 530 teams registering to enter The Startup Race in June 2022, the most exciting companies currently in the program include:
- The House of Tula, founded by Priyanshu Nath, offers sustainably-crafted, luxurious journals creating better balance and harmony with nature and within ourselves.
- Olmedo, founded by Mariely Macias Olmedo, is a women’s fashion label blending authentic Mexican embroideries and the fusion of western inspirations, focused on creating contemporary garments for stylish women.
- NEAR, founded by Isaac and Lauren Elmore, is an app connecting travelers with the best recommendations from locals all around the world, while also protecting and preserving the charm of what makes each place unique.
- FastRefund, founded by Davranbek Tashbayev, is an instant refunds platform providing a refund for returned online purchases in under 30 seconds. The platform supercharges online stores by helping attract, convert and retain customers with fast refunds.
- Redwing, founded by Thomas Quiroga, is an app helping consumers, readers and fans navigate the maze of comic books – a growing list of 150K published over the last 60 years. The app provides reading orders and helps track progress for readers.
- Arouund, founded by Ash Blyde, is an app streamlining community and event management with world-class support, making it easier to monetize events with direct payouts, at a fraction of the cost of its competitors.
The Startup Race methodology capitalizes on the iconoclastic startup method, first developed by GodFather of the Lean Startup Movement - Steve Blank. In a 2013 blog post called It’s Time to Play Moneyball: The Investment Readiness Level, Blank recommended Investors ask teams to ”Prove their competence and validate their ideas by showing investors evidence that there’s a repeatable and scalable business model” instead of relying on the antiquated test as to whether a ‘world-class’ troupe of actors can produce great looking product demos and compelling PowerPoint slides.
Upon entry to the Accelerator, participants gained access to the world’s best Lean Startup resources in order to validate their thinking, develop their business model and personal profile in order to attract co-founders. Other free resources on Leanstack include the Foundations and Business Model Design Playbooks and Lean Canvas & Traction Roadmap tools. The Startup Race team helps entrepreneurs incorporate their UK company and open a UK business bank account to enable them to start generating sales as soon as the competition starts. Through The Startup Race process, a number of high net-worth individuals observe how the teams perform over the course of The Race and be introduced to companies that they may consider supporting at the end of the program.
“We want to help more entrepreneurs prove their success quickly and robustly over a specific period of time in order to prove to investors a need, should they indeed need that funding,” said Michael Clouser, co-founder of The Startup Race. “The Startup Race believes that this highly competitive ‘pedal-to-the-metal’ approach garners great value for both Entrepreneurs and Business Angel Investors, especially at a time when the World is changing economically.”
The Startup Race idea began in 2014 when a young entrepreneur asked Mr. Shoemark, who was hosting a League of Entrepreneurs Meetup at the time, if and how the startup process could be gamified. Mr. Shoemark decided that a business competition using the Pirate Metrics (AARRR as popularised by Dave McLure) could be the answer. He soon teamed up with Michael Clouser, a former Silicon Valley VC and other Edinburgh based Entrepreneurs and Investors to partner with him on this new venture in order to support Fast Growth startups in the UK and around the world.
Winners of The Startup Race will be announced during a ceremony in early January 2023. The final £10,000 cash prize will be provided in the form of a grant from the Startup Race limited company to the team that made the most sales by the end of the competition.
For more information on The Startup Race, please visit: WWW.TheStartupRace.com.
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ABOUT THE STARTUP RACE
The Startup Race, based in the UK, is a hackathon and accelerator program dedicated to proving that sales and revenue are the true benchmark of a successful startup, rather than the initial pitch. The event and company itself is the product of a young entrepreneur asking Mr. James Shoemark in 2014, how the startup process could be gamified. Mr. Shoemark decided that a business competition using the Pirate Metrics (AARRR as popularised by Dave McLure) of Acquisition, Activation, Retention, Referral and Revenue as a benchmark for ambition, competition and growth could be the answer. He soon teamed up with Michael Clouser, a former Silicon Valley VC and other Edinburgh based Entrepreneurs and Investors to partner with him on this new venture in order to support Fast Growth startups in the UK and around the world. The first £10,000 Startup Race will continue through the end of 2022, where a winner will be announced and awarded the £10,000 Cash Prize in 2023. After this Startup Race has completed, they will be partnering with Scottish Investors to run a £300,000 Startup Race and then a £1,000,000 International Startup Race. For more information on The Startup Race, please visit: WWW.TheStartupRace.com.
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