A new startup venture studio, called Spaghetti Valley Startup House, will launch in Francistown during the Business Botswana Trade Fair in May 24-28, with an aim to catalize developing technology-driven companies in North of Botswana.
Mooketsi Benedict Tekere, co- founder of the initiative, speaks more on the project.
The Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ is unique in the sense that it has the following secret sauce and is welcoming new partnerships before the launch date.
1. THE VENTURE-STUDIO BUSINESS MODEL: Venture studios are a hot trend in the business world. Living in the age of the tech revolution, it’s not surprising that Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ startup studio has adopted this new model. A venture studio is a company that builds several new companies in rapid succession — they come up with the idea behind the new startup, validates it and develops it with a core team. The secret sauce behind Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ will be: Identify new business opportunities, Market research, Building MVPs, Scaling, and Handing over the new startup. We build your new venture from touch base to orbit — opportunity recognition, idea inception, design thinking, validating, scaling.
Our methodology is agile, hands-on, and data-driven. Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ offers time, effort, and expertise in a complex matters (sometimes, it will offer capital as well via pulaspace.com). In return, the Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ venture studio can receive equity or a regular payment for its services.
2. EIR (ENTREPRENEURS IN RESIDENCE): The onboarding of the Entrepreneur into the Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ startup studio will follow systemic process via the EIR which our Entrepreneur DNA test. During the EIR, we support you financially (time, effort, and expertise) and help you validate the idea, build a pitch deck and a prototype. This will be done virtually in 1–2 weeks in order to facilitate onboarding into the program. The program will validate in simple terms a brief application that includes details about the digital business, team, and digital product.
3. CO-FOUNDERS: You are required to be two co-founders (CEO and CTO), and you must have expertise in one of the selected markets you are solving for? We leave you all the shares at the start. But the You are two co-founders (CEO and CTO), and you have expertise in one of the selected markets? We leave you all the shares at the start. The Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ does not and will not accept sole-preneurs by design!
4. FUNDING STARTUPS: All our startups graduate via capital raise as success metric. Our funding platform pulaspace.com will be an anchor for this where month-month demo days will be hosted to present startups in front of angel investors and venture capitalists. We will have monthly founder networking and founder demo days to pitch investment for startups.
5. OUR STARTUP VERTICALS: Our deliverable is more than a few slides. More than a digital product. More than a startup. Our deliverable is a solution to a real problem, with a healthy P&L and a validated business model. Startups solving wicked problems affecting millions of Africans daily in Southern Africa. Agritech, Fintech, Climate tech, Healthtech, EdTech, e-commerce, Supply chain/Logistics, Mobility. We are also adopting the first “mobile” startup studio in model in Botswana for the Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ where startups don’t have to be physically present to be part of our program. Women startups will be given 90% priority for selection and funding.
6. INDUSTRY- DISRUPTIVE INNOVATION LAB: The Industry-Disruptive Innovation Lab (IDIL) is a technology-focused startup lab connecting startups-corporates through the Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ . The lab supports startups that are developing and commercializing technology-enabled products that address well-defined market opportunities with potential for profitability, inclusivity, and scaling via corporate partnership. The IDIL will be a corporate-startups platform for corporate-startup partnership, mentor-driven capital for startups, tech skills marketplace for corporates and startups. The lab will provide a testing ground where corporate-startups- customers can explore, ideate, and innovate solutions.
7. STORY-TELLING: Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ will have its own corporate innovation podcast where stories of startups will be told via Youtube weekly. Every two weeks, we will interview innovation experts from the most relevant companies on the national and international scene to learn about our startup teams, their processes and their points of view and discovering new ways to collaborate with data-driven partnerships. Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ podcast aims to discover data to disrupt, innovate and transform each of the new sectors.
8. NETWORKING MEETUPS: Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ will have monthly Meetups as a platform that connects people with similar interests and hobbies. The Networking platform will be a valuable resource for startups looking to connect with other entrepreneurs, investors, and mentors locally and regionally over a beer. By building relationships with other members of the startup community, all our partners and startups can gain valuable insights, feedback, and support the new innovation community via the venture studio.
9. COLIVING | COWORKING | COMMUNITY| TEAM RETREATS: Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ will be the home for location-independent workers, freelancers & digital nomads who want to get away from the capital to get more work done in a co-living, co-working community influenced digital environment. Our investment is being prioritized for: Inspiring 24/7 Workspace, High-speed Internet, and Custom company, co-living, pop-up experiences & team retreats.
10. POP-UP EXPERIENCE: Every month-end, we will co-create events where we can learn from each other, exchange knowledge, connect with others and re-connect with ourselves. Think of a pop-up event filled with social and professional event etiquette in a completely different and exclusive location, in the heart of a city exclusive location. You will have the chance to create deep connections, lead great conversations and have a transformative experience. After all, that’s what Spaghetti Valley Startup House™ will be best known for — creating a safe space for everyone to connect to experience an amazing and inspiring innovative community.
For Partnerships: mtekere@genglobal.org