The ASAP Club aspires to establish a digital support structure for applicants who apply for social sciences and/or social-impact accelerators but don’t reach the final cohort selection so that they receive the sufficient information and encouragement to continue and indeed excel in their entrepreneurial journey.
Read more about the ASAP Club project below, or click these links to access the project resources directly:
- ASAP Club Digital Toolkit – A curated set of resources to enable early-stage founders of social sciences and/or social impact driven ventures to take the scary step forward to make it a reality.
- Launch Event – Webinar recording from the 29th April 2021 Launch Event.
- Creator Fund Webinar – Webinar recording from May 2021 Event.
- Podcast Mini-series – The ASAP Club has devised a 4-part podcast series hosted by business leaders, Founders and mentors who explore the entrepreneurial mindset and discuss key traits such as resilience, stamina and facing failure.
Why do we need the ASAP Club?
The 2021 Aspect Student Accelerator Programme (ASAP) cohort received over 100 applications with an acceptance rate of 18.8%, on par with other similar accelerator programs globally. Typically, accelerators lose touch with unaccepted applicants, resulting in potentially missed opportunities to build a strong entrepreneurial ecosystem and long-term pipeline of successful ideas and businesses. Furthermore, early stage student / alumni entrepreneurs might lose motivation without having a supportive learning environment for developing their ideas.
As a platform for enabling entrepreneurship, the Aspect network identified the importance of creating an outlet to retain connection with the students/alumni themselves, build confidence and empower them on their entrepreneurial journey and simultaneously cultivate their support network.
What is the ASAP Club?
The ASAP Club aspires to establish a digital support structure for applicants who apply for social sciences and/or social-impact accelerators but don’t reach the final cohort selection so that they receive the sufficient information and encouragement to continue and indeed excel in their entrepreneurial journey.
With so much content available on venture building, it can be overwhelming for an early stage entrepreneur with a great idea! It’s hard to make sense of it all and know where to look for direct answers and insights on the ABCs of taking your first steps. Typically, applying to an accelerator is an actionable way to join a framework that will help you navigate the process.
Therefore, the ASAP Club curates in one place the best content out there to enable early-stage founders with entrepreneurial know-how to take the scary step forward to make it a reality. It includes practical tools, applicable frameworks commonly used in the start-up space, references to external articles and sites and recordings of workshops and webinars to polish an impact driven business idea.
Recorded workshops from the 2021 ASAP cohort are included to offer a parallel learning experience as accepted applicants. And the big bonus… we produced an ASAP Club podcast mini-series with 5 new podcasts episodes interviewing incredible mentors and founders on each focus area!
How was it developed?
To develop the ASAP Club, our team conducted interviews with applicants who were not accepted to the accelerator and discovered their current needs and interest. Four focus areas were identified blending both practical skill building and applicable frameworks plus the “soft” mindset skills essential to be a successful entrepreneur. We made sure to incorporate impact as a key part of this, so as to showcase the many ways impact can be incorporated into a business.
Through an interactive process, and feedback from interviewees, we selected the following focus areas:
- IDEAS ARE GOLDEN SO BRING ON THE GOLD RUSH: How to move from idea to action
- MAKE AN IMPACT AND CHANGE THE WORLD! How to integrate impact in your business
- IS YOUR PITCH PERFECT? Tell your story and nail it
- QUESTION THE PATH: Is entrepreneurship for me?
What impact do we hope it will achieve?
In the process of developing the toolkit we realized the value add of having a highly curated and accessible touch point for any student or alumni creating an impact-driven venture. As an outcome of the digital support structure and content, we hope that applicants can re-evaluate their venture idea, improve their existing idea and progress in its development stages.
