CASE STUDY
YORK UNIVERSITY
A TRUE CULTURE OF COLLABORATION
Tapping Into the Full Potential of Accelerator Culture
Introduction
In the summer of 2018, InFounders partnered with York University to complement their accelerator program with our peership roundtables. The success of these roundtables was so profound that they have become an integral and permanent part of York’s accelerator curriculum.
This case study explores how InFounders have played a pivotal role in enhancing York University’s entrepreneurship programming and participant experience.
The Challenge
York University’s accelerator program, an annual four-month intensive initiative, provides entrepreneurs with the essential support to build and scale their ventures. Before our collaboration, the program had organized peer sessions among its participants. While these sessions were originally well attended, the outcome was not always consistent, the relationships among entrepreneurs remained transactional, and participation eventually became sparse.
The university had a collective desire to deepen connections and unlock the full potential of collaboration.
Exchanges vs safe spaces: the InFounders difference
Where the previous CEO meetings felt short, InFounders thrived. Starting at our very first session, our framework built extremely deep connections among founders based on their shared experienced. This powerful bond amongst them made it a safe and generous space where founders supported each other relentlessly, with compassion and drive.
The kickoff meeting itself got participants raving to the program manager about their experience.
Where previous peer meetings were weakly attended, our roundtables became the top rated component of York University’s accelerator.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
1. High Engagement
The program manager noted a significantly stronger sense of engagement and team spirit after our roundtables. This behavior positively impacted the accelerator overall.
2. Transformed Participant Interactions
The accelerator staff witnessed a transformation in how participants connected. Many were now helping each other outside of the scope of the accelerator and meeting on their own time to collaborate.
3. Rise in Participant Achievements
With a new layer of team spirit and peer support, participants mentioned that their roundtable significantly helped them achieve their goals faster and more strategically.
4. Building Leadership Skills
InFounders’ framework includes communication and strategic thinking skills building. Participants were shown to have improved connections even with investors and accelerator staff thanks to their progress in those areas.
5. Rated Accelerator’s Favorite
Participants rated their InFounders roundtable as their accelerator’s favorite component. This lead to an increase in applications the following year due to word-of-mouth sharing.
NOW PERMANENT TO YORK UNIVERSITY
With this success, InFounders roundtables became a permanent component of York University’s entrepreneurship program.
It also became integral to ELLA, the new women’s accelerator York University launched a few years later.
CONCLUSION
InFounders’ partnership with York University since 2018 empowered entrepreneurs to gather around collaboration and innovation as a true team. Unlike typical meetings previously run, our roundtables offered powerful and reliable outcomes. They have become a cornerstone, cultivating deep relationships and peer empowerment.
Roundtables have become permanent to York University’s entrepreneurship program as well as to their women’s accelerator.
York University’s entrepreneurship department saw effortless program expansion and community building, while enabling a significantly richer experience for their participants.
PEERSHIP MAKES BUSINESS SENSE
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