10X-e: the new entrepreneurial programme aiming to bring big scale to SA startups

Vumela and Edge Growth, two of SA’s big brands in entrepreneurship and venturing have launched a new accelerator aimed at growing established, high potential entrepreneurs.

Called 10X-e, the accelerator’s mission is apparently to help talented scale-up stage entrepreneurial teams scale themselves, scale their teams, and scale their businesses.

According to a press release sent to Ventureburn, the 36-month programme is aimed at ensuring that fast growing, young, innovative companies can scale smoothly and create the high number of jobs they have the potential to.

The programme apparently involves a facilitated process designed to provide founding teams with handholding guidance from experienced serial entrepreneurs, to help them practically build the foundations for scale in their business over an 18-36-month period.

Unlike traditional accelerators, 10X-e focuses on post-Accelerator stage companies and every aspect is entirely specialised around helping entrepreneurial teams scale-up a winning organisation.

According to the release, the journey is also customised for each individual business. Here’s its jargon-fueled breakdown of the programme:

It [10x-e] entails a series of one-day bootcamps that provide step-by-step guidance on each of the 12 disciplines of 10X Entrepreneurs, a curated library of cutting edge and condensed know-how in the form of nano-books, ‘ready to go’ toolkits to accelerate implementation timeframes, coaching sessions from experienced serial entrepreneurs who have scaled significant businesses, and more. The focus is on providing ‘just-in-time’ know-how and help on the complex and risky path of growth.

Right.

Vumela founder Jason Goldberg says there is a science to scaling up great businesses but this is the least well known of all business stages: “Business schools have long focused on managing large organisations. The Lean Start-up process has recently industrialised the startup process. But there is little out there on how to scale a business. That’s why so many entrepreneurs get stuck here”.

Interested companies can sign up for a three-day Path to Scale Boot Camp in March by visiting www.10X-e.com. The three-day boot camp provides a comprehensive introduction to both the pitfalls and the science of scaling-up. The 10X-e team will invite stand-out companies to apply for the full programme. Vumela will sponsor the initial intake of five top applicants on a programme valued at R300,000. 10X-e selects disruptive businesses with clear product-market fit, a scalable business model, a team of two or more founders, three or more senior managers, R5m-R100m revenue, rapid growth, and all the problems growth brings.