Recruitment Tour Kick off: Who We Are Looking For And How To Do Office Hours

For the next two months, we will be touring through cities in Europe and the USA.

In every city we visit, we will hold office hours – They are an opportunity for interested retail tech start-ups to meet the team behind the program, ask questions and get an idea of what the program can do for your company and its future.

So, what qualifies a start-up as a potential candidate? And how can you make the most out of the office hours? Keep reading for the reveal.

Who are we looking for?

Our ideal founding team has experience in serial entrepreneurship, and across the board; whether it be tech, consulting, start-ups, retail specialization, corporate, or any credential that could significantly contribute in preparation for the challenge ahead.

In terms of delegation and structure; ideally, the CEO should have a clear distinction of the responsibilities within the team; more importantly, if the company is looking to scale internationally or nationwide, it should have a strong enough sales structure to support that.

In terms of the solution and how far along it is in its development; we have a stage agnostic approach but with particular focus on series A+. The company should have a solid customer base with a minimum of 1 client. Preferably the solution has surpassed the MVP, POC stages and hence is post-product market fit.

With the purpose, to include as many quality start-ups in our selection process, we accept start-ups from around the world. However companies incorporated outside of Europe, Israel and the US might be expected to re-incorporate in a supported jurisdiction, or we may use it as an opportunity to add support for a new jurisdiction, as we are adding to this list all the time.

More specifically we look for start-ups that cover any of the following industries:

But, just as equally, if you fall into one of these categories, we’ll be interested:

After much experience in office hours, our program director, Sylvia put together some tips on how to make the most out of the 20-minute time slot:

• Know the company figures; along the sales funnel, conversion rates, growth rates, customer numbers, financials etc.
• Sales pitch presentations during office hours are not necessary; this is not the part of the selection process in which we are judging your solution, rather we want to understand more about it, your strategy, and your goals, so to get a better handle on the fit for both sides, and get a clear picture on how we would be able to bring your business to the next level.
• Communicate on the challenge you are solving for your customers, and how you are doing it.
• We want to understand why customers want your product of course, and what about your solution in particular has worked for them.
• But, also be ready to tell us about the objections you have encountered when pitching your product to customers; why have they rejected it – we want to know.
• Share your vision for the program; what role do you see it having in supporting the success of your company? How do you see the program fitting into not only your short-term, but also long-term strategy?
• Tell us about your biggest rock so far, or that you might foresee in the future. Ask us how we would be able to help you.
• Talk about your (founder team) expertise, and past experiences
• Last point though obvious; read through the materials available to you carefully, don’t waste time asking questions you could easily find out on your own.

We organize office hours with the purpose to determine how our program might be able to boost the potential of your business and your ambitions. In that sense, the more we know, and the more honest you are, the more efficiently we can determine what a collaboration might lead to. Our mission is ultimately to make the program as valuable for participating start-ups as possible, with the ambition to pilot your product with either METRO, Target or one of our industry partners.

We, as a team, could not be more excited to embark on this two-month recruitment tour across continents; we look forward to meeting and exchanging with as many retail passionate entrepreneurs as possible.

For more information on the cities we plan to visit click here

If you can’t make it to any of our cities book virtual office hours by email us here:

team@metro-target-accelerator.com.

Are you a candidate for this first of its kind retail program? Apply today!