This is a sponsored post written by me on behalf of Women on Business’ sponsor partner, GENIUS NY.
For entrepreneurs with goals to grow their startup businesses into powerful companies (and do it quickly), attracting investor funding is a top priority. Entering an investor-funded startup accelerator program is one of the best ways to take your startup to the next level, particularly if the program is 100% focused on your business niche. GENIUS NY is one of these niche programs, which awards innovative startups with funding for their drone or UAS-based businesses.
GENIUS NY is the world’s largest business accelerator competition for unmanned systems and is actively looking for more entrepreneurs to apply for its next program, which begins in January at The Tech Garden Incubator in Syracuse, New York. The program provides startups with all of the tools and support they need to be successful, including advisors, connections, stipends, programming, and resources. The application deadline is October 14, 2018, and you can apply here.
The GENIUS 3.0 program is a 12-month in-residence accelerator program divided into two phases. During the three months of Phase One, five finalist teams each will receive a $10,000 per month stipend and a housing subsidy to participate in the program. At the end of the three months, each startup will deliver a business pitch, and investments totaling $3 million will be awarded with the winning pitch receiving $1,000,000 and the four other startup teams each receiving $500,000.
Phase Two begins immediately after Phase One and lasts for nine months. During this time, all five teams will continue to learn, work, and grow. When Phase Two ends, the five finalists will participate in a three-day Investor Demo Days event where they’ll pitch their startups to investors and program judges in New York, Boston, and Syracuse.
The competition is open to startup businesses that focus on unmanned systems such as hardware, software, analytics, and so on. However, GENIUS NY will also consider startups with a focus on robotics, data to decision platforms, and IoT. Additionally, you should have a business founder and technical person on your team and be willing to give up 5-8% equity if your application is chosen and you participate in the program.
Previous finalists in GENIUS NY programs include Dropcopter, Fotokite, Automodality, PrecisionVision, Quantifly, TruWeather, UsPLM, DJI, Akrobotix, Ascent AeroSystems, EZ3D, OmniMesh, and SkyOp.
This year, GENIUS NY is actively looking for more women-led startups to enter the competition, so if you’ve already started or have been thinking of starting a drone-related company, now might be the perfect time to do it!
Susan Gunelius
Susan Gunelius is the Founder and Editor-in-Chief of Women on Business. She is a 30-year veteran of the marketing field and has authored a dozen books about marketing, branding, and social media, including the highly popular Ultimate Guide to Email Marketing, 30-Minute Social Media Marketing, Content Marketing for Dummies, Blogging All-in-One for Dummies and Kick-ass Copywriting in 10 Easy Steps. Susan’s marketing-related content can be found on Entrepreneur.com, Forbes.com, MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, and more. Susan is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She has worked in corporate marketing roles and through client relationships with AT&T, HSBC, Citibank, Intuit, The New York Times, Cox Communications, and many more large and small companies around the world. Susan also speaks about marketing, branding and social media at events around the world and is frequently interviewed by television, online, radio, and print media organizations about these topics. She holds an MBA in Management and Strategy and a Bachelor of Science degree in Marketing and is a Certified Professional Career Coach (CPCC).
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