A couple of weeks ago I came across this ad on Instagram for a company called ‘Dorm’.
I had never heard of them before but I was intrigued by their message:
“Launch a profitable business in weeks, not months”
This stood out to me for a couple of reasons:
- I would want to be mentored by people who have actually launched profitable businesses.
- I would want to mentored by someone on a regular basis so that I wouldn’t lose motivation.
- I would want to be part of a community of people so that I wouldn’t feel like I’m on my own.
Dorm seemed to tick all those boxes so I decided to complete the application form.
A few weeks later I get a call from the admissions team to let me know that I’d been accepted.
We had a discussion about what Dorm is and whether it really help me to start a business.
I was convinced, not just by taking his word for it but by having done my own research.
All that was left to do was to make a big decision: Do I really want to pay £99/month?
Having weighed the pros and cons I decided to go for it, knowing that I could cancel any time.
And so, am I now officially part of Dorm for the next 12 months, starting on the 1st Dec 2021.
Life at Dorm
So what actually happens during the programme? Well, it’s split into the following 3 phases:
- Month 1-2: Pick a ‘turnkey’ business, launch in a matter of weeks and start generating sales.
- Month 3-11: Receive mentorship from entrepreneurs who can help you scale your business.
- Month 12: You will be offered the chance to pitch to the UK’s best VC’s and angel investors
A ‘turnkey’ business is an idea that has already been validated by Dorm that you can choose.
That’s right, Dorm provides you with a few business ideas if you don’t have your own idea.
As well as that, a number of online events take place during each week:
- Release of weekly missions: Introducing the mission for the week ahead.
- Mission Briefings and Review: Get started on the mission and get feedback.
- Fireside Chats: Meet inspirational entrepreneurs and get support for your start-up.
- Mindset Masterclasses: Learn about the mindset/mental models that set you up for success.
- Mentorship Squads: Meet mentors and get support on challenges related to your start-up.
That’s not including all the time you need to actually work on your business!
As you can see it’s a fairly intense programme, but I’m excited to get started.
Onboarding Curriculum
Having reviewed the curriculum, the first 8 weeks of the program seem even more intense:
- 3 x 1 hour calls per week on Mondays, Wednesdays, and even Saturdays.
That’s not including all the time I would need to put in outside of these calls.
Keep in mind that this is all taking place over Christmas!
From week one, you’re expected to start building your ‘MVP’.
MVP stands for “Minimum Viable Product’. This is a version of a product with just enough features to be usable by customers who can then provide feedback for future development.
It’s crazy to think that I could have a MVP within just a few short weeks!
Not only that, but by week 8, you are expected to be ready to pitch your business to investors!
This just blew my mind.
Are you telling me that you expect me to be at a point where I can start pitching for finance to potential investors within the first 8 weeks of starting a business?
Either Dorm have unrealistic expectations, or starting a business is not as hard as I thought.
Either way, I guess I will find out in 2 months’ time!
Easy Mode vs Hard Mode
As mentioned, you have the option of choosing either one of Dorm’s ‘turnkey’ businesses (regarded as ‘easy’ mode) or your own idea (‘hard’ mode) to pursue during the programme.
Why is choosing a turnkey business regarded as ‘easy’ mode and your idea as ‘hard’ mode?
Dorm want to make the process of launching a business as frictionless as possible.
That’s why they provide ready-made, validated business ideas with a step-by-step guide.
If you decide to choose a turnkey business, you will be able to customise it to your needs and work with them to generate traction, and eventually sales.
That’s why they call it ‘easy’ mode, that’s not to say that it won’t be easy, it’ll still hard work.
Whereas by pursing your own idea, you’re pretty much going to be starting from scratch.
They will still provide mentorship but it means that you won’t have pre built templates to use.
I like that they cater to both types of people:
- Some people know exactly what they want to do and just need help/guidance along the way.
- Some people have no idea what they want to do and just want a business idea for them.
I probably fall somewhere in between!
Confirm your Business Idea
Before the start of the programme, you need to decide whether you are pursing your own idea or following one of their turnkey businesses.
To help you decide, they have you complete a what is known as a ‘founder-idea’ fit test.
By answering a series of questions, you’ll get some recommendations on what type of business you should pursue based on your skillset and experience.
As well as that, they have you think about your ‘unfair advantages’.
Unfair advantages are what make you make you stand out from others pursing the same idea.
For example, if you were pursuing a medical start-up and have no medical background vs someone who is a doctor, you could see why they would have an ‘unfair advantage’ over you.
Whereas if you are a designer with years of experience looking to start a design agency vs someone out of university, you can see how you would have an ‘unfair advantage’ over them.
By playing to your ‘unfair advantages’ you increase your likelihood of success.
So by completing the ‘founder-idea’ fit test and noting your ‘unfair advantages’, you should have a better idea whether you are more suited for a ‘turnkey’ business or your own idea.
Conclusion
So you are probably wondering which option did I go for: my own idea or one of Dorm’s?
Having completed the test and considered my unfair advantages, I decided to go with one of Dorm’s ‘turnkey’ business ideas. They have many turnkey business ideas to choose from: Ecommerce, Software Development, Digital Marketing, Service Providing, and many more.
In the end, I decided to go with Ecommerce: selling physical products to consumers online.
There are a few reasons why I decided to go for a turnkey business, specifically ecommerce:
- I want to see if Dorm offer as much help around turnkey businesses as they say they do.
- I have some experience in ecommerce, having had my own online store a few years ago.
I had some success in this domain, where I generated a few sales and made some profit.
Why did I stop? Because it required a lot of work.
But looking back, I shouldn’t have stopped; Who knows where I could have been now.
So this is the business path that I will be pursing for the next 8 weeks as part of Dorm.
Every week, I plan to give you guys an update and share my work with you.
I am excited to see where I end up and will keep you updated along the way!
I would love to hear your thoughts: Have you/anyone you know joined an accelerator before?
If so, what was your/their experience. Please feel free to ask any questions in the comments!
