MOSCOW--(BUSINESS WIRE)--The latest innovation in entrepreneurship isn’t coming from Silicon Valley, but Moscow. Lawrence Wright and his hard working team at the Moscow School of Management SKOLKOVO, Russia’s premier private business school (not to be confused with the government-backed Skolkovo Foundation), have been pioneering a new method to create better-trained startups (Based on a methodology developed over last decade by Steve Blank and now taught at Stanford, Berkeley, Caltech, Columbia, and Princeton). “Unless we address the basic issue of entrepreneurial competency, startups will never increase their success rate,” says Lawrence, who is the Zimin Chair for Entrepreneurial Leadership and Director of Startup Academy.
Over the past year, Startup Academy, a 10-week program fusing business acceleration with highly practical skill development, has applied its method to 67 startup founders. The result is a group of highly successful startups with a valuation in excess of $35M, some of whom have already raised seed and venture capital (nearly $4M), created jobs (about 200), and is gathering the attention of local investors. 2Can, Smartstart, Medesk, Usarium, Conelum, Foodex, and Apio are just a few of the startups to emerge from Startup Academy so far. “We are bringing the spirit of Silicon Valley to Russia, in addition to taking our students there!” says Gary Fowler, AmCham Russia ICT Co-Chair and Adjunct Professor of Marketing. “We are able to unlock the potential of these ambitious entrepreneurs, through deep practical teaching, coaching, mentoring, practice and massive amounts of internationally recognized contacts.”
Startup Guru Bob Dorf and co-author (together with Steve Blank) of The Startup Owners Manual, the “Bible” for startups, also teaches Startup Academy students. “It’s amazing what Startup Academy has achieved. They diligently apply the lean startup method throughout the course, and really work with the students to address gaps in the knowledge, contacts, and turn their ideas into real viable businesses.” The lean startup method is also used by US National Science Foundation to drive commercialization of more than 400 government funded scientific research initiatives.
Startup Academy is positioning itself as a new model in innovative startup creation. “Emerging markets should stop copying the venture capital and accelerator model, pioneered by Ycombinator and TechStars,” says Lawrence Wright. “Only a few of the hundreds of accelerators out there are successful. We offer a lot more value at a lot lower price than they.”
The fourth session of Startup Academy begins on October 10th, 2013. It is expected to receive at least three applicants for each of its 35 slots open for this highly desirable and globally recognized program.
For more information, please visit: http://www.skolkovo.ru/public/en/ssa/ssa-about/