Gründer Academy
Norways largest early stage accelerator, helping startups get off the ground running.
Founders first
TheFactory GründerAcademy is a free 3-month accelerator program for early stage startups that wants to become investment and market ready. The program targeting Norwegian startups within fintech, proptech, retail, saas/business, and impact that runs twice per year in four different regions (Oslo, Bergen, Stavanger and Kristiansand).
We run a new program every fall and spring for 3 months with up to 40 participating entrepreneurs. Are you our next participant?
Driven by passion
We are community builders and have worked with entrepreneurship, clusters, and accelerators for many years. Our aim is to bridge the gap between the corporates and the startups by facilitating meetings and introducing startups to corporates as early as possible in their entrepreneurial journey. Our program is designed to offer startup the best possible kickoff.
Founder benefits
Expert Guidance
As part of the program, the entrepreneurs will take part in workshops in product development, and will be exposed to working methodologies and best practices. The entrepreneurs will check the suitability of their concepts to the market, and will be assisted by specialists and professionals who will work with them from the outset - advice in legal matters, accounting, finance, product development, product design, marketing, public relations, and more.Expert Guidance
Community Access
We believe that an important part of our role is to serve as a home for the whole of the proptech and fintech entrepreneur community in Norway. Thus, a large part of our activity includes ongoing meetings with entrepreneurs, experts, and investors active in the entrepreneurship scene. In addition, we arrange as many meetings as we can with industry experts and business mentors, in order to obtain feedback and ideas for improvement. In addition, we will arrange meet ups and other events with the participation of people that will be important taking the company to the next level.
Business strategy
An integral part of the program focuses on assisting entrepreneurs in developing a business strategy for their product, and understanding their target market and the most appropriate user audience. We will focus on constructing a business plan, budget, cap-table, pitch-deck, and so on. In addition, we will discuss the way to present the venture to various audiences - clients, investors, users, etc.
Post-Program Support
The program ends with a Demo Day, in which the different initiatives are shown to a group of investors with varied areas of interest. We will continue to assist entrepreneurs, as far as possible, through regular meetings, connection with our own networks, organised business missions abroad, meetings with investors, feedback on products, and any other assistance that we can provide.
‘TheFactory offers an impressive collection of motivated people that will kick start your business idea.’
—Torbjørn Sortland, Owner, SafeDesign
‘If your plan is to scale slow and steady, TheFactory might not be your best choice. But if you want some real growth, you’ve come to the right place.’
—Thuc Hoang, CEO, Firi