Like a Major League scout scouring the minors for the next Willie Mays or Justin Verlander, Sprint executives are heading to next week's HIMSS Media mHealth Summit to recruit some of the industry's promising rookies.
The telecommunications giant is seeking 10 up-and-coming entrepreneurs for its inaugural Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator, a three-month intensive mentorship program slated to take place next March in Kansas City, Kan. Erik Wullschleger, the managing director for the program, said it's open to mHealth companies who ideally have a product and need to launch the business.
'We're not an incubator," he told mHealth News. "There are plenty of incubators out there in the world. We want to be the accelerator, the next step in that process."
Wullschleger, who will be manning the Sprint booth (929) in the mHealth Summit's Exhibition Hall next week, said the ideal candidate would have some product or service mapped out, perhaps even designed and built, and now needs that extra push to go from concept to execution. He's inviting anyone and everyone – both entrepreneurs and mentor candidates – to talk with him and check out the Sprint Mobile Health Accelerator website.
The three-month program will be housed in a 20,000-square-foot warehouse in Kansas City's famed Crossroads District and be managed by Techstars, which is backed by more than 75 venture capital firms and operates seven accelerator programs around the world. It's expected that the program will repeat each year.
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According to Wullschleger, the program is divided into three parts. During the first month – called "mentor whiplash" – the entrepreneur is paired with three to five mentors a day, who pore over the business plan and basically shake out all of the problems. During the second month, the entrepreneurs and mentors work to rebuild that business plan; and during the third month, that plan is pitched to investors on an almost-daily basis, ending with a "Demo Day" in June. As much as $120,000 in funding will be available to each participant during the process.
"It's a very well-proven model," said Wullschleger, who noted that the success rate for a first-time mHealth entrepreneur is about 12 percent, or about 30 percent for someone who's already had some success in the field. Techstar-backed companies, he added, have seen a success rate of roughly 90 percent.
Wullschleger said potential participants will be screened through January 6, 2014, at which time the 10 successful candidates will be notified.
"Right off the bat, we're investing in each of these companies," he said, noting that Sprint has long had a presence in the mHealth market and is looking to propel new ideas into the spotlight. "We expect to learn a lot from them as well."
"Wireless innovations are helping people around the world by improving healthcare, empowering people with disabilities and promoting wellness," said Dan Hesse, Sprint's CEO, when the accelerator was unveiled in September. "Sprint is joining visionary entrepreneurs with experts to mentor them in a program proven to help startups gain traction. We eagerly anticipate the resulting wireless innovations in healthcare."
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