What are the submission deadlines and when will winners be notified?
The next submission deadline for the Next Disruptor Competition is 31st August, those making the short list will be notified the week after and the Winner will be notified after one further week.
How are my ideas protected?
We are in the business of helping, not hobbling, businesses! As part of the competition entry process we provide you with an NDA (“non-disclosure agreement”) which acknowledges that the ideas that you share with us are yours and are protected as such.
I have a great business idea, how do I enter the Next Disruptor Competition?
Simple, you can enter your business idea to the competition here – good luck!
Why is the competition restricted to South Africa?
We do not have infinite development capacity and so necessarily have to limit the number of development projects we commit to. Constraining the Next Disruptor competition by geography was the best approach to ensuring we do not over-commit ourselves and so give every project we are associated with the best chance of excelling. South Africa was therefore an obvious choice given that a number of our team have ties to or are based in South Africa. Another important reason for choosing South Africa was because of its highly dynamic and unique entrepreneurial scene – we like energy!
If I win the Next Disruptor Competition?
Great, there is a bit of paperwork to be sorted and in parallel with this:
- we will ask you any further questions we have regarding your business idea and discuss your needs in more detail. This enables us to compile a functional specification for your project.
- we will then scope the skills and effort required to launch your idea and put together a project plan so you can see what will be done when.
- next comes the software / app / web development stages, you will be kept up to date throughout
- then you will be involved in the testing phase to ensure you are happy with everything prior to launch.
- once testing is complete then we are ready to launch… your marketing plan can be enacted if it hasn’t been started already.
- monitor system usage and performance and tweak if any issues are reported.
- onwards and upwards!
What percentage of the business idea will I need to share with Next Disruptor?
The percentage requested is always a minority as we want you to retain control of your business, we want to support you and help you realise your goals. The exact percentage is different for each Winner as it is based on several factors including, risk, perceived profitability and development effort. Normally this means that Winners will share between 5% and 25%.
If I win and decide to proceed, why would I be expected to share some of the business?
Good question… there are a number of important benefits to you of our being a shareholder in your business, some of which you may not have considered – please have a read.
Beyond these benefits to you there is a need for pragmatism regarding the business arrangement i.e. we invest our time, skills and expertise in helping you to build your product / service and launch your business and we do not ask for any payment at that time and nor do we ask for any guarantees regarding payment in the future i.e. the risk is all with us, not with you. The (potential!) upside from our point of view, aside from being involved in an exciting project, is that if the business blossoms and achieves its potential then there is some deferred benefit to us in the form of dividend payments and share sales e.g. when the business is sold or if you want to buy the shares back at a later point.
If you don’t see this as a fundamentally fair and reasonable trade then it would be best not to enter the competition as a ‘grumble’ at this stage is likely to fester into something more problematic when things start to get interesting.
For more information you should read about the benefits of the Next Disruptor Competition.
I don’t want to wait and / or give away shares but I need a development team I can trust now?
You can of course engage us in the conventional way i.e. we scope out your project’s requirements and give you a quote and you can engage us if you find this acceptable. If this engagement model suits you better then feel free to contact us.
Will 8 weeks of development time be enough to launch my project?
8 weeks is 40 days… and this is quite a chunk of time for most projects. For untested business ideas the aim is to quickly get to a position where you have all the key functionality contained within a software product / service to allow you to be able to meaningfully test your business model. The point to emphasize here is “key functionality”. Determining what is actually key, rather than just “nice to have”, is crucial if projects are to be launched on time. We will help you decide what is key and needs to be included in the pre-launch phase of development and ensure that everything that is necessary is included in the project scope and development plan.
That said, if you really think that 40 days not going to be enough to complete all that you feel is necessary to launch with then contact us to see if we can work something out.
Enter your business idea to the Next Disruptor competition here.
What is a Pitch Deck?
The Pitch Deck is a short, colorful presentation of you (/ your team) and planned service. We recommend an approx 5 page PDF (of less than 10MB) that “shows off” your business idea.