Incubator Program
Overview
Do you have the next big idea? You just might! Elegant Software Solutions believes in the power of entrepreneurship and capitalism and we want to do everything we can do to help small business owners succeed.
If you think your idea is going to succeed and the missing link is a great software system to power your concept, we'd like to hear about it. We'll vet your business plan like any other investor. If we like it, we'll build your software for an equity stake in your company.
Don't worry, we're not like some venture capital firms; we generally target around 25% or so, depending on what you need. We also want you to run your own company; we're busy enough running ours.
The Basics
Seasoned investors look at1) your team, 2) potential return on investment, and 3) your idea, predominantly in that order. It's the same for us. Show us that you have a good team around you. Show us that you've done some serious reflection about your personal strengths and weaknesses. Get people around you that compliment your weaknesses. Show us that you've done your research. Bring us your SWOT analysis and Porter's 5-Forces analysis. Bring us your pro forma P&Ls. Then sell us on your idea.
Oh ya, one more thing. Show us how you're going to be profitable. We believe in profit. We're pretty old school, and we believe in positive net incomes.
ESS Employees
We've never met a rock-star developer that didn't think they had the next great idea. They all work nights and weekends, sometimes with their friends, and sometimes alone, to break out and go on their own. Most of the time, life happens, and then the project doesn't happen. That's okay. We've been there.
It takes it a village. Organizations exist because they can accomplish orders of magnitudes more than an individual. And the nights and weekends thing... well, that just sucks. Nobody wants to work a 40-60 hour work week and then add 20-40 more hours on top of it. That is how you spell: "burnout."
So, we want to help our employees realize their dreams. Once ESS Technologists have reached the level of Principal Technologist or equivalent, they are eligible to join the ESS Incubator Program. We'll still vet the idea with them and help them with the business plans, but the best thing is that we'll keep paying your salary. Yup, we just said that.
Why do we do this? Well, we love our employees. We'll invest in them. Seriously-- we're not just saying that. Our entire company is our employees. By the time they earn the rank of Principal Technologists, they've given a lot to Elegant Software Solutions. We want to give something back. See our Employee Promise.
Queue
This all sounds wonderful, but it's time for a quick reality check. We don't have unlimited funds, and this is only one division of Elegant Software Solutions. We can't do every project and we can't do them all at the same time. If we accept your proposal, there's a good chance you'll have to take a spot in line. Don't worry though; it will be well worth it and we'll move as fast as we can. We stay very focused on releasing MVPs to get products to market as quickly as realistically possible.