NEAR and Startup Wise Guys Partner on MetaBUILD’s Pre-Accelerator Program
NEAR FOUNDATION
February 16, 2023
NEAR Foundation is excited to announce a new partnership with Startup Wise Guys — Europe’s biggest startup accelerator, which has empowered over 350 projects across the world. Together with SWG, the Foundation will bring  20 winning projects from the MetaBUILD III hackathon into an 8-week pre-acceleration program to grow and prepare these new teams to bring their first product iteration to market.

The partnership’s goal is to bring great new products to life in Web3. After the hack, NEAR Foundation and Startup Wise Guys will prepare all projects to join accelerators, make their first raise, and launch to market. 

Startup Wise Guys’ Pre-Acceleration Program for MetaBUILD
Let’s go over the program. For this occasion, we’ll be running an 8-week program with Startup Wise Guys, covering everything from finding your project’s mission, to setting up team structure, finance, and communication programs for your brand.


Each week covers a specific topic, and will feature both recorded and live events as well as exercises for the projects to take on! 

Each week, all teams will progress to fleshing out their new project’s company setup, brand, and prepare to launch to market. Throughout the program, Startup Wise Guys and NEAR will aid projects with 1-1 mentorships (invited from the ecosystem and from Startup Wise Guys’ network), pitch training and drills, Q&As, and a folder of ready-to-use learning materials.

Week 1: Onboarding Session
Onboarding of all projects into the program, and setting expectations for all upcoming weeks and events.

Week 2: Setting Goals & KPIs
Structuring each project’s journey. How to find a mission and vision for your project long term.

Week 3: Problem Definition & Pitching
Crafting your project’s pitch and problem-to-be-solved to define your selling points.

Week 4: Product development & effective planning
Planning the product’s development, and identifying key differentiators to give it unique aspects in the market.

Week 5: Focus and Execution
Crisis-handling in companies, and pace. How to maintain your team’s rhythm.

Week 6: Sales & Team Management Basics
Sales, marketing, and branding for early startups and projects. How to define your vector for gaining traction in the world.

Week 7: Company Communications, Finances, Fundraising
Company communications and finance preparations. How to define your key metrics of success, and prepare a structure to present to investors, as well as how to seek and select the right ones.

Week 8: Legal Basics
How to register your business, understanding your basic legal structure and needs to get started as a company. Also, going over any regulatory requirements like GDPR, and Intellectual Property, as well as minimizing legal needs.

Week 9: Graduation & Pitches!
Final day! Graduated projects who completed the program will present their project’s revamped pitches and go out to the world.

Come Hack, and Build On!
NEAR Foundation can’t wait to see the new exciting projects that will be born from MetaBUILD, and is excited about this new partnership with Startup Wise Guys in 2023. 

The Foundation will share all progress along the way as we finalize the submission phase of MetaBUILD and move onto judging. So stay tuned and follow all updates on Twitter!