What Is Sequoia Surge Acceleration Program, How To Apply For It

What is the major problem which is faced by every Startup about to fuel their engines and soar high? Yes, you guessed it right, it is the resources, to be more precise the capital or the funds required to carry and execute a Startup. In a Startup, the first option that the founding members look for is to approach the investors, Venture Capitalists, Friends & families, and so on. However, the success to acquire funds in the above sources is difficult, that’s when founders can acquire capital through Sequoia India and their program of Surge. What is Sequoia Surge Acceleration Program? Sequoia is one of the most well-known Ventura Capitalist companies that offers an acceleration program for startups that are in their early stages called Surge. Surge is an acceleration program that runs for 16 weeks and in this time period, the selected Startup founders and team receive support, training, and around 1 to 2 Million $ worth of Capital. Other than the training, capital, and support, Surge also provides an opportunity where Startup owners can receive additional capital from investors. What Surge program has to offer? Before dropping into the process of applying to Surge, it is crucial to understand the key details and the opportunity that is being provided in this program and how it works. A. Every year, there are usually 2 batches that are carried out in the Surge program. Each batch contains 15 to 20 Startups which are selected by Sequoia on the basis of potential. There are thousands of applicants for Surge in every batch, however, only 20 are selected in one batch. B. The 5-week program is stretched to 4 months, that is 16 weeks, and carried out at international locations for better experience and awareness in countries like India, China, Singapore, Indonesia, Bangladesh, and many more. C. During this time period, the selected Startup team gains great knowledge about Startups, skills, how to scale their business, motivational training, and so on.

D. During this program, the Startup teams are mentored by renowned and successful Startup founders and executives, such as those of Uber India, Byju’s, Unacademy, etc.

E. At the end of the program, Surge arranges to have an investor week. In this arrangement, all the selected Startups get a chance to raise even more capital from the selected Investors.

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How to Apply for Surge Acceleration Program?

If your Startup is in its early stages then you can easily apply for the Surge program. You can even apply for this program even if your Startup is still in the idea phase, or if the product is not even developed yet. The steps to apply for Surge Acceleration Program are as follows.

1. Visit the Website and read the Guide Once you have prepared yourself mentally to apply for the Surge program, you need to visit the official website which is www.surgeahead.com. After opening the website, you would find various tabs, that would tell you about various mentors that would guide you in the program, various Startups that were a part of the Surge program before, etc. You can also download the guide that is provided on the website, it would help you to understand things better.

2. Click on Apply Tab You would find a tab named ‘Apply’, click on the same and you would be taken to a form filling software, where you would be required to enter various details such as Your name, Your Company’s name, Your Co-founder names, number of teams, and so on. It necessarily includes the basic details about your Startup and it is important to fill them up properly.

3. Enter LinkedIn profiles and other details

After entering the basic details about yourself and your team, you would be required to enter the category in which your Startup may deal. Next comes the product, if your product is still in development, you can select the same answer accordingly. Later on, you would be asked to enter the LinkedIn profile of your Startup, in case you do not have one you can avoid that. However, it is compulsory to mention your LinkedIn profile in the future steps. You would also be asked if you have raised Capital before for your Startup.

4. Describing Company details and Founder’s background

One of the deciding factors to get into the program are the various words in which you best describe about your Startup and even about yourself. Your explanation should be within 250 words and it should describe every pro and eye-catchy point that you can. You would also be asked if you have any experience in any previous Startup, your product planning, progress, how much time did you spend researching your product, and so on.

5. Letter of Recommendations

This is one of the most important and deciding factors to get into the Surge Acceleration program. It is mandatory to have at least 2 letters of Recommendations before applying to the Surge program. You can avail of or get these letters of recommendations through anyone qualified enough or related to your Startup. It can be a Startup owner, someone who raised funds from an investor, a CEO of a company, or anyone who is related to this field. In case you do not have any contact with any of the above, Surge suggests that you can also have those recommendations from your College/University professors.

6. Success! Once you have submitted the

Two letter of Recommendations, and other details such as the name, email id, LinkedIn profile of the people who recommended, you have almost finished the application. It would then ask you some basic questions about where you heard about the program and finally, your application is recorded.

Conclusion

Surge is an acceleration program that runs for 4 months, with training and mentorship ranging to 5 weeks. To Apply for the Surge Acceleration program an applicant needs to visit the website, Click on Apply tab, Enter LinkedIn profile & other details, Describe Company and Founder’s detail, have 2 letters of recommendation, and that’s it, your application gets recorded.