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Armenia Startup Academy focuses on developing entrepreneurship and startup education programs that equip capable teams with the knowledge and skills necessary to create products that resonate with customers. By emphasizing practical learning and industry insights, the academy fosters innovation and supports entrepreneurial growth.

 

With Batch 8, we extend our mission by helping Armenian tech companies in life sciences, connected hardware, and B2B SaaS to scale internationally. We assist teams in transforming their ideas, research, or prototypes into market-ready products while removing market entry obstacles through partnerships with global funding, acceleration, and advisory institutions. Startups working in green tech, climate tech, energy efficiency, or the circular economy are highly encouraged to participate.

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The programme has been supported through the Private Sector Development and Technical Vocational Education and Training in Armenia project, which is commissioned by the German Government and implemented by GIZ.

THE KEY COMPONENTS
OF THE PROGRAM

FUNDING
Support in receiving local and EU 
grants and connecting with local 
as well as US- and EU-based angels and VCs
CUSTOMER DEVELOPMENT
Silicon Valley tracking tools helping startups  to track their everyday progress towards value creation and efficiency of distribution channels
MENTORSHIP
Individual work with the teams by the Academy instructors and 
entrepreneurial assistants, as well as pairing with foreign and local mentors
ACCESS TO ACCELERATORS
Guidance and coaching to apply to regional and global accelerators
ACCESS TO NETWORK
Guidance to build relevant 
partnerships for market validation 
and access to networks
ADMIN SUPPORT
Financial and legal support,
legal council, financial and
tax administration

CURRICULUM AND TRAINING

Providing practical knowledge, tech architecture coaching, and weekly lectures, workshops, guest-speaker talks about the main topics:
 Team/Founders
Technology
Business Model
Market
Customers
Competitors
Ecosystem
Investor Interest
IP & Legal
Financial

WHO CAN APPLY?

Early-stage for-profit tech startups

Strong teams with complementary skills

Startups with scalability potential

Teams who want to acquire hands-on experience

SELECTION CRITERIA

Although the final selection will be made by the Academy team based on the individual interviews the following criteria play a decisive role:

scalability potential

complementarity of the team composition 
(business, tech, other as necessary)

individual team members’ track record

maturity of the startup

ABOUT THE POSSIBLE GRANT

Up to 10K EUR

Selection to be made on Week 8 - 10

Grant is discretionary and non guaranteed

COMMUNITY

The whole educational process takes place at Hero House.
It is the space where the atmosphere of excellence, integrity, friendship, hard work, and fun nurture teams capable of global success.
  • What is Armenia Startup Academy?
    Armenia Startup Academy is a pre-acceleration program, designed to guide tech startups and teams working on innovative ideas and products through the process of customer development using advanced tracking methodologies and instruments. Participants will attend weekly lectures on various topics and work on their go-to-market strategy and explore opportunities to enter foreign accelerators in their target markets.
  • What types of companies are best suited for the Armenia Startup Academy?
    We are looking for early-stage for-profit tech startups that have strong teams with complementary skills, scalability potential and want to acquire hands-on experience in all knowledge areas that are crucial for their growth, customer and product development.
  • What resources and opportunities will be provided during the program?
    The teams will be guided and coached to apply to global/regional accelerators and to build relevant partnerships for market validation. The work with teams will include tech, financial, legal, business development and customer development coaching and support.
  • Which topics will be covered during the program?
    The program consists of 3 modules. The first module, Startup Diagnostics. Some of the topics are Emotional Intelligence, Stress Management, Task Management, Resilience, Market Analysis & Metrics, Branding & Positioning and Engineering. The second module is Market Selection & Launch Strategy with related topics on Inbound & Outbound Marketing, Growth Hacking, Pricing and GTM Strategy. Incorporation, Term Sheets, Cap Tables & Stock Options, Sales Strategy & Sales Manual and Intellectual Property are some of the major topics of the third module, Preparation to Market Validation.
  • How long is the program?
    The program lasts 8 weeks cultivating into Demo Day, where startups introduce their solutions in front of the audience and investors.
  • When is the program?
    The Pre-Acceleration Batch 8 starts at November 12.
  • What happens after the program?
    Upon graduation, the teams will have a practical understanding of the market context for their products and strategic plan for the next 6 months. Moreover, they will have opportunity to build a network of professionals from around the world ready to assist them in any aspect.
  • What is startup gamification?
    Armenia Startup Academy decided to include gamification elements in the learning process of startups, which makes startups more enthusiastic about completing their tasks on time and achieving excellent results in a short period of time. The gamification criteria include attending the lectures, making market analysis, calculating TAM, SAM, SOM, conducting competitive analysis, finding OMTM and calculating relevant metrics. For appropriately completing the tasks, the startups are awarded badges, such as “Champ Startup”, “Everpresent Hero”, “Heroism” and others. The badges further can be converted into Hero Coins which provide startups to use additional services offered by Hero House. The winner of the gamification will be given an opportunity to stay in Silicon Valley for 5 weeks. The program is fully funded by SmartGateVC, initiators of Armenia Startup Academy.
  • Where is the Armenia Startup Academy?
    Armenia Startup Academy is based in Hero House, a tech and entrepreneurship hub in the center of Yerevan.
  • How much your services cost?
    Participation of startups is free of charge, the only thing needed is being a great team and having a great idea.
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