Builders before accelerators

I don't think Belarus needs its own Y Combinator yet.

At least, not if that means another accelerator that teaches people how to “do startups.”

YC works a little differently. People arrive already knowing how to build products. They have launched things, written code, put teams together, looked for users, made mistakes and started again.

It can choose from a huge pool of applicants. That is the important part: first, there has to be a large number of people who are constantly building things.

This is why I find what is gradually taking shape around StartUp Space in Belarus interesting.

Its value isn't just the events, mentors or opportunities to pitch somewhere. What matters more is the culture around it.

Someone enters the ecosystem with a first idea, meets other founders, gains experience and launches a project. If it works, they don't necessarily disappear from that environment.

They come back with a different kind of experience. They can introduce someone to the right person, look at a product, talk about their mistakes, become a mentor or an ambassador, or simply help the next founder get through a stage that took them a long time.

Gradually, an important cycle emerges:

New founders → first projects → successful companies → experience and relationships → help for new founders.

Every successful graduate makes the ecosystem a little stronger for the next person.

To me, that matters much more than any single accelerator. A startup ecosystem isn't a room, a three-month programme or even a fund. Above all, it is a concentration of people who build things and help other people build faster.

In a strong ecosystem, a student doesn't have to search for an entrepreneur somewhere on the internet. The entrepreneur is sitting at the same table, or at least in the same room.

The person who was looking for their first users a year ago can explain how they did it. The person launching a first MVP today can return in a few years and help the next team.

At some point, the process begins to reinforce itself.

That's why I wouldn't try to copy Y Combinator literally. First, we need a culture that produces enough strong founders in the first place.

Universities have a role here too!

They don't necessarily need another “innovation centre” teaching students how to write business plans. 😁

It would be much more useful to give students knowledge, people to learn from, and space for their own projects.

Not idea → business plan → presentation → competition → certificate.

But problem → prototype → user → feedback → new version → first revenue.

Then the ecosystem could look something like this:

Universities create builders. StartUp Space connects them and develops the culture. Successful graduates bring experience, relationships and capital back into it. New founders start from a stronger position. The best companies go global.

And then, eventually, a local YC might emerge.

But we shouldn't start with an accelerator's name or its building. We should start with a situation in which hundreds of young people around us consider it completely normal to say one evening:

“I have an idea. Let's try building it.”

And, even more importantly, there should be people nearby who once said the same thing, made it work, and are now willing to help you.