When 43North closed the application cycle for this year's pitch competition, the nonprofit accelerator and incubator had 951 submissions.
For some, this may seem like the beginning of the organization’s journey to its Oct. 12 pitch contest finals, where five startups will each get a $1 million investment and move their headquarters to Buffalo for a year.
But for Colleen Heidinger, 43North president, and her team, applications' closing is just part of a busy recruitment season of hard work, aiming to get the highest-quality submissions.
“At end of day, we need up to 20 companies that we invite to Buffalo that could be worth of receiving our investment,” she said. “That big top number isn’t what it’s about. It’s about the identification of how we find quality and then how we exhaust ourselves to go get it.”
43North's recruitment process starts at the beginning of the year, as the previous year’s cohort is moving to Buffalo. The team begins planning the annual competition itself, as well as planning how it's going to find startups to apply. Applications typically open in May and remain open for five or six weeks.
43North’s approach is two-fold. For starters, the organization works to maintain relationships – from previous contest judges to those who have referred applicants in the past – that it already has. Then the team targets sources it doesn’t already know, like new investors, accelerators or qualified friends of friends.
From recruitment to judging, over the years, 43North has put more of an emphasis on involving venture capitalists and active investors in the process. The organization has over 300 investors in its co-investor network and about 1,000 investors signed up for its monthly investor newsletter.
Read more about the process and what 43North looks for in applicants
