The first cohort of teams to be selected to participate in the UGA Idea Accelerator program this Spring will be announced on Monday, January 25th as part of an Open House event held by local economic development nonprofit Four Athens, one of the program’s primary sponsors. Fifteen teams were selected to be part of the Idea Accelerator this semester, which tests business ideas through a gauntlet of customer discovery and minimum viable product trials, while running would-be entrepreneurs through the paces of pitching to investors and leading a startup team.

The Accelerator is an eight-week experience, meeting twice a week for 90-minute sessions. The first cohort to be accepted into the program will begin Monday, January 25th, when they are introduced at the Four Athens annual Open House event, and end on Thursday, March 31st, during the first official Athens, Ga Startup Week. Those that survive the customer discovery process in the first four weeks will move on to the next two phases, Financial Literacy and Investor Readiness. For those that manage to make it through all three parts of the program, the opportunity to pitch in front of active investors from around the Southeast for a $5,000 prize awaits.

The UGA Idea Accelerator is sponsored by the UGA Terry College of Business, THINC @ UGA, The Launch Institute, Founders Legal, HA&W, and ATDC (Advanced Technology Development Center). Describing the program’s intent, Jim Flannery, Four Athens Executive Director explains, “Now in its 3rd year, the Accelerator is designed to teach the basic tenets of startup success-- customer discovery, financial literacy, and investor readiness-- necessary to reasonably vet any business idea.”

Two cohorts will be offered in Spring 2016, the second beginning Monday, Feb 22nd. Applications to participate in the first cohort were due January 20th. The deadline to apply for the second cohort is Feb 17th. Applications are online at www.fourathens.com/accelerator. Details about other events taking place on Monday, January 25th as part of the annual Four Athens Open House are at www.facebook.com/events/966528413417199.