Hello everyone,
I just received my endorsement email this morning, 10:41 AM, 02 January 2025.
First of all, glory to God! And also, I want to thank everyone here who continues to share their experiences with us. I read most application details here to shape mine, especially this application.
This is the summary:
Timeline
Application submitted on:10 Dec 2024 20:10 (UTC)
Edits:
- 2 Jan 2025 09:25 (UTC)
- 16 Dec 2024 09:16 (UTC)
- 15 Dec 2024 13:20 (UTC)
- 11 Dec 2024 14:32 (UTC)
Application details:
Statement of Purpose Outline
Basically shared my upbringing and how that sparked my passion for small businesses and technology, connecting it to why I chose my program of study at the university, my first work, and how that aligned for me to start a fintech company helping small businesses access credit and accounting services. Introduced the impacts, awards, and recognitions
Cited some stats about the SME credit gap in the UK and the shortage of accountants as well as how my technology startup + the digital accounting training platform that our app comes with can help both.
Shared what I intend to do in the UK and how I can contribute. Reiterated my passion to continue what I have started in the UK.
MC:
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Proof of founding fintech startup: Shared business registration documents, expansion documents showing growth experienced with each growth, the business’ LinkedIn page showing our employee growth numbers, Pitchbook profile of the business
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Proof of investments: showed investments from VCs and our logos on the portfolio page on their website, placed links to SAFE documents
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Listed accelerator programs we have got into, the reason we were selected and how as the founder I led all of these; showing selection letters or announcements on the accelerator’s website
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Awards (nominations too even though I did not win), Prizes and fellowships I have got individually and also by my startup, showing announcement letters, profiles on websites of awarding
OC1:
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Innovation showcase: wrote about the innovation, the problem it is solving (+citing research to show why the problem exists), showed how unique the innovation is, shared screenshots, Google Playstore download numbers, a contract award from govt to replicate the innovation for a project and a contract with a university to use the innovation for a project
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Revenue History: showed screenshots of audited accounts for one country, screenshots of financial projection for 2024, showed screenshots of transaction history for 2024 from payment processors.
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Partner & Customer references: Shared a screenshot of a spotlight of our innovation and impact by a partner who awarded us some funding; and also screenshot of a twitter testimony. I requested a reference letter from that customer and added it to support the twitter testimony.
OC3:
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Contributions to technology impact: showed through hiring CTO, drawing product plan, writing product specifications, and leading partnership conversations with technology partners. Showed email conversations for all these
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Contributions via funding: Showed screenshot of winning award for a fintech competition, writing applications for funding and winning; leading investment conversations, etc. Showed screenshots of email and some links to some news items I can find.
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Contributions to commercial successes: Showed how when we started I was a defacto marketing and business development officer, developed customer personas, wrote telemarketing scripts, designed product demos and proposals, and got the first set of lead databases. Showed screenshots of emails, Canva designs showing dates, etc.
Letters of recommendation:
- An angel investor and COO of a tech company
- The CEO of a tech company
- A programs manager at an accelerator who has advised our business before and also has worked as an expert judge for Seedstars
Some tips:
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I tried to show as many pieces of evidence as possible, showing screenshots and links to back up. In some cases, I gave a few explanations on the relevance of the evidence.
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My CV and personal statement told one story, to provide so much context before the pieces of evidence. Also, for recognition and evidence outside the 5-year limit, I ensured they showed on the CV just so it could show some previous works I have been engaged in. I must say about 2 of my evidences are 3 months over 5 years but I inserted them because I believe they are very strong. I cannot if that worked.
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I did everything in Google Doc, expanded the margins and made use of the Tab feature. As showed below
I hope this helps someone. I cannot know the entire thing but with what I have learned from applying and getting the endorsement, I can provide some answers to questions you may have.
Thank you
P.S: sorry for typos. So excited sharing this