FAQs

The most frequently asked questions about the Labs accelerator program and about the Labs community of youth-founders, changemakers, and innovators!

Programming

What should I expect from the program?

You can expect to join a cohort of other like-minded motivated individuals. You’ll get some sweet sessions, the opportunity to network and ask the questions that move the dial on your business. The approach to Labs is driven by our program schedule’s learning outcomes, but also requires you to show up, do the work and take part in some self-directed learning.

What does a typical day in Labs look like?

A typical day in Labs can look like spending some time looking into the session topic of the day, researching the speaker, and preparing a few questions you have before showing up to the workshop or Ask me Anything Session from 10:00 - 11:00 or 11:30 am pst. After that, you can take key learnings from the session to your team to discuss applying to your startup. You might also have your weekly venture that day where you will spend 60 minutes in the same small group each week with a member of the LOI team problem solving, providing feedback, and keeping each other accountable to the goals you have shared.

Can my other team members join Labs sessions?

The Labs program is designed for the founding team members to be the main program participants. We invite you to share resources and learnings with other members of your team offline.

Can I balance full-time work or school with Labs?

Yes! You can do anything you set your mind to. We have had many people in the past structure their week to make it work with Labs as well. This is obviously easier said than done but it helps to have a co-founder(s) support you.

How do I make the most out of my Labs experience?

Like many things in life, you really get what you put into the experience. Are you keen to build long-lasting relationships with other young entrepreneurs? Then the time spent connecting with people in the community during the program is going to matter. Are you really goal-oriented around setting up a fundraising strategy? Then asking the right questions around that and spending time going through our resources and really preparing for sessions on the topic are going to help you achieve your goals.

What does Labs content look like?

Throughout the Labs program we focus on three key content areas delivered through workshops, group coaching in our weekly venture huddles (think of it as a standup), Ask me Anything sessions, and optional office hour appointments. The three key content areas are:

Founder First training around professional development, soft skills, leadership, managing mental health, understanding our purpose and impact, and DEI (diversity, equity, and inclusion) best practices.
Getting Your House in Order from legal considerations, how to prepare to fundraise, the continuous innovation mindset, and building your sphere of influence (board, advisors, mentors, peers, coaches).
Building Connections from inbound and outbound sales, partnership building, customer discovery, public speaking, and pitching.

How large is the Labs cohort?

The number of participants in the Labs cohort varies depending on the sizes of the teams joining the Labs cohort. Sometimes a team has five co-founders, sometimes one and others something between that. Generally, the cohort size is around 30 ventures.

What does success in the program look like?

Success in the program looks like you moving the dial on a key goal or goals that you set at the beginning of the program for your startup, making meanfuling connections with other Labs founders that can support your journey and perhaps work in the same industry as you, showing up and taking away key learnings from the sessions, pitching with confidence at the virtual Founders Showcase and overall building your entrepreneurial mindset and skillset that you can continue to draw from throughout your journey.

How does Labs differ from Foundations?

The Labs program has more hours per week of live sessions than the Foundations program does. Labs also runs for 12 weeks instead of 6 weeks. The ventures in the Labs program are the next stage ahead of the Foundations program. Foundations is geared towards putting action into your rough idea whereas Labs is focused on supporting ventures that already demonstrated traction and are looking to grow and take it to that next level.

Why was the Labs accelerator program started?

We wanted to create a program and support youth entrepreneurs, that would not only accelerate their businesses, develop their founders, but more importantly connect youth entrepreneurs from across Canada to build their peer network.

I am in Labs, what is my time commitment?

The time commitment to LOI Labs will fluctuate from week to week. On average, you can expect to spend 3-4 hours per week engaging in programming. The maximum number of live session hours is 5 hours per week. We ask that at least one co-founder is at each session. Outside of that, what you put into your business and how many of the resources you take advantage of is completely up to you. Our approach is hands-on but self-led.

Are all the live sessions mandatory? Will they be recorded?

Yes, all live sessions are mandatory. We ask that at least one co-founder from each venture attend each session. However, you are all encouraged to come and take it in. You can work that out with your co-founding team (if you are not a solo founder) depending on your schedules and focus areas in the startup. All sessions will be recorded.

What are my perks as a venture and how to get access?

Yes, there are a series of perks you receive as a venture associated with the League of Innovators Labs program. If you click on “The Venture Package” in the left-side menu of our exclusive LOILabs.com Memberspace, you will find your Venture Package. Inside your Venture Package, you will find all the details of your perks!

League of Innovators Labs Community

What kind of businesses and ideas does the League of Innovators look for for the Labs program?

The work that we do at the League of Innovators is sector agnostic meaning that you can be working in any industry with any business model and be a good fit for the Labs program. However, in terms of stage, we are looking for that traction and initial validation of your problem/solution fit for the Labs program itself. If you’re unsure if you’d be at the stage where you could make the most out of labs, reach out and we can talk through it. You can contact Annika, Labs Director, at annika@theleagueofinnovators. Regardless, we are a no-cliffs organization so we’d love to support you to the stage of being ready for Labs and beyond that too!

How can I get to know other Labs Founders in the program?

The people that join our community are all pretty excited about connecting with other young entrepreneurs all across the country. You’ll get to know people pretty well through our live sessions, weekly venture huddles, through Slack and at our virtual community hour socials.

How do you network with the LOI Community?

The easiest way to connect with the broader LOI Community is through our Slack channel. Asking questions, posting updates and introducing yourself. If you bring something forward that you are trying to work through the LOI team can help connect you with someone specific to help you through that. In terms of speakers we encourage you to follow up and make a great impression.

How do you support non-profit startups?

We have a micro-community of non-profit startups in the LOI Community. As a non-profit founder, you will need to apply the broader learnings to the context of your startup. We do cover impact-related topics but the key takeaways from a topic like sales would be relevant by adapting it to your work.

What does mentorship look like?

LOI has a directory of mentors that support the youth-led startups in our community. You will see office hours with these mentors open up to our community to book with who you think will be the most helpful. We have a few other tricks up our sleeve in the works to really enhance the mentorship experience.

What stages are the startups in?

Because we work with such a variety of startups in the Labs program the stage of each startup can look a little different, but generally they all have a minimum viable product (MVP) or are starting to grow their sales. For example, something that requires research and development in the medical space looks a lot different than a software company or a clothing company. We do our best to connect startups at the same stage together in a venture huddle throughout the Labs program.

How do we communicate?

You can contact the League of Innovators team, by email, but we will primarily communicate as a community using Slack. Slack is a great hub that connects the hundreds of LOI Alumni with different channels dedicated to various topics.