We're A Nasdaq Milestone Maker
“Never let a good crisis go to waste.”
Winston Churchill
The year of 2020 will be remembered by many as the year when lock-downs and social distancing became the norm. An unwelcome change to manage and control the spread of COVID-19.
The pandemic struck when parts of the world was getting richer and innovation across many industries and sectors moving faster. We found ourselves in a health-crisis that slowed the world down and changed our approach to everyday.
Nasdaq Milestone Makers, A Bright Light For Entrepreneurs During COVID-19
What is the Nasdaq Milestone Maker program? A 12-week entrepreneur program sponsored by the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center.
As a startup, we earmarked 2020 as our next phase of growth. We were experiencing explosive growth by Q2 of 2019. As the pandemic continued to rage, the hospitality, pop up shops, physical retail industries suffered.
GoGoGuest serves coffee shops, restaurants and quick service retailers and mainstream retail brands. We were anticipating shut-down announcements, so after three-days of pondering what to do and how to mitigate potential customer churn, we rolled out a strategy and plan to keep our customers who may want to leave the platform due to fears of shut-down and limited capacity.
During this time of crisis, we received an invitation to apply for the Nasdaq Milestone Maker’s program. Why apply when the world is so unstable and unpredictable? We knew in our heart of hearts that we would survive the pandemic. Our customer success strategy was working well. We wanted more than to survive, we wanted to use this time of crisis to set the right foundation to thrive and grow.
GoGoGuest was selected as one of the 12 participants in The Nasdaq Center’s Milestone Maker Program, Fall Cohort 2020. The goal of the program is to help entrepreneurs set, hit and celebrate milestones critical to company growth. Participants are matched with coaches and mentors who are leaders in their industry and given access to customized resources that meet each founder’s needs. Learn more.
The experience
We’ve been selected to participate in a few Silicon Valley accelerators. Once selected, after evaluating our options, we decided not to move forward due to the resources that it would need to successfully complete the program, plus the high cost of participating. Most accelerators will ask for 10% – 15% stake of your company for $25K, minus the expense of being in the “program.” For us, the requirements for admission outweighed the benefits for admission.
The Nasdaq Center’s Entrepreneurial Program is different. It is provided to selected / admitted participants at no cost, while gaining access to industry mentors, online programs and a network that allows early stage founders to thrive and grow.
- Our fall 2020 cohort had 10 entrepreneurs from different parts of the country and the world, working on technologies and products that would make a difference for businesses and consumers.
- After an intense onboarding week, the program is then tailored to the founder’s milestones. This means, each founder is then introduced to mentors and a coach to work with for the remainder of the 12-week program.
- We’re also invited to participate and engage with industry experts in the areas of business ethics, growth, sales, PR, marketing and fundraising.
“Resources are abundant when passion is lived. Entrepreneurs believe in a better future."
Milestone achieved
The Milestone Maker program @ The Nasdaq Entrepreneur Center helped us achieve our milestone:
- Build a sales process to accelerate our future growth.
“Product led growth is about creating emotional moments for your customers. The goal is to convert them to be the highest paying customer."
What is next?
The customers we serve continue to grow, expand and evolve with GoGoGuest. Our platform serves brands and businesses of all sizes. Each can start anywhere, go anywhere and everywhere with GoGoGuest.
Read about our 2021 product releases!
Next Steps
Don’t take our word for it. We encourage you to dive in and dig deeper. Are you an early stage investor actively seeking new investment opportunities? Contact us.
