EWC Armenia 2024 | FAQ
A Startup is a team of entrepreneurial talent developing new innovations, in identifiable and investable form, in progress to validate and capture the value of the created innovation - with ambition to grow fast with a scalable business model for maximum impact.
EWC is open to creative and innovative startups anywhere on the entrepreneurship spectrum. With categories and prizes for Idea Stage, Early Stage, and Growth Stage ventures, the EWC customizes the accelerator resources available and ensures that competitions are conducted on equal footing and for all industries.
Idea Stage
- Self-Funding and Conceptual: Your company (or concept) is self-funding directly from founders + family/friends to build a prototype or initiate business operations
- Unregistered Entity: Your company has not been legally registered as a legal entity and is building a business plan as a pathway to initiate business activities
- Registered Entity / No Prototype: Your company could be recently legally registered but does not have an MVP or commercially viable product
- Registered Entity / Prototyping: Your company could be registered and is actively working to develop an MVP
- Aspiring Entrepreneur: You work on a university research project that will turn into a company (tech spin-off)
Early Stage
- Seeking Validation: Your company has commercially viable MVP that is seeking early user/customer validation in the market
- Seeking Early Funding: Your company is ready for (or actively seeking) its first equity investment
- Early Signs of Growth: Your company shows early evidence of market validation and evidence of business growth in your home market
- Early Equity Funding: Your company successfully earned seed / angel funding and preparing for Series-A funding
- Early International Sales: Your company shows signs of international sales but development is still nascent
- Nascent Bootstrapping: Your company shows evidence of small organic growth and is not seeking equity fundraising (bootstrapping)
- Steps Toward Governance: Your company is Intent or starting to develop a board of directors
- Creating Departments: Your company is growing and there is movement to hiring company executives (part-time or full-time) relieving the CEO/Founder from some parts of the company's operations
Growth Stage
- Consistent Growth: Your company shows evidence of strong local market validation with consistent growth for at least three years
- Defined Departments: Your company developed an operating structure containing departments with a settled executive team that has clear department hiring standards
- Strong Governance: Your company has an active and engaged board of directors
- Repeatable: Your company shows clear evidence of a repeatable business model that has predictable recurring sales in multiple markets
- Equity Fundraising for Scalability: Your company successfully closed a Series-A (or beyond) round
- Evergreen: Your company can prove strong organic growth without fundraising (you are bootstrapping)
- Exit-Ready: Your company has reached its growth limit or plateau and you are exit-ready (seeking acquisition or private equity)
No. Participation is free of charge.
English is the official language of the EWC at the global level. Applications must be completed in English, and both the EWC National and Global Finals will be conducted exclusively in English.
Armenia should be considered as Asia.
The EWC is open to all entrepreneurs – including those focused on starting and scaling social ventures.
Team members must be at least 18 years old except if applying to the Idea Stage category. There is NO age restriction for the Idea Stage category. If an aspiring applicant does not meet the minimum age criteria but has an idea or registered company that wants to be considered for admission into the competition, some provisions must be held.
- A parent or legal guardian must act as a co-applicant.
- The parent or legal guardian of the applicant must consent to all EWC participation and provisions in representation of their child.
- The applicant acknowledges that if selected to participate in the EWC Global Finals, both the applicant and the parent or legal guardian will travel as company representatives.
- The parent or legal guardian, and applicant, must conform to all visa requirements and entry processes to the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
- The applicant acknowledges that travel and hospitality costs for the parent or legal guardian are not covered by the EWC Global Team or its sponsors and/or hosts.
Startups must be within the first ten years of existence. Specifically, to be eligible, startups must be less than ten years old by the date of the Global Finals in December 2024.
Yes, you are eligible to apply for the EWC for a second time if your startup has not previously won the EWC Armenia National Winner title.
Yes, if you are an Idea stage startup, there is no requirement of having revenue, just write 0 when it asks about company revenue.
Founders of multiple companies including ones older than ten years may participate if their applicant startup is less than ten years old.
Yes. In the two initial stages of EWC - i.e., National Qualifier and Group Stage - startups will be assessed from four main directions, abbreviated as the EWC Evaluation 4Ps:
- Product: 35%
- Traction: How is the company's market traction and organic growth? Is their growth accelerating?
- Customer Validation: Is there evidence that this company is delighting customers, building loyalty and retaining users?
- Value Proposition: Is there a clear product roadmap to increasingly provide excess value to users/customers?
- Differentiation: Does the company have a clearly differentiated and sustainable advantage or claim to fame?
- Exclusivity: Does the team own or have access to the intellectual property of the product or technology proposed for the venture?
- Potential: 25%
- Market Need: Is there a clear market need presented?
- Market Potential: How big can this business get? Are they attacking either a massive addressable market or a small, but rapidly growing market?
- Tailwinds: Is the market opportunity being propelled by technology, economic or cultural tailwinds?
- Market Share: Is the company positioned to be the obvious leader in the market?
- Network Effect: Is the company positioned to benefit from network effects or natural virality?
- Competitive Advantage: Has the team articulated a clear competitive advantage –first mover advantage, network effect, etc.?
- Predictability (Business Model): 20%
- Scalability: Is the business model scalable?
- Revenue: Does the company have a business model that generates recurring revenues or a formula that produces predictable operating results?
- Economics: Does the company’s unit economics make sense? How feasible is the company's roadmap towards profitability?
- Growth: How sustainable is their growth rate? What are the underlying assumptions to maintain such a rate?
- People: 20%
- Experience: What is the experience and reputation of the Founding Team? Do they have a mix of experience, skills and vision to build a breakthrough company?
- Track Record: What is the team's track record? Does the founding team have experience solving problems and accomplishing things together?
- Talent: Has the company shown its ability to attract and retain top talent (as employees, advisors, etc.)?
The weight of the components of each of these four directions varies based on the stage of the startup. Consequently, the evaluation of an Idea Stage startup will be different from an Early stage startup.
Yes, applicant startups need to be legally registered or intend to register in their country of residence. Furthermore, to progress to the EWC Group Stage and to be eligible for prizes, the National Winner(s) from the EWC Armenia 2024 National Finals must be registered in Armenia.
While not explicitly mandatory, as the National Organizer, we strongly recommend uploading a pitch deck or video to your application. Previous experience indicates that including these materials significantly enhances your application, positively influencing decision-making.
- Phase 1: Registration
- Applicants are on-boarded automatically by the competition website and segmented into appropriate categories based on their stage: Idea, Early, Growth.
- Phase 2: EWC Qualifiers
- All registered participants compete against one another in a Global Pool to identify the most-promising startups among each of the three stages. Up to 250 contestants advance past the EWC Qualifiers to the EWC Group Stage in Phase 3.
- Phase 3: Bootcamp + EWC Group Stage
- All EWC Group Stage contestants are invited to participate in a structured virtual bootcamp comprising one cohort organized by Idea Stage, Early Stage and Growth stage. Teams participate in a cohort-level workshop and mentorship sessions designed to explore unique challenges, uncover applicable solutions and refine their pitch and presentation.
- EWC Group Stage contestants are evaluated at the discretion of EWC judging committee(s) based on the results of due diligence and other factors tied to the Bootcamp. The top 100 are selected as the “EWC 100” Global Finalists.
- Phase 4: Global Finals
- The EWC 100 are invited to compete in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia at the EWC Global Finals for prizes including a share of USD $1 million.
EWC Accelerates is a comprehensive virtual program offering on-demand content from a wide range of knowledge partners, accessible via the EWC platform once participants register. This program is entirely free and designed to equip contestants with the opportunity to enhance their skills and competencies in preparation for their participation in various stages of the competition, including the National Qualifiers, Group Stage, or Global Finals.
Participation in EWC Accelerates is optional for entrants in countries with a National Final organizer responsible for judging and assessment. However, all participants are strongly encouraged to use this valuable resource.
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National Qualifier |
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Global Competition |
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The EWC National Finals refer to a series of national startup competitions organized by countries with an appointed EWC National Organizer. These competitions aim to select a representative startup from each participating country for the global competition. In the case of Armenia, a single main competition stage for shortlisted finalist startups is scheduled to take place on May 25.
National Finals will be conducted as live, face-to-face competitions. These will be public events, welcoming attendees from the entrepreneurial ecosystem within Armenia, and will also be live-streamed to reach a global audience through the EWC global network.
National Finals are set to take place in Yerevan, Armenia. The specific venues for the event will be finalized and communicated to all relevant parties at least one week prior to the event.
Yes, the National Leadership Committee has allocated cash prizes for the EWC Armenia 2024 National Winner(s) and in-kind prizes for winners in each of the Idea, Early, and Growth stages. Specific details regarding the prizes will be announced before the National Finals.
Armenia is allocated one spot for representation in the Global Stage. However, Armenia was allocated two slots for the Global Stage in both the 2021 and 2022 EWC competitions, thanks to its active participation. We hope to secure two national representatives for EWC 2024, reflecting our past achievements.
National Winners are determined by a panel of invited local and international jury members who evaluate all pitches during the National Finals. The winners are then announced on the same day of the competition.
The global finals will be held in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, in November 2024.
To progress to the Global Finals after winning the EWC Armenia 2024 National Finals, the National Winner(s) will be enrolled in the Group Stage by EPIC, the National Organizer. This phase involves participation in a Virtual Bootcamp and receiving direct, one-to-one mentorship. Following this, all Group Stage participants undergo a thorough review and assessment process. From the extensive pool of contestants, which includes 250+ startups, the top 100 startups across all stages will be selected as the EWC 100 and will have the opportunity to pitch at the EWC Global Finals. It's important to note that becoming a National Winner does not automatically secure a spot to pitch at the EWC 2024 Global Finals.
The EWC Global Finals in Riyadh represent the culmination of a year-long quest to discover some of the most innovative entrepreneurs globally. This multi-day event will showcase a series of pitches from the finalists and provide opportunities for participants to engage with investors from various parts of the world.
The Global Finalists will be scored and ranked on a variety of variables including:
- Due Diligence
- Pitch Deck and/or Video Pitch
- Quality of the Group Stage and Virtual Bootcamp deliverables
- Feedback from mentors
The EWC Global Finals will award over USD 1 million in prizes. This includes investment opportunities, enhanced visibility, expanded networking, market access, and in-kind services tailored for the top EWC 100 finalists.
EWC 100 finalists get a full travel scholarship for one person to the Global Finals.
- The designated traveler must be Founder, Co-Founder, or CEO; exceptions may be considered for CFO, COO, CTO.
- If the designated traveler can't go, the company loses its spot in the Global Finals.
- The scholarship covers a round-trip flight, visa, hotel, and local transportation.
- Additional team members can join at their own expense for travel, lodging, and venue access, including relevant travel documents.
All the applications should be submitted through the EWC Global Platform.
Applications are reviewed on an ongoing basis. So we encourage participants to complete and submit their applications as early as possible. The final deadline is April 21, 2024. Do not miss the opportunity to submit your application on time and register now.