500 meetings, Mastercard, and a reality show: how a Russian founder built a global accelerator
Is it possible to build a global accelerator without a big name, money, or connections? That's exactly how Fedor Erashev and his co-founder got their start. They sought partners through cold emails, held their first boot camp with almost no resources, and a few years later, they're working with Mastercard, AWS, Nvidia, and Solana, helping startups enter the global market, and producing the reality show Startup Warriors, which has garnered over 2 million views.
Fedor Erashev is the co-founder of XFounders, a venture capital operator and accelerator for AI, fintech, and B2B startups. The team's portfolio includes 35 companies, and entrepreneurs from all over the world have completed their programs.
In this episode, we discuss:
• How to launch an accelerator from scratch without investment or a reputation;
• Why an offline boot camp proved more effective than a traditional online accelerator;
• How to sell an idea even before a finished product is available;
• Why make a reality show about startups and how much does such a project cost;
• Why the best CEO isn't always the founder;
• How to scale an accelerator to different countries;
• What do startups really need for growth today;
• What mistakes do accelerators most often make;
• What opportunities does AI development open up and where will new companies emerge?
Timestamps:
00:00 — Meet Fedor Erashev
03:45 — What is a YouTube reality show about startups
09:28 — What business did Fedor run in Russia
14:50 — "We discovered a parallel universe in terms of product economics"
18:50 — How the idea was born and XFounders began to develop
22:00 — Launching a project with virtually no money
28:18 — How we launched our first bootcamp, attended by Mastercard and Amazon
35:54 — We went into the red, spending $150-200K on the first bootcamp
38:23 — "Then we fired the entire team"
43:10 — Why we moved to Bali
46:30 — The challenges of launching a reality show
53:45 — Behind the scenes of the reality show: a volcano, tough questions from an investor, and the real emotions of the participants
56:30 — Why does XFounders employ a hired CEO who is the face of the project?
1:01:25 — XFounders' growth plan and expansion into new markets
1:04:34 — How to distinguish a good accelerator from a waste of money
1:15:07 — How Fedor contacted Stephen Bartlett from The Diary of a CEO (17.7 million YouTube subscribers)
1:19:00 — What markets and opportunities does AI development open up?
Fedor's project: XFounders → https://x-founders.com
YouTube → @XFounders
Katya's social media:
Instagram* → / kukusky
Telegram channel "Katya is growing up" → https://t.me/katyagrows
Audio versions of the podcast → https://r-founders.mave.digital
R-Founders — Community and a system of services for those developing their products in international markets.
Our resources:
R-Founders Go Global Channel → https://t.me/rfoundersgoglobal
Website → http://r-founders.com/ru
#rfounders #web3 #accelerator #venture #startup #founder #bootlager #distribution #reality #yogbali #travel #entrepreneurship #investors #cinema #brand #scale #portfolio #fintech #Solana #Mastercard
*Instagram is a Meta product, an organization recognized as extremist and banned in the Russian Federation.