glueglue™ | How to get into the leading accelerator for fashion startup

Seed accelerators, also known as startup accelerators, are fixed-term that include mentorship and educational components. There are specific types of seed accelerators. Marco Filocamo is Head of Startups for Fashion Technology Accelerator and he has a multi-year experience managing different projects in operations management and data analysis, especially regarding B2B-oriented production companies.

We’ve asked him a few questions:

What happens at FTA?

Fashion Technology Accelerator in Milan is a management consulting firm, providing business acceleration to startups and young enterprises operating at the connection between the industries of fashion and technology.

We offer different activities for international startups and companies operating in this field such as acceleration programs, training programs, seminars, corporate activities and events.

Our peculiar focus on Fashion & Technology enables us to offer 360° customized advisory, industry-specific activities and valuable business development opportunities with potential partners and customers.

What is the Fast Track program?

Fast Track Program is an intensive weekly program for early stage fashion technology startups, fully immersed in the heart of Milan fashion scene. The program lasts for one week, which allows the companies to learn and interact with our broad network of mentors.

The focus is on topics such as business strategy, digital skills and the dynamics of the fashion industry. The next edition will be from the 3rd to the 7th of July.

What are accelerators looking for when it comes to a startup founding team?

A diverse team is one of the keys to be accepted into any accelerator or incubator. Considering our acceleration’s requirements, the focus is on the experience of the founders, their knowledge of the fashion industry, how efficiently they are separating their activities and their technical background.

What’s the secret to be accepted?

The company should be already established in the market, having sold their products (either physical items or software) and tested the value proposition before applying so that it already has the necessary KPIs to correctly evaluate the company, even at an early stage. Moreover, the company must have a technical focus and a strong connection with fashion as we would not consider solely creative brands.

The next edition will be from the 3rd to the 7th of July

What advice can you give to a fashion startup that wants to approach your accelerator program?

Our website offers a lot of information about how the acceleration program is managed, as well as our other activities. Clearly define your expectations from our side and your development stage, so that it will be much easier to define if there is a fit with us, especially regarding activities such as the business development or fund-raising.

For example, we won’t reach out to our network for a company that is not part of our portfolio, but we could provide guidance for early stage startups through our training programs. Moreover, we receive more than 300 applications per year so your positioning should be properly stated also taking into account your competition (either current or potential).

How long does your startup accelerator program last?

The acceleration program lasts for 6 months, in which the startup follows a dedicated and customized plan of action through weekly meetings and sessions with our advisors, as well as our internal team.

What are startups generally missing out on?

We follow the startups in a variety of tasks (definition of a marketing strategy, sales analysis, fund-raising, website optimization, general management), the needs change depending on the background of the founders.

Something that is often overlooked is a clear and structured analysis of the data already gathered by the startup (sales, KPIs on the website, customer information), as well as a clear definition of the sales strategy to approach the market.

The personas and the marketing strategy are most of the times only sketched, so we help the company structure them in a coherent flow to allocate more time to crucial tasks.

What happens when the program ends?

After the six months, there is still an ongoing relationship between the company and the accelerator which is focused on specific requests, such as a feedback on the sales documentation or additional preparation for an upcoming fundraising round. We keep strong ties with the startups, highlighting new partnerships or opportunities even though we do not interact with them on a weekly basis.

Thanks for your time, Marco!

If you are a Fashion & Technology Startup and want to be part to FTA, feel free to contact Marco at: mfilocamo[at]ftaccelerator.it

Our replies
to your questions

Why choose glueglue?

We are a digital product agency with more than 10 years of experience and highly specialized skills in both design and development.
Over time, we have consolidated an agile and effective method to work best with all types of clients: from the start-up that needs some kind of support to the multinational corporation that wants to integrate a team with design and executive agility, our most appreciated peculiarity.
We are positioned in a medium-high market segment and are able to offer excellent value for money. Direct supervision by glueglue's founding partners of each project ensures the highest quality of service and finished product. We are on the top list of the best User Experience and digital product agencies on Clutch, the most widely used database of digital consulting agencies in the world.

How does glueglue work and what are the areas of expertise?

We always start with a careful analysis of the customer's needs considering not only the product needs but also the medium and long-term business objectives.
As a first step, we often deal with the visual identity, evaluating the positioning by analyzing the competitor and identifying areas for improvement in terms of branding and image.
Then, we move on to the UX/UI area: we study the user experience of your product or service through a UX Review with 3 dedicated professionals to identify the points which it is necessary to act to improve the usability of the site or app examined.
In the following phase, we design the User Journey Map, i.e. the map of all the paths that the user follows, interacting with the product and the brand . Identifying all the contact points is of strategic importance in order to immerse ourselves in situations of real use and understand where value can really be created for the end user and therefore for the product.
We will then move on to the phase of creating the wireframes, with the sharing of an interactive prototype that will define the functionality and structure of each single page and interaction of the product.
Once the wireframes have been consolidated, we will move on to the design phase of the graphic interface, with attention paid to the smallest details in so as to ensure a positive and truly satisfying user experience.
At this point, our developers come into play for the implementation part. We use the most current technologies such as React, Flutter, Gatsby JS, Symfony, Node.JS and others to create products with high standards of quality and stability, working and pixel perfect.

What distinguishes glueglue from other top design or product agencies?

To offer maximum value, the glueglue team works on a limited number of projects. In this way, our professionals can dedicate an uninterrupted focus to always obtain excellent results.
Each project is managed on the basis of precise deadlines and intermediate meetings with the client. We take care of the unique needs and potential of each product and consequently, each solution created is exclusive and highly customized.
Thanks to the experience of 10+ years in the digital sector, we have developed a successful method to achieve the highest goals in the areas that matter: strategy, design and development.

Can you do web design?

We work on all types of digital products, from iOS and Android apps to webapps and complex platforms.
Furthermore, part of the team specializes in creating marketing websites, i.e. websites totally focused on promoting the product or services.

Do you also do branding or should I look for another agency?

Being a full-service agency, we also offer branding services such as naming and logo design. Among the products we create for our customers, the brand guidelines stand out, i.e. the detailed guidelines document for the corporate image. We are totally comfortable working on existing guidelines or in collaboration with a branding agency.

How much does it cost to entrust you with a digital project?

We like to always be as transparent as possible and we believe that talking openly about the budget is important to understand how to get added value from the partnership for both parties. Given this, since each customer has its own peculiarities and presents different challenges, we do not use a price list, but we invest time to understand the customer's reality well and provide a specific approach and an appropriate price.
Indicatively, the price of user experience and graphical interface design projects can vary in a range between €10,000 and €30,000, depending on various factors such as the client's needs and the complexity of the project.
The cost of the projects in area Branding is positioned between €5,000 and €15,000, always taking into account any possible peculiarities.
As regards the more technical part, the cost for the development of iOS and Android web and mobile apps ranges from €20,000 upwards .
Website development starts from a minimum of €10,000. Our average hourly rate for single consultations is €60 per hour.
If you want to get to know us better, you can schedule 30 minutes free by appointment.

Do you also work with early stage startups, therefore with limited resources?

Of course, we love startups! Over time we have met many enlightened and highly talented entrepreneurs.
We have invested in some startups, preferring work for equity. Our experience has always been positive, contributing to the achievement of various rounds of investments for a total value of over 30 million Euros.

How to get into the leading accelerator for fashion startup