Techscaler Catalyst

Master the building blocks of everything from problem, market, and customer discovery to building and launching your product and raising investment.

What is Techscaler Catalyst?

Techscaler Catalyst is an intensive 10-week accelerator, delivered by founders and industry experts. The Spring ‘25 cohort commences on April 3rd. Applications for the Spring '25 cohort have now closed, register your interest for future cohorts below.

Who is Techscaler Catalyst for?

Catalyst is for early stage tech founders of all ambitions, looking to make progress and accelerate through the phases of building an early stage tech startup. 

This course isn’t about learning theories that you might apply later. It’s about making meaningful progress every week and mastering the fundamentals to build a better company, now. 

Founders participating will access leading playbooks and pre-read materials, get hands-on in the problem space, build a prototype, launch it to potential customers for feedback, and make actionable progress on growth and investment strategies. This course isn’t about figuring out what to do next; it’s about building your company every week. 

Techscaler Catalyst outcomes

Your outcomes will depend on what you are working on and how you want to build your company.

  • Articulate your ambitions and align with your startup vision and mission.
  • Apply Jobs-to-Be-Done methodology for in-depth customer discovery.
  • Build evidence-based strategies for running low cost, early stage experiments. 
  • Develop a tangible prototype; anything from a drawing to a minimum viable product. 
  • Learn how to acquire and grow a customer base.
  • Explore business and commercial strategies using a structured framework.
  • Leverage AI tools for early process and experiment optimisation.
  • Understand AI’s impact on early stage company building. 
  • Establish an integrated company-wide strategy.

The course offers two tracks for participating founders: the iteration track and the sprint track. The iteration track is for founders pursuing sustainable growth, or those unsure of their preferred pathway, while the sprint track is for founders focused on pressurised growth. Track suitability will be judged based on your plans, ambitions, startup traction, business model, and funding strategy.

Apply Now

Who is eligible for Techscaler Catalyst?

To participate, you must be an early stage member (or later) of Techscaler. This means you are a founder who is doing any of the below:

  • Working on your startup for more than 8 hours per week
  • Developed a clickable prototype, product demo, minimum viable product (MVP), or a more developed version that has been  shared with potential customers  for feedback
  • Registered your company

In addition to meeting stage requirements, completion of Techscaler Discovery, our self-paced online course, is a requirement of joining Catalyst. This is to ensure all participants joining the course have the same baseline knowledge. You can complete the course in your own time. 

Ready to get started with Techscaler Catalyst?

The course is free for early-stage Techscaler members! Register your interest here, and we'll guide you through the next steps.

Not a Techscaler member yet? You'll be prompted to apply.
‍
Already a member? Applications for the Spring '25 cohort have now closed but register here to be the first to hear about the next cohort!

Techscaler Catalyst Activity & Support

  • Hybrid, interactive workshops

    Seven live interactive hybrid workshops, led by founders and industry experts. Workshops are bolstered by pre-session material to ensure workshops are as much of a space to discuss and take action, as well as discover practical frameworks. 

  • Community, co-working space and watch parties

    With workshops delivered hybrid, we welcome founders to come together each week at their local Techscaler hub to live-stream the workshop and join what we call ‘watch parties’, where they can engage in discussions with their peers, in person. 

    Founders will be able to co-work from their local Techscaler hub throughout the day of the workshop, where they can focus on progressing their startup, as well as receive feedback and support from peers, Entrepreneurs in Residences, and the Techscaler regional teams.

  • Catalyst Entrepreneurs in Residences

    Talking through blockers with founders who have been there before can be super valuable at the early-stages. Catalyst Entrepreneurs in Residences will facilitate select watch parties, as well as be available during coworking days to provide feedback and advice to founders. 

  • Hackathons

    Gauging demand for a tech solution can be difficult without having the funds and skills to develop the final product. De-risk the process, and join our hackathons to build an early version of your solution, or be a part of a group building a peer’s solution. The hackathon will take place on week 4 of Catalyst, Build Week. Founders accepted on the Catalyst can put forward their idea to be considered as one of the hackathon projects.

  • Partner drop-ins

    Tap into the support from the wider ecosystem, from legal to grant funders, through optional partner drop-ins and office hours.

Frequently Asked Questions

  • What is the duration of the programme?
    10 weeks, running between April 3rd - June 5th.

  • What are the coworking dates and the workshops time?
    Every Thursday, with workshops running from 10am - 1pm. From week 7 to week 10, the sprint track workshops will likely take place another day during the week. This will be confirmed at a later date.

  • What is the time commitment?
    Participating founders should expect to dedicate at least 8 hours per week to the accelerator and progressing their startup, and going up to an expected 16 hours per week for sprint track founders.

  • What is the criteria for completion?
    Founders will be asked to attend at least 4 workshops live in order to be considered as having completed Catalyst.

  • Do you take equity or offer funding?
    Catalyst has no cost or equity stake involved, funded by the Scottish Government. See state aid info. Equally, there is no funding provided by Catalyst.

  • Will it be recorded?
    Workshops will be recorded for founders to access and refer to through a private course page, which will be shared once enrolments have closed.

  • Can I access it remotely?
    For founders who do not have a Techscaler hub accessible to them, they are welcome to engage with the Catalyst remotely.

What happened to Startup Basics, Startup First Steps and Startup Next Steps?

After two years of providing Techscaler educational support in the form of Startup Basics, Startup First Steps and Startup Next Steps, the Techscaler team have used the extensive feedback from members to design a refreshed educational offering to ideation and early stage members. Startup First Steps and Startup Next Steps, and the feedback from those courses, is the basis of the design of Catalyst. There will be no more cohorts of Startup First Steps and Startup Next Steps.

What have we learned?

A lot! A few topline learnings:

  • Prospective founders at the very beginning of their startup journey want a more focused learning tool that guides them through the tangible steps required to develop their idea and get a prototype in front of customers. 
  • Some founders want to build a venture funded business, whilst others want to bootstrap and grow more steadily. Both are valid. We need to support both personas.
  • Founders love meeting other other founders, community is vital in the early stages.
  • Growth stage companies struggle to justify the time required to take part in a course, they seek more flexible learning methods on specific topics.

You can see an overview of the learnings behind the redesign in the Techscaler Annual Report 2024 (see pages 23 and 24).