Ignition Program

I recently applied to Ignition Program.

Ignition Program provides “startup opportunities in Europe to high potential startuppers and entrepreneurs”.

And they have a thorough selection process:

• Online Application
• Entrepreneurial Challenge
• 1 hour one-on-one interview
• Professional References Check

You need to validate each step before going to the next.

The online application is just a lot of forms to fill, about past experiences but also motivation and aspirations.

The entrepreneurial challenge is the most interesting part to me.
I had seven days to complete the assignment.
The topic I chose was to “show something that I have developed and that I am proud of”.
So I wrote an article about a project I worked on recently: Serverless call center.

Then came the interview, nothing much to add about that.
It’s the classical startup job interview.

After, they contacted at least one of my previous managers and asked him a few questions about me.
This step is mandatory, and you need to make sure that your references respond to the email.

In the end, I made it into the program. They even used my challenge as an example on their blog.

I did not get to meet any of their startups though because I found another job opportunity on my own at the same time.

But I liked the whole process, I think it’s a good way to assess the candidate’s skills/motivation, and if they do the same with the startups they work with, everybody should be happy.