Program managers

Deliver a World-Class Startup Program Without Building It Yourself

Startup Drill helps incubation managers train early-stage startups using proven customer discovery methods — no need to build your own program. Track startup progress in real time, surface your most promising teams, and impress early-stage investors.

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supporting startups

Supporting Startups Shouldn’t Mean Building a Program From Scratch

 If you’re an incubator, university, or innovation hub — you probably know how hard it is to run a great early-stage program. You don’t have time to develop a full methodology. Your team lacks experience with lean startup tools. And once you start, it’s hard to track which teams are actually making progress — or which ones investors should talk to.

Startup Drill is a custom made full service program that solves all that.

Curriculum

Plug-and-Play Curriculum Backed by Experts

Skip the guesswork. Our ready-to-use training is based on years of experience and tested with 500+ startups — so you don’t need to create anything from scratch.

Instead of building a startup program from the ground up, you get a complete, field-tested curriculum — including digital modules, gamified tasks, step-by-step guides, and session formats. This saves you time, removes the need for in-house startup expertise, and lets your team deliver a professional program confidently from day one.

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Facilitator program

Run Startup Drill with Confidence

No need to be a startup expert. Our facilitator program trains incubation managers to deliver the program effectively — from kickoff to demo day. Backed by our Evalu8 platform, you’ll feel confident guiding startups, tracking progress, and reporting results.

Our specialized track for incubation managers covers program content and facilitation techniques. Supported by the Startup Drill Evalu8 app, it enables incubation managers to run Startup Drill in their organizations confidently, streamline the incubation process, and drive better outcomes for participating startups.

 

Investor-ready

Make startups Get Investor-Ready, Faster

Help your startups validate real problems, build investable traction, and clearly communicate what they’ve learned — all in a language investors understand.

We guide teams to uncover real customer needs, design testable MVPs, and communicate traction in a clear, data-driven way. The result: startups that speak the language of investors — and stand out when it counts.

 

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Is This Right for You?

Startup Drill is designed for:

  • Incubators and accelerators supporting early-stage founders
  • University entrepreneurship centers
  • City programs and innovation agencies
  • Teams running pre-acceleration or validation bootcamps
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FAQ

You’ve Got Questions? We’ve Got You Covered.

How long does the Startup Drill program take?

Startup Drill is designed to be flexible — it can run in as little as 8 weeks, or be extended to 10-15 weeks depending on your startup teams' pace and your event calendar.

Can we customize the program to fit our incubator’s needs?

Absolutely. You can run the program as-is or co-brand it with your incubator. We provide facilitator support and can adapt sessions or milestones to fit your preferred format.

What experience do you need to run the program?

None. Startup Drill includes facilitator guides, team templates, mentor checklists, and tracking dashboards. You don’t need to be a startup expert to deliver it confidently.

How many teams can we support with this?

We typically support batches of 8 to 15 teams, but the program can scale up or down based on your needs. It is designed to be run in cohorts.

What kind of outcomes can we expect?

Your teams will gain validated problem-solution fit, investor-ready insights, and a clear structure for early traction. You’ll gain clarity on which teams are investment-worthy and how each is progressing.

About us

Startup Drill is designed by a Smion’s team of ecosystem builders, startup mentors, and innovation consultants who have supported over 500 early-stage teams across Europe. We’ve helped incubators, universities, and city-funded programs deliver startup support that actually works — rooted in lean startup principles, but tailored for real-world constraints

Whether you're running your first program or scaling up your tenth, we built Startup Drill so you don’t have to start from scratch.

Built by Startup Experts. Backed by Real-World Experience.

Monitor every team’s learning, progress, and key validation milestones with our built-in Startup Drill Evalu8 platform  — no extra spreadsheets or follow-ups needed.

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Trusted by Startup Ecosystem Leaders

“Startup Drill made it simple for us to launch our startup pre-incubation program — and gave our startups a real edge with investors."

-- Damir Program Manager at DD

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