Deadline: 22 September 2023
Applications are currently being accepted for the next Google News Initiative Pre-launch Lab, a program supporting early stage entrepreneurs in journalism.
This is an eight-week, fully-remote program starting in October 2023. The program’s mission is to help entrepreneurs prepare to launch successful, trusted digital news organizations.
They’ll be accepting up to 24 solo founders or teams of aspiring entrepreneurs who have identified a community’s need for better news and want guidance and coaching on how to launch, or continue to develop news offering that delivers a solution rooted in journalism.
Benefits
- No fees, no tuition, no income sharing. No financial barriers to your success. Just the hands-on support you need to become independent, and stay independent.
- Made for journalism: A laser-focused and immensely practical curriculum that is grounded in hands-on learning and getting things done.
- Live seminars: Weekly live video seminars with a small cohort of like-minded journalism entrepreneurs.
- Personalized coaching: Weekly one-on-one coaching to help you move your idea forward toward launch, or growth, during the Pre-launch Lab, as well as quarterly coaching for a year after the Pre-launch Lab.
Outcomes
- The ability to describe your business idea concisely and compellingly.
- A realistic revenue forecast for the next six, 12, 24, and 36 months.
- A set of three-month objectives and a plan for how to achieve them.
- A deeper understanding of your community’s needs, and how your project will meet those needs.
- Confidence from having run small experiments to prove your idea and that have provided you with valuable, objective data on your business’s viability.
- Knowledge of which technology and tools are the best fit for your undertaking.
- A “continuous innovation” mindset that will help to keep your project relevant for years to come.
Eligibility Criteria
- You should be based in, and plan to launch in the U.S. or Canada.
- You should be comfortable with written and spoken English, as all sessions and assignments will be in English only for this session.
- You can join as an individual or as a team. If you already have a team, up to two of you can participate in the Pre-launch Lab sessions and coaching.
- You have some journalism experience or a business background and passion for the community you want to serve.
For more information, visit Google News Initiative.
