iMinds’ iStart incubation program has recently been selected by the Swedish UBI Index as one of the top-25 University Business Incubators worldwide. Each year, iStart supports 20 to 25 start-ups.

Cresco Offers Free Workshops and One-on-One Coaching

To prepare these Flemish start-ups even more thoroughly for (international) growth and to provide them with a solid foundation, Cresco will be organizing workshops and one-on-one coaching sessions free of charge as part of iStart. They will also make certain standard contract templates available. Start-ups can thus learn even sooner which business and legal considerations (such as attracting partners or securing additional financing) are highly relevant.

Making Starters Aware of Sensitivities and Potential Pitfalls

David Dessers, managing partner at Cresco, explains why the firm is investing in this structural partnership: “At Cresco, we are passionate about entrepreneurship and contributing to entrepreneurial growth. We are intimately aware that Cresco and its lawyers form an integral part of the business and investment community and strongly believe in our duty to contribute to the future and success of such community well beyond our client services. We are thrilled to team up with iMinds - one of the leading business incubators – and their digital start-ups through our Cresco Academy. We firmly believe that iMinds and its partners will provide these start-ups with the necessary knowledge, knowhow, insights and network to exponentially grow their activities, thus contributing to overall economic growth.”

Sven De Cleyn, incubation programs manager at iMinds, outlines the importance of this partnership: “This collaboration agreement not only extends our existing offering towards start-ups and entrepreneurs; in addition, Cresco - a law firm specialized in entrepreneurship - is able to provide starters with a solid legal foundation in a very early stage. As such, our start-ups are increasingly prepared for the future, making them aware of a number of sensitivities and potential pitfalls.”

Reinforcing the iStart Offering

This structural partnership with Cresco fits iMinds’ strategy to reinforce its iStart offering for start-ups and entrepreneurs. It complements previous collaboration agreements with Microsoft (who offers start-ups 3 years of free software through its BizSpark program) and Telenet (providing iMinds start-ups with one year of free connectivity).