DEVELOP CUTTING-EDGE TECH. ATTRACT USERS AND CUSTOMERS. UNLOCK CHANNELS FOR ACCELERATED GROWTH. ALL IN THE VERTICAL ACCELERATOR PROGRAM.
This is how WE DO IT
SKIP THE investors.
(tHaT’S A real STARTUP SUPERPOWER.)
THE Old Way: CHASE AFTER FUNDING
It’s the great conundrum of launching a startup: you need VC to build your technology and launch your venture, but you need your product and traction to attract that funding… This is where almost all founders get stuck, trying (and failing) to make this work somehow.
OLD RESULTS
It’s almost impossible for early-stage founders to find venture capital funding. Even if your idea is great, it doesn’t mean that someone will just open up their checkbook for you.
NEW WAY: SKIP VC ALTOGETHER
With AI, it’s now possible for startups to develop technology and go to market without venture capital. And utilizing our hyper-lean Vertical approach, early-stage founders, even non-technical ones, can deliver their technology in record time.
NEW RESULTS
Hyper-lean, AI-driven startups can develop prototypes of their technology for as little as $2500 and full releases for less than $10k, a fraction of what it would cost otherwise.
WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE
AI-Powered Efficiency. With AI driving the process, we help you identify the key feature or assumption—your “North Star”—that your customers truly need. By focusing on this, you can skip the endless guesswork and iterations. AI accelerates the process, allowing you to build what matters most, without wasting time or money.
No More Wasteful Iterations. Traditional startups often rely on agile development, which is great if you’re well-funded and can afford to iterate indefinitely. But for most early-stage startups, that approach can be a costly failure. With AI, we help you get it right the first time, reducing the need for expensive rework and maximizing efficiency.
You’re in Charge. AI enables you, the founder, to take control of your technology without needing a costly technical co-founder or expert team. You remain at the center of decision-making, using AI to guide development and work alongside engineers more effectively. This keeps costs down and puts you in charge of your product’s direction.
QUESTION AND ANSWERS
How do you keep startup costs so low?
The key is using AI to stay hyper-efficient. By focusing on your North Star and avoiding the need for constant iteration, you reduce both time and expenses. AI empowers you to manage technology development without needing expensive experts.
What’s your track record with this approach?
Almost none of our startups have needed venture capital to develop their technology or go to market. But this hasn’t held them back: in just our first three traditional cohorts of 20+ startups, two achieved successful exits—all without VC funding.
2. DELIVER YOUR FIRST REAl TECH.
(AND IN RECORD TIME USING AI.)
Old Way: BUILD AN MVP
This is standard operating procedure for most startups: building a MVP as a first release for hundreds of thousands of dollars. Sounds like a good plan, right? You’ll decide, usually by committee, what needs to be in it. Hopefully, you’ll get it right, because…
OLD RESULTS
You’ll still spend a fortune to do it. Only then to discover if you’ve built the right thing or not. The answer is usually, unfortunately, not. Which leads to cost overruns and the need to go back and try again (and again).
NEW WAY: DO IT WITH AI
AI completely revolutionizes how we develop tech. Instead of spending months and significant resources, AI allows us to rapidly model, prototype, and test your product. This new approach ensures you’re building precisely what your customers want—quickly, and efficiently.
NEW RESULTS
AI dramatically reduces both time and costs. What used to take massive funding now happens in a flash, for far less. This means you get to market quicker, with a more focused, validated product that meets your customers’ needs.
WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE
AI-Led Discovery & Modeling. Before any code is written, AI helps us simulate and model your product. We identify key assumptions, map potential user interactions, and predict market response, all without spending a dime on development. This ensures we’re always aiming for the right North Star—your audience’s true needs.
AI-Accelerated Prototyping. AI drastically cuts down development time by generating code, optimizing workflows, and handling complex simulations. This allows you to quickly iterate and test, speeding up the entire product development cycle while keeping costs low.
Riskiest Assumption Tests (RATs). Instead of building a bloated MVP, we focus on validating your Riskiest Assumption Tests (RATs)—the one feature or assumption that is most critical to your success. AI powers rapid prototyping and testing, allowing you to prove the value of your idea with minimal effort and cost. Once validated, we can confidently scale up development.
Access to Top-Tier Engineering. We’re not a development agency, but we can connect you with the best engineering talent in the world through our network of Vertical Implementation Partners. We have over 20 of them and direct access to thousands of top 1% developers worldwide.
QUESTION AND ANSWERS
I’m non-technical. Can I really do this? Don’t I need a technical co-founder?
Not anymore! AI has democratized the tech development process. With our AI-driven tools and guidance, you don’t need to be technical to build a successful product. We’ll connect you with the right resources, while our AI handles much of the heavy lifting.
Do you provide the engineers?
We’re not a development agency, but we provide access to top-tier engineering talent through our network of Vertical Implementation Partners (VIPs). Our AI-driven processes help you work efficiently with engineers to deliver your product in record time.
3. CONNECT WITH YOUR TARGET AUDIENCE.
(FOR SCALE AND GROWTH. YOU’LL NEED THAT TOO.)
Old Way: SPEND A FORTUNE ON ADS
After paying for costly engineers, this is where many startups continue blowing through cash: trying to attract an audience through paid inbound marketing on social media. It’s as much art as science, and chances are you will go through numerous iterations on this.
OLD RESULTS
You’ll spend hundreds if not thousands of dollars per week trying to figure out how to reach your audience. And even if you find them, chances are it won’t have good unit economics, or in other words, will cost too much.
NEW WAY: DISCOVER YOUR REAL REACH
If a startup is going to succeed, it’s going to need to know how to reach its audience at scale and with good unit economics — in other words in a way that is financially self-sustaining. So its about much more than just each sale: it’s about being able to repeat and grow your business.
NEW RESULTS
Building on our success with product and sales, you can hone in on the language, messaging, branding, and channels that will get you on the exact right track to find out where your audience is, and how to convert them.
WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE
Messaging. We can’t underscore enough the value of messaging your audience, with everything from having a beautiful brand, simple, compelling messages that matter to them, and the social proof that you can help them.
Finding the right channel. Your audience is out there. We’ll help you figure out where and how you can reach them at scale.
Building a simple pipeline. You’ve probably heard of landing pages, but not like ours. We’ll have a strategic ask that will help early adopters come on board and help launch your sales.
QUESTION AND ANSWERS
I’ve never done marketing? It’s totally fine — we’ll give you the resources you need to get started and get traction.
Do you provide direct marketing support? In our teaching a man how to fish approach, we’ll train and help you.
4. DRIVE CUSTOMER ACQUISITION.
(THAT’s THE REAL DEAL HERE.)
Old Way: DO CUSTOMer INTERVIEWS
Sales are probably the last thing on most founders’ minds, but the reality is that sales make the business world go round, and you will have to achieve sales if you are going to have a viable startup and not just a concept that sounds great.
OLD RESULTS
Having abstract conversations about a product or service you plan to offer someday will not get you anywhere with your audience—so good luck with that.
NEW WAY: SELL A REAL PRODUCT
Imagine going onto a sales call or into a sales meeting with a natural product that you can show, tell, and share with your audience. And it’s something beautifully crafted with great design and user experience. That will put you light years ahead of other startups.
NEW RESULTS
Having a real product makes what you are doing real and not just an idea or concept. This gets you in the door and in the game with your customers.
WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE
Building on your successful product. Now that you’ve built the first version of your technology and validated that it genuinely delivers value to your audience, your job making sales just got a lot easier. You’ll have stories to tell, successful use cases, and a factual basis for showing why your customers should buy your product or service.
Getting early adopters on board. Sure there may be a massive market for your technology, but you won’t be able to reach it if you can’t get your first users and customers on board.
Having those sales conversations. It takes a combination of both listening and speaking to turn a lead into a closed deal.
Asking for their business. When the time is right, ask them to pay and become paying customers.
QUESTION AND ANSWERS
I’ve never sold anything. Is that OK? The truth is that you have to start somewhere, and this is precisely where we want to get you going, with a great product to share with your audience. You’ll start with conversations and take it from there.
Do you provide the sales people? No, we don’t have a dedicated sales team to help your startup with sales — but we will help you learn the fundamentals so that you will learn how to begin ramping up your sales process, and sales team.
5. GROW AND SCALE YOUR VENTURE.
(AND THEN DECIDE WHAT COMES NEXT.)
Old Way: Try to find pmf
This is where almost all startups continue to fail even after they’ve launched: struggling to find product-market fit and having a never-ending battle to raise funds, build technology, and connect with their audience.
OLD RESULTS
You’ll spend $100k minimum on building your product, only to struggle to find product-market fit. Plus you’ll have a never-ending battle to raise funds so you can re-launch your technology after you fail to go to market.
NEW WAY: BUILD ON YOUR SUCCESS
If you’ve built your first product, closed your first sales, and discovered your first channel for scale and growth, you’ve just proven your startup concept is real. And that provides you with some amazing possibilities.
NEW RESULTS
Demonstrate what you’ve achieved to angel investors and VCs to get funding. Or apply to top-tier, highly competitive accelerators, and have a real shot at getting in. The sky’s the limit.
WHAT MAKES IT POSSIBLE
Developing your technology with AI. Even if you are non-technical or a first-time founder, you can do this and without investors.
Selling your product. Having something real (and valuable) to sell to your audience puts you light years ahead of other startups.
Discovering channels to reach your audience. This is critical to growing and scaling your business. We’ll show you how.
QUESTION AND ANSWERS
This seems like a lot. Can I learn it all in your program? Our program is very fast-paced but also focuses on efficiency, to the point of being hyper-efficient. If you are willing and able to learn and work, we’ll show you how.
What’s your track record with this approach? In eight cohorts, we’ve helped over forty startups and had two successful exits (so far). Check out our case studies to see what we mean.
SO JUST FOLLOW THESE STEPS:
BE HYPER-LEAN AND DEVELOP NEW TECHNOLOGY WITH AI. GET YOUR FIRST CUSTOMERS. DISCOVER CHANNELS FOR SCALE AND GROWTH.
THAT’s how YOU CAN LAUNCH a new tech venture IN RECORD TIME.
NO INVESTORS REQUIRED.
EARLY-STAGE STARTUPS AND NON-TECHNICAL FOUNDERS:
THIS IS FOR YOU.
vertical CASE STUDIES: THE EXITS
One Greek. $8K AND 3 MONTHS TO LAUNCH. 330K USERS AND AN EXIT In ONE YEAR.
The OneGreek Cinderella story started in May 2015, when founders Sam Garst and Gavin Glatting, two fraternity brothers and graduates of the University of Arizona, decided to double down on their vision to create a new app targeting the Greek college market.
With limited bootstrap funding and a need to use their resources wisely, they engaged Go For Vertical to help them create their technology.
Three months and $8000 later, they had built and launched the first private social network for the fraternity and sorority system in the US.
These driven founders then scaled the platform to over 300k users in 9 months, joined the Capital Factory accelerator in Austin, TX, and were acquired just three months later, precisely the type of amazing outcome that every startup aims for.
While we can’t take credit beyond training these first-time founders in Vertical, their use of its strategic product development and unique ability to deliver technology releases with hyper-efficient resource utilization was the catalyst that launched their run to the top.
HERE’s what YOU GET when you join the vertical technology accelerator.
three ONLINE PROGRAMS
For new or experienced founders, our three core programs get you there.
We know that there is no one-size-fits-all for startups, so we’ve launched three new online programs to meet founders where they are and get them where they need to go next: BASECAMP, CLIMB, and SUMMIT.
BASECAMP
Vertical starts with you at the very beginning, in our first program.
It’s where you’ll get the 30,000-foot view of our process, all while learning the foundational building blocks of Vertical, like systems thinking, functional features, and mind mapping.
CLIMB
Next, you learn how to deliver your tech quickly and build your new venture.
We’ll show you how to build new, strategic tech with AI, discover your first marketing channel to connect with your audience and onboard your first customers (or users), without technical co-founders or investors.
SUMMIT
You’ve laid the groundwork—now it’s time to unlock your startup’s full potential.
The SUMMIT program sharpens your tech and business operations, eliminating roadblocks to accelerate growth. With our expert support, your startup will be primed for rapid acquisition, VC, or sustainable bootstrapping.
1-on-1 coaching
Learn fast with direct training with our team.
Our curriculum and assignments give you everything you need to reach critical milestones and deliver your technology. And you’ll do it even faster with our direct, 1-on-1 coaching, customized to meet your goals.
LIVE WORK SESSIONS
We provide direct access to the answers you need.
We have twice weekly Zoom work sessions hosted by G4V CEO and Founder Edward Cruz. It’s where you can join your fellow accelerator members, ask questions and get answers in a supportive group setting.
PRACTICAL EXERCISES
It’s more than just knowledge: you’ll learn fundamental new skills.
Once you hit a critical mass on the learning side, we want you to put your new knowledge to work right away by building the Vertical scaffolding for your technology. We provide the tools and step-by-step guidance.
EXPERT FEEDBACK
Our team of Vertical advisors is here to help you succeed.
As you complete your Vertical tasks, you can submit them to our team for expert review and feedback. We’ll get back to you within 24 hours (and usually the same day), so you can move forward quickly.
THE VERTICAL technology ACCELERATOR. LET’S get you launched.
OUR THREE ACCELERATOR PROGRAMS. ONE-ON-ONE coaching. GROUP WORK SESSIONS. REAL DOCUMENTATION. PRACTICAL TASKS. EXPERT FEEDBACK.
questions and answers.
Can I afford this? I don’t have any funding yet.
Yes! Our programs are ideal for unfunded startups and start at just $95 per month, an unheard of value in the tech startup world. Other accelerator programs can charge 4- and 5-figure fees upfront just to get in the door. So how does Go For Vertical do this? With the power of AI. Our BASECAMP and CLIMB programs have at their core highly trained GPTs that guide you through every step of rapidly launching your startup. If we tried to do this with old-school, in-person cohorts, it would be impossible. So AI is our no-so-secret sauce that makes these outcomes (and pricing) possible.
How long DOES the vertical accelerator GO?
Most founders stay in our accelerator program for 3-6 months, but the real answer is as long as you need. And with our AI-driven curriculum, it could be incredibly fast, just a matter of days or weeks. You set the pace. So get ready to work hard and have things move fast.
I’m a non-technical founder. Will this work for me?
Absolutely. Our accelerator program has been specifically designed with non-technical founders in mind.
Do I need a team or OTHER co-founders?
You can think of our Vertical process + AI as your virtual co-founder. So no strict need for co-founders, and the program works just as well with either solo founders or teams.
I’m already very busy. How much time WILL I need to dedicate TO THIS?
Our program is completely self-paced, so you decide how much time you can commit to it. We recommend 10 hours per week for optimal traction, but you can absolutely make progress with as little as five or even fewer. You decide what works best for you.
What’s Go For Vertical’s track record?
Since launching in 2015, we’ve helped more than 100 startups, and of those, two have had successful exits (OneGreek and Audivity). And one of our recent startups has gone global and has $3.5M per year in annual revenue. Another is currently on that same track and is currently raising a seed round for scale and growth after a successful launch. And none of these startups had VC funding!
DOES GO FOR VERTICAL TAKE EQUITY?
In our BASECAMP and CLIMB programs, we don’t. The whole idea is for you to be able to launch your startup without giving up equity in your startup. In our CLIMB Factory and our SUMMIT program for more advanced startups, we do have that option, but it depends on each startup. When we do, it’s in line with what other accelerator programs do.
We’re still INTERESTED in securing funding. Can you help?
Yes! And all our programs, with their focus on venture building and gaining traction, put you in a much better position to secure funding. And our SUMMIT Funding program helps our SUMMIT startups raise their first rounds, even in the current difficult funding environment. And we’re happy to help you work with other investors and accelerator programs to help you get there too.