Most entrepreneurs would save a round-the-world boat trip for after their big exit, but Unreasonable at Sea is flipping things around by giving startup founders a chance to take to the high seas while mentors help them prepare to expand their businesses to international markets.
The trip is the brainchild of Luke Jones, the Chief of Staff of Semester at Sea and Daniel Epstein, the founder of Boulder, CO-based accelerator Unreasonable Institute. While the idea of traveling the world, accelerating startups may seem a little odd – and expensive – it does have some logic. Participants will call at fourteen cities as part of the cruise, allowing them to experiment with taking their technology to international markets, while networking with local business leaders, entrepreneurs and officials.
Ten startups will be invited aboard the 100-day cruise, in teams of two or three co-founders each. The trip is aimed at startups with a core product or service that tackles a major social and environmental challenge, and that are ready to scale internationally. Aboard the boat, they’ll have access to twenty mentors, including Google’s VP of New Business Development, Megan Smith; Get Satisfaction CEO, Wendy Lea, and serial entrepreneur, VC, and philanthropist, Kamran Elahian.
The itinerary will take the teams from San Diego, CA, around Asia and Africa before ending in Barcelona, Spain. In all, 25,000 nautical miles will be covered as the the ship stops off in countries such as Japan, China, South Africa and Ghana.
If you’re an elligible startup, you can find out more on the Unreasonable at Sea website. You have until 20 May to apply.
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