The Anything Goes Accelerator Lab — located on the 9th floor of the Cambridge Innovation Center (CIC) — kicked off it’s “Alpha” phase today at 2:00pm. The “launch pad for entrepreneurs and innovators,” will give local startupers and entrepreneurs of all varieties access to a co-working space that involves heavy peer-to-peer mentoring and support from local startup gurus like Anything Goes Accelerator Lab Founder Bill Warner, a local serial entrepreneur (Avid Technologies, Wildfire, etc.), angel investor and big-time advocate for the Boston startup ecosystem.
This “test phase” of the program will last two weeks and take participants, each of whom paid the standard rate for the CIC’s C3 space where the lab is being hosted, through the paces of this new concept incubator. Warner has stressed all along that, unlike similar programs, Anything Goes will not ask participants to part with company equity in exchange for the guidance the program will provide.
Warner announced the Alpha phase in a recent blog post, and followed up with a quick video about the lab. The Anything Goes Accelerator Lab website is also now live and has been populated with tons of content about the goals and resources the lab will provide.
The Anything Goes Accelerator Lab was dreamed up by Warner as an extension to his series of talks titled “Build Your Startup from the Heart,” one of which we reported on here at BostInnovation. At the center of Warner’s message in these talks is a startup philosophy he created that focuses on: Intention, Invention and Beliefs. The system hinges on the idea that anyone with a strong and committed passion can create something that will help other people and precipitate change in the world.
At its essence, Anything Goes is about growing the passion inside every entrepreneur and making that passion spread to other people by way of story telling.
According to Warner’s video, 45 people are participating in the Anything Goes Alpha, and all of them will be working on creating movement around specific ideas, inventions and startup companies incubating in the lab. Staying true to the name, Warner and his Co-Founder, Nicholas Tomarello — Founder and President of local startup SparkCloud — have accepted all kinds of startupers into the program, including BostInnovation scribe Ali Powell, who will be working on building momentum around a project she’s developed to bring together female entrepreneurs in the Greater Boston Area.
Anything Goes will be testing its concept during this first two-week period, but those who are still interested will be able to continue with the program at the $250-per-month rate everyone in the CIC’s C3 space pays to have access to the 24-hour facility. (An earlier report filed by Mass High Tech‘s Galen Moore suggested that the price would be $350, but it seems the Anything Goes team has reduced that price.) Warner also says he’s continuing to look for potential sponsors to shoulder some of the cost for entrepreneurs who can’t afford to pay the full fee.
BostInnovation is excited to see how this new program/co-working space works out for participants. It’s obviously unique for its availability to ultra-early-stage projects, and anything that Warner’s involved in is something we’re interested in. Look for us to delve further into the goings on at Anything Goes over the coming weeks and months.
What do you think of the ideology and philosophy behind Anything Goes? Do you have any thoughts on the recent proliferation of co-working spaces in the Greater Boston Area? Please share your thoughts in the comments section below.
To learn more about the Anything Goes Accelerator Lab, be sure to follow @anythinggoeslab on Twitter.
Tags: Anything Goes Accelerator Lab, Bill Warner, Edu, Sparkcloud
