What’s really keeping you from starting
If you’ve had an idea for months or years and still haven’t acted on it, you’re not unusual. This article explores the planning loop that keeps people stuck, the kinds of tests that actually matter, and why momentum usually starts smaller than people expect.
Over the years, we’ve spoken to hundreds of people thinking about joining the Startup Acceleratorand starting something of their own. Usually they’d had the idea for a while, sometimes for months, sometimes for years. They weren’t short of information. They’d read the books, listened to the podcasts, followed the people you’re supposed to follow, and taken in a steady stream of advice about how to get going. In many cases, they already knew enough to begin. Still, nothing had really moved.
"I know I could do most of what it takes to start a business," one participant told us before joining. "For some reason I just wasn't doing it."
That is a familiar place to be. The delay usually sounds practical: a bit more time, a bit more money, a stronger idea, a clearer plan. None of those things are irrational. The problem is that they can stretch on for far longer than people expect, and the idea stays suspended in that half-formed state where it still feels important, but never quite becomes real.
What changes things is rarely a huge leap. More often, it is a small test that brings the idea into contact with the real world.
Joana joined the programme with an idea for a London vegan community. She did not begin by building a platform or mapping out a whole business. She started an Instagram account, began sharing the idea, and used that to see whether there was any real energy around it. Kindred Vegan grew from there.
Soniya had an idea for shower filters that would keep limescale and chlorine out of your hair. She made a prototype and posted about it. Within two weeks she had 44 sign-ups and 13 paying orders, which told her something far more useful than another month of planning would have done.
Jim wanted to unlock the potential of run-down London properties. There was no app, no platform, no elaborate set-up. He found one property owner and worked through the process. The result was a £60k upside for the owner, and by the time he came through the programme the second property was already underway.
Chris began selling kombucha at a market stall. Nick ran a single workshop using improv comedy principles to teach creativity to a corporate client. Different ideas, different models, but the same basic move: they found a way to test something real before it looked polished.
That matters because “would you use this?” and “would you pay for this?” are not the same question. One tends to get polite encouragement. The other gives you information you can actually build on.
A lot has changed since we last ran the Startup Accelerator. The tools now available make it much easier to get something real out into the world quickly, whether that is a product, a service, a workshop, a community, or a first offer. Things that once took much more time, money or technical confidence can now be tested faster and more lightly, which changes what those early stages can look like.
We’ve redesigned the programme for 2026 with that in mind. There is less emphasis on sitting in theory and more emphasis on getting something in front of real people, learning from the response, and building from there. The aim is not to leave with a polished business. It is to leave having properly tested something, with evidence, momentum, and something real to work from.
We’re running it again this summer over eight Tuesday evenings. If you’ve had an idea sitting in the background for a while and want help turning it into something more concrete, you can get on the list below.