On a whim, Nick decided to apply to get The Busking Project into a “business accelerator” (an office space where thirty small businesses try to become successful). One of them, Wayra, had a “social” (that’s business-speak for “good for humanity”) arm, so he thought he’d give them a go.
Nick brought breakdancers (B-Boy Mo Stef and his massively talented crew) with him to the application, and for the first 25 seconds of a 5-minute pitch they did headspins, backflips and were jumping off the walls. Nick said some stuff.
Wayra accepted The Busking Project over 280 other companies. We were the earliest company in the 2014 cohort (“pre-revenue, pre-product”), our business plan wasn’t fleshed out… “The Busking Project” was still more of an idea than a business.
And yet, thanks to the power of street performing, someone was willing to give us £40,000, office space and a ton of other support to help us meet our goal. We had the most powerful metric there is: a good idea. Now we had enough funds to build a team. And finally, after four years, we had enough money for Nick to start paying himself a UK living wage! His parents are very proud…