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Tasty Smart and Silabuz, P18 alumni, and Pryze, a pre18 alumnus, both acceleration and pre-acceleration programs from parallel18, were accepted into the Google for Startups: Sales Academy Latam program.
This is the first time the program will be executed for Google’s partner network in Latam and only 17 companies were selected, parallel18 officials confirmed.
The Google for Startups: Sales Academy is designed to provide startup founders with essential sales skills and practices that they can implement immediately to acquire new customers and partnerships, and secure funding. Over the course of six weeks, founders will engage in tactical training sessions that help them establish a solid foundation for increasing their revenue.
The program will run from May 11 to June 15 and will be offered in Spanish as it is focused on Latam companies.
“At parallel18 we focus on creating connections that provide high impact to our alumni during their participation in the program. Once they complete the program, we maintain this relationship and provide them with connections in the entrepreneurial and corporate ecosystem to help them grow and scale globally,” said Eduardo Padial, operations director at parallel18, a Puerto Rico Science, Technology and Research Trust program.
“The selection of these three companies into the Google for Startup: Sales Academy program is a great achievement and shows that the connections we do are of great value for our startups,” said Padial.
Nicole Froker, partnerships manager with Google for Startups, said, “At Google, we know that connecting startups to the right resources at the right time is crucial for their success, and this program has proven impact on founders’ ability to close deals and generate revenue. We’re proud to be working with such an impressive cohort of startups, and thankful to our partners like parallel18 for nominating them for the opportunity.”
The tools provided by Google for Startup: Sales Academy can be implemented immediately. Skills they will learn include working on their sales pitch, objection handling, how to build traction and how to ask the best questions in a customer meeting, she said.
“This represents a great opportunity for us at Tasty Smart. An opportunity to learn how to commercialize from an international perspective, since it’s not only Puerto Rico or the US, but also Latam. It will be a very enriching opportunity for our company,” said Joneli Vélez, co-founder and CEO at Gfree Food, parent company of TastySmart, which makes and distributes vegan and gluten-free products.
Meanwhile, Natalia Micheletti, co-founder of Pryze, a digital platform that rewards employees for not using their phones while working, said, “we’re very excited about this opportunity. It came at the right time since we just finished pre18 in Puerto Rico, which helped us to be prepared to grow globally.”
“Right now, we have just opened our investment round and we are working on the first hires and new clients. Pryze is growing and we know this program will help us reach the next level,” she said.
Among the requirements to be selected in the program were having a product already in the market; wanting to close a partnership or sales negotiation in the next two months; and the availability to participate in virtual training weekly.
Alejandra Puente, Silabuz co-founder and CMO, an educational online digital platform stated, “We’re very happy to be part of the 17 startups accepted in this competitive program. In 2020 we reached many milestones; it was a year of many challenges and opportunities in terms of company growth. With this program we seek to take Silabuz sales to the next level and consolidate our growth strategy for 2021.”
As previously reported by: News is My Business
