PolyUp is growing, and for the better!

This article introduces you to the scaling up of an initiative in our environment that benefits entrepreneurs: PolyUP.

Our shared challenge? To work together for the greater good, to facilitate progress, monitoring, and quality support, and to come together as a strong human and organizational chain in Quebec. We hope that this initiative will become an example and a source of pride that will be talked about far beyond our borders.

To conclude this introduction, I would like to say a special word of thanks for all your emails expressing your commitment. It is very encouraging! 

TL;DR: Read the headlines and blue boxes

PolyUp is a collaborative workspace for entrepreneurs and those who support them, based on Miro software. This virtual space organizes key concepts in business development to assess what has been learned and identify areas for further study. The tool allows for free navigation and offers messaging, commenting, and voting features, promoting entrepreneurs' independence.

Short answer: Because it was already called that, and we don't want to change the name for those who have already used it 🙂

Long answer: the original name seemed entirely appropriate. On the one hand, it refers to the organization it came from, and that's a nice tribute— Propolys at Polytechnique Montréal. When we discussed changing the name, no one immediately associated the term PolyUp with Propolys. On the contrary, the definition of the word "Poly"—meaning "many" in Latin—refers to the scope of the tool, which brings together several concepts and is intended to be used by multiple actors in succession.

We have a basic template on a Miro space that we duplicate. In a new "instance" (the name used for a copy of the template) of version 6.0, you will find:

• A section of instructions to remind you how to use PolyUp*:
  • the rules to follow
  • how comment colors work
  • additional resources

  *The instructions are suggestions and best practices that we encourage you to follow.

• A self-diagnosis section
• A discovery and validation section
• A section for work and experimentation
• A Market/Product Alignment Section
• An impact section

Currently in version 6.0, PolyUp is set to evolve thanks to collegial governance by an advisory committee (more on this below).

The Creative Commons concepts that comprise it could be improved, transformed into applications, or replaced by new ones. It aims to accelerate communication, reduce the burden of knowledge transfer between programs, reinforce learning, and track the project's progress throughout the startup's support journey.

1. For advisors, it allows them to challenge entrepreneurs and centralize information.
2. For entrepreneurs, it helps validate or invalidate the components of their business, reducing risks and ensuring entrepreneurial success.

We act as a third party offering a useful solution to all the stakeholders we talk to (and we talk to a lot of people!).

Part of our mission is to scale initiatives that benefit everyone. We are therefore taking charge of the distribution, maintenance, and future development of this tool.

It's a lot of work to answer all the questions, assist new users, keep track of all distributed instances, produce content, and ensure governance. In addition, we will help with transfers, access rights management, and any instances where content is modified or deleted by mistake.

Our neutral position allows us to bring together several stakeholders in a committee and ensure the collaborative development of this tool with a clear governance system.

• For cohesion and continuity in supporting entrepreneurs throughout a continuum of support.
• To facilitate learning and always move forward rather than reworking what has already been learned.
• To establish standards and turn the diversity of support providers into a strength in terms of collaboration and complementarity.

⭐️ The key to the concept (and if you only remember one thing): PolyUp is continuously improving AND it is transferable!

You are free not to use PolyUp if you don't want to. Remember that this is just a suggestion. Similarly, if you want to use it but the entrepreneurs don't want to, their wishes take precedence, because the aim is for it to be useful to the entrepreneur.

We don't want to force the main (no pun intended). We do it because we know it's relevant; the power of usage will teach us the rest.

Have you considered using it to train your trainers? The concepts brought together enable you to present best practices, along with their resources, to keep your trainers up to date with validated standards. Increase their knowledge, define their scope of action, and give them the means to collaborate.

Ah, that's another question, but a very important one!

On the one hand, let's not forget to remain humble, because as support providers, we are only one step in the entrepreneur's journey. PolyUp facilitates the continuity of this journey. So, the first person involved in the journey of an entrepreneur who initiates a PolyUp will start using this support.

On the other hand, the document accompanies the entrepreneur and could be used in other programs to be reworked according to the start-up's developments. We must therefore work with the understanding that we are one link in a chain and that PolyUp may arrive partially completed before us and will continue to be enriched by others after our participation throughout the chain.

Therefore, we must not delete or alter the content for our own use. Doing so would destroy the very concept of transmissibility that is the strength of this initiative.

So, we can: 

• participate in the advisory committee and propose new relevant content. 
• add useful content in the margin
• select some of the proposed elements and not focus on others at all

To continue the work on PolyUp, we will set up an advisory committee.

Why: In line with our mission and values of transparency, collaboration, and sound governance, this advisory committee is tasked with advising, commenting on, and contributing to PolyUp's technology roadmap (Roadmap + Backlog).
Yes, MAIN distributes it, but it is a tool that is intended to be used by as many people as possible, so we believe it is only natural that our job is to organize its governance and ensure its democratic development so that it is as useful as possible and as closely aligned as possible with everyone's practices.

Who will form this committee: a coherent and representative group of stakeholders, including accelerators/incubators that use the tool, government stakeholders (federal and provincial), entrepreneurs, of course, and members of the pilot project will be included in the first committee.

When: this committee will be launched after the pilot project

How to join the committee: by contacting us! There will be a quarterly meeting and ongoing access to a working document to gather new proposals. Committee members can step down at any time. We would like members to remain for two quarters before proposing new members to replace them, in order to involve as many stakeholders as possible throughout the year.

PolyUp is a kind of toolbox with features:

• Continuous improvement (collaborative = advisory committee)
• Transferable (to each support program)
• Who owns it? The entrepreneur (yes, the request is made by the actors, but the content and therefore each instance of PolyUp belongs to the entrepreneur. It is up to them to decide on access links and the use of this space).
• Who wants to be impartial and apolitical (benefits immediately from bringing value to entrepreneurs, and we try to make this tool simply a tool without it representing any affiliation)
• Creative Commons content, royalty-free, licensed, or assigned (the content is either free to use or recognized as being free to use under the terms of the concepts cited here)

Want to talk about it? Write to us at polyup-demande@mainqc.com