500 Startups has been bringing world class entrepreneurs to Silicon Valley for years.

But nowadays entrepreneurs from all over the world can build EPIC, venture-returns businesses without relocating to Silicon Valley — and we aim to help them.

The one thing every company wants is growth.

Wouldn’t it be great to be able to bring Silicon Valley-style growth marketing to high potential startups all over the world?

Wouldn’t it be amazing if teams could not only “learn” growth through talks and lectures but actually DO growth under the hands-on guidance of experts who are so pro at it that it’s practically boring to them?

Ah, maybe one day.

Throughout 2015, we’ve been taking DISTRO EVERYWHERE with our Distro Dojo growth marketing accelerators programs that pair investment money with growth training and guided implementation.

And it seems to be working.

We’ve attracted top companies, supported by local partners like the Knight Foundation and Building.co in Miami, WeWork in London, and the Malaysian government in Cyberjaya, Malaysia.

UH, WHAT IS A DOJO AGAIN?

Distro Dojos train post-seed, pre-A companies to do better growth marketing, and give them the funding to do it.

It’s pretty simple, and “just” boils down to:

• a company selection process centered around demonstrated growth wins and untapped potential,
• world-class mentors training you and then sitting down with you while you actually fix your shit,
• a handful of dollars to help you run fast, iterative experiments while you fundraise to series A
• connections to the right investors for your next stage

The 500 Distro Dojos have been on-site experiences, which lets teams learn from all the other smart people in their Dojo, and enjoy some nice real estate like WeWork Moorgate in London or Building in Miami.

Finally, Distro Dojos have been uniquely OUTSIDE of the happy bubble of Silicon Valley, and we like it that way.

Business innovation is becoming more distributed all the time, and now so is rapid-scale growth marketing — the next Silicon Valley isn’t going to be in Silicon Valley.

We’ve met and worked with dozens of great teams from across Latin America, Europe, and Southeast Asia through the 2015 Distro Dojos alone — and that’s about to blow up.

ANNOUNCING 2016 DOJOS

Today we’re excited to announce the 2016 Distro Dojos, just in case you want to get in on some of that.

Without further ado, the 2016 Distro Dojos:

London – starts February 1, 2016

Kuala Lumpur – starts February 15, 2016

Toronto – starts June, 2016

Istanbul – starts March 15, 2016

Los Angeles – starts May 1, 2016

Stockholm – starts May 9, 2016

London – starts May 9, 2016

Kuala Lumpur – starts May 30, 2016

Berlin – starts September 1, 2016

Miami – starts October 1, 2016

Participation in the Dojos is limited to post-seed, pre-A business with strong product-market fit and has previously been by invitation or referral only.

We will continue to sourcing companies via referrals from our broader network of founders, mentors and investors, but if you believe you’re a particularly strong candidate for an upcoming Distro Dojo, you can always hurry the process along and apply here.

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MORE ABOUT THE DOJOS

How Social Tools acquired 1.85 million new users — without ads [ Miami ] 

Say hello to Miami batch 1 [ Miami ] 

Inside the London Distro Dojo [ London ] 

Four companies, 12 weeks and a whole bunch of new customers [ London ]

GrabTaxi’s (marketplace) growth hacks — lessons from a Southeast Asian unicorn [ Southeast Asia ]