Managing Startups, the Sheet and Imports

Your startup directory#

Startups in the left-hand menu gives you everyone your centre has taken in, across every program and every year. Most startups arrive here automatically: when you onboard an application, the startup appears in this list without anyone typing anything.

• Grid and List, top right, switch how you look at the same data. The page opens on All startups; Active and Alumni narrow it.
• Grid is better for browsing - logos make startups easy to recognise.
• List is better for scanning - company, program, stage, funding, team and status in columns.
• The search box filters by name.
• Edit in sheet, next to them, opens every startup - and every founder, on its own tab - as a spreadsheet your team works in. See Working in the Sheet below.

List view, for when you need to compare#

The list gives you the same startups as rows, which is what you want when someone asks how many Series A companies you have, or which program a particular startup came through.

Adding a startup that did not apply#

Not every startup arrives through an application. You may be migrating an existing cohort onto the portal, or taking someone in by direct invitation. Open a program, go to its Startups tab, and choose Add Startup.

1. 1

   Search for them first

   Type their name or email. If the startup already exists anywhere on EcoSync - because they applied to another centre, or have a profile on the ecosystem platform - they will appear here. Picking them links to the existing record rather than creating a second one.

   Tip: Always search before creating. Two records for the same startup means their funding history and mentor sessions end up split across both, and merging them later is painful.

2. 2

   Or add them manually

   If the search finds nothing, Add New Startup Manually opens a form: startup name, founder name and email, a short and a long description, industries, location, website, phone, and internal notes only your team can see.

   • You also pick which batch they belong to, or 'No Batch' if they sit outside your normal intakes.
   • Set their status - Active, Prototype, Growth, Graduated, Inactive or Rejected.
   • The internal notes box is genuinely private to your team. Use it for the context you would not put in an email.
   • The founder gets an account and the welcome kit to set their own password - nobody at your centre sees or sends one. If their email already has an account, the startup is added to it and they are told.

Bringing in your existing spreadsheet#

If your centre has kept its startups in Excel - one row per company, a column per scheme, years of history - import the file rather than adding startups one by one. Startups, then Sheet, then Import. Nothing is written until the last step, and your place is saved as you go, so you can leave and come back.

1. 1

   Choose the file

   An Excel (.xlsx) or CSV file, up to 5,000 rows. Every sheet in the workbook opens as its own tab.

   

2. 2

   Tidy

   Say which row holds the headers if the file has a title above them. Split founders shows first which cells name more than one founder and who each becomes; split them and each person is a founder of the same startup on a row of their own - Undo split puts the rows back. Each tab is one sheet of the file and its number is the rows on it, not startups - a startup on two sheets becomes one startup. Switch off a sheet you don't want to import. Tick rows and press Skip to keep them out of the import; Include again brings them back, at any step before Import - a skipped row stays in the file, marked Skipped.

   

3. 3

   Map columns

   A table lists each column in your file, what it imports as - Company, Founder email, Date of entry, Scheme and so on - and up to two examples from the file as they will be read, or Empty in this sheet. Change any match you disagree with from its menu, grouped as Company, Founder, Status & dates, Programme, Money & impact, Your own column and Don't import; each choice says where its value is kept.

   • Tabs above the tables name each sheet you kept and, last, Schemes → programmes. They follow as you scroll; click one to jump to it. A sheet that only explains the others - a Field Guide or Read me - is left out at Tidy and has no tab.
   • Schemes become programmes, with the round or year as a batch. Rename them before they are made. A column called Program Name, Programme or Accelerator is read as the scheme too, and Grant amount or Funding amount as Support given.
   • LinkedIn, City, Stage, Description and Founded year go to the startup's Company Profile. On a startup you link, they fill what is blank; Stage is set on new startups only.
   • A column whose header no rule knows says Not recognised and becomes a column of your own unless you choose a field. When the header looks like a misspelt field - 'Secotr' - it offers Did you mean Sector?
   • A column that means something already recorded - 'Female founder' for Women founder - goes to that field rather than making a second one.
   • If every founder on a sheet is a student or alumnus of your organization, say so once for the whole sheet, under Founder settings below the table.
   • A new column of your own gets a type - Text, Number, Money, Yes / No or Date - filled in from what its values look like. Change it if it is wrong; a cell that is not that type is marked red later.
   • When a column's values do not fit the field it is matched to - Yes and No under Patents applied, which is a number - an amber note says how many do not fit, the sheet's title counts the columns to check, and the row offers to keep it as a new column of its own, of the type its values have, on every sheet at once.
   • A Batch or Round column goes to Batch / round: each row joins that batch of its scheme - one you already have by its name, or a new one.

   

4. 4

   Choose the programmes

   Below the columns, every scheme spelling in the file is listed with a programme and a batch already chosen from your own, each with how sure the match is. 'NIDHI PRAYAS 2' finds your 'NIDHI-PRAYAS Programme 2024' and its Round 2; a scheme you do not run yet becomes a new programme, and 'NIDHI PRAYAS 1', '2' and '3' all land in the one new programme.

   • A green match (90% and over) is taken as shown; an amber one (60-89%) waits for your tick, so a guess never becomes a membership unnoticed.
   • Pick another programme from the list - suggested matches first, then all your programmes - and its batches are ranked for that scheme at once.
   • Type in either list to search it. Create programme and Create batch sit at the foot of the list, always in view, named from what you typed; if that name is already yours, the list offers yours instead of a second one.
   • One batch per entry year puts each startup in 'Cohort 2019', 'Cohort 2021' and so on, by the year it joined - a batch of that name you already have is used. The review step lists each of those batches with how many startups join it.
   • A new batch takes its period from the rows: from the first joining date to the last leaving date, and it is marked completed when every startup in it has left. You can change the dates. The programme's Batches tab then shows when it ran - 'Ran Apr 2021 – Mar 2023'.
   • A scheme your file gives no round gets one batch, All years, with the period its rows give - so the programme has dates and can be allocated to. Rename it, or make one batch per entry year instead.
   • A new programme gets its scheme type and governing body from the shared lists. Adding a new entry to those lists is a separate, explicit choice, because every incubator sees them.
   • Refresh loads a programme someone has just created in another tab. The review step then says what will happen to each programme and batch before anything is written.

   

5. 5

   Match and check

   Each row is checked against your startups and against startups already on EcoSync. Four tiles count what will happen - Ready to import, Will be linked, Needs attention and Errors - and pressing one shows those rows; a line under them counts the rows, sheets and repeats, and you can show one sheet at a time. Fix any cell marked red by typing the right value. Drag a column's edge to widen it, double-click the edge to fit it, or hover a cut-off cell to read it whole.

   • Each row's coloured pill says what happens to it: New (blue), Link (green), Needs attention (amber), Fix or skip (red) or Skipped (grey). A row that repeats another reads Same as that row, and the startup's own row shows +2 rows.
   • Press a pill to decide. Its window says why the row matched - 'Same name and founder email as Solarspark' - what linking does, and marks the Recommended choice when the match is sure; then link, create a new startup, or skip the row.
   • The tabs - All, New, Will be linked, Needs attention, Errors, Repeats, Skipped - show one kind of row at a time.
   • Fix errors opens a panel with the errors grouped by what is wrong - 'Website is not a web address (30 rows)' - and an action for each group: clear the values, keep them in a column of your own so nothing is lost, skip the rows, or fix them one by one. Some groups know better: CIN numbers under Website move to CIN / LLPIN, scheme names under Support given move to Scheme, an exit before the entry swaps the two dates. Rows that need attention can be linked to their suggestion or made new, all at once. Each action says how many rows it changes, and Undo in the panel takes it back until you import.

   

   Tip: A row that matches a startup whose founder has signed in waits for that founder to confirm. One that no founder has signed in to yet joins your startups at once - see When a row is a startup already on EcoSync.

6. 6

   Review and commit

   One card, Ready to import, says what the import will do. Startups: how many are new, linked, waiting for their founder, or skipped, and how many rows repeat another. Programmes: a table of each programme - new or yours - with the names your file used for it, its batches and how many startups join. Founder accounts: the founders of startups still with you who get an account; read the welcome kit before anything sends. Import, and the rows go in with their history dated as the file dated it; then each ticked founder gets their account and the welcome kit.

   

7. 7

   Check the result

   Every row is listed with what happened to it and a link to the startup. Open the sheet to carry on, or undo the import if something went wrong. If the file had Support given, the import keeps it as your team's column and touches no fund. A checklist follows - add a funding source, allocate each batch, record the payments - with a table of each programme and batch: its support in the file, its state (Needs a batch, Needs allocation, Ready to record or Recorded) and the one thing to do next. Create the missing batches gives every scheme your file had no round for its All years batch in one go, with the startups the import put in it.

   • The studio keeps your import and its step in the page address. Going to Investments to add a funding source or allocate, then back, lands on the same import - and Investments offers Back to your import.
   • The programmes an import made read Past scheme in the Programs list while none of their batches is running - a record of a past scheme, not a draft. The sidebar's "past schemes" link lists them. Add a batch to one and it is a current programme again; nothing else to switch.

   

When a row is a startup already on EcoSync#

Match and check compares every row with your own startups and with the startups other incubators hold on EcoSync. What it finds decides what you can do with the row.

• A startup another incubator holds, that no founder has signed in to yet, joins your startups at once when you link it. The company - name, logo, website, sector and its public page - is shared. Your programmes, notes, files, money, your own columns and the founders you record stay yours; the other incubator never sees them.
• A startup whose founder has signed in waits for that founder: they are asked to confirm, and it joins your startups when they do.
• A startup another incubator keeps off EcoSync is named only when it is clearly the same startup - never on a name alone.
• Undo import takes back the links it made for 15 minutes after it finishes, as long as nobody has worked on those startups since.

Import errors, and how to fix them#

A red cell stops its row from going in; an amber corner is a note the row can go in with. Point at a cell to read why. Fix it by typing in the cell, or skip the row - or press Fix errors to fix every row with the same problem at once.

When to use the Sheet#

The Sheet is for working on many startups at once, the way you would in Excel. A startup's own page is still the place for one startup's whole record.

• Bring your existing spreadsheet in, or fill in the same facts for many startups in one sitting.
• Compare startups side by side, and keep saved tabs - a programme's portfolio, this year's graduates.
• Ask many startups for the same document or figure, or remind them, in one go.
• Act on a set of startups together: graduate them, add them to a programme, send them an announcement.

1. 1

   Open it

   Startups, then Edit in sheet. Grid or List takes you back.

2. 2

   Pick a tab

   Each tab is a saved view: which rows, which columns, in what order.

3. 3

   Change cells

   Type, or paste a block from Excel. A cell with a mark in its column header changes another way - double-click it. A blue edge shows what is not saved yet.

4. 4

   Save

   Save, in the bar at the bottom, writes every change at once. Discard takes them all back.

Working in the Sheet#

Sheet shows every startup as a row and every fact as a column, with tabs along the top. A tab is a saved view - which rows, which columns, in what order, under what headers. Editing a cell in any tab edits the one startup, and everyone on your team sees the same tabs.

• Click a cell and type, or press Enter to edit. Tab, arrows, Delete, Ctrl+C, Ctrl+V, Ctrl+Z and Ctrl+Y work as in Excel, and a block pasted from Excel is one Save.
• Nothing you type is written until you press Save. Leaving the page with changes waiting asks whether to save them, leave them behind, or stay.
• Each column's menu starts with its name and what kind of column it is; What is this column?, at the bottom, says where its value is kept - on the startup's Company Profile, in its lifecycle, in your team's records. The Columns list is grouped the same way.
• The arrow at the start of a row opens it on the side with every field and the history of each change.
• A column's Filter starts with a Contains box: type part of a name, a city or a note and only the rows holding it stay, whatever the capitals.
• Leave out of this tab, on a row's side panel, takes a startup out of that tab only - nothing is deleted, and every other tab still shows it. The count under the sheet says how many are left out; Show them brings them back, marked Left out, and Put it back in returns one. Like any tab change, it waits for Save tab for everyone.
• Tick the box at the start of a row to act on it - shift-click ticks every row between, and the box above the row numbers ticks the whole tab. The bar that appears offers Export selected, Leave out of this tab (or Put back for rows already left out) and Clear selection; a filter or search that hides a ticked row drops its tick.
• The bar also acts on the ticked startups - only the actions your role allows: Set a value (one value in one column; it waits for Save like typing), Ask the startups, Remind, Graduate or Record exit on one date, Add to a programme (and batch), Collect data and Record payments on a programme's sheet, Send an announcement, and Remove from this programme. Each says how many it will change first, and ends with every startup done or skipped with the reason - already there, left your centre, money still on its way.
• On the Founders tab: Make their accounts for founders your team keeps, and Send the welcome kit again to an account nobody has used yet - once a day each.
• On a phone the sheet is read-only.

Every button and label in the Sheet#

What each control on the Sheet does, and what happens after you use it.

Problems in the Sheet, and what to do#

Excel out, and back in#

Export turns the tabs you choose into one Excel workbook - a sheet per tab, your column order, your headers, and an Ecosync ID column that ties each row to its startup.

1. 1

   Export the tabs you need

   Edit in sheet, then Export. Tick the tabs, check the preview of their columns, and download. Press a column in the preview to leave it out of the file. When a search narrows the rows, you can export only the rows it shows.

   

   Tip: The file uses each tab as it was last saved: if you changed a tab and have not saved it, the dialog says so. Founders' emails and phone numbers are included only if your role may export contact details. The Summary sheet lists what you chose, and every export is logged.

2. 2

   Edit it in Excel

   Change values, fill blanks, add a column. Keep the Ecosync ID column as it is.

3. 3

   Upload it on Import

   The file is recognised as your own export. You see every cell that differs from the record now, new columns to add, and anything that cannot be applied, with the reason. Nothing is written until you apply.

   • Rows without an Ecosync ID go to the normal import as new startups.
   • A change to a founder's own field on a claimed startup can be sent to the founder as a suggestion instead.
   • Status and dates never change from a file - they go through the lifecycle.
   • A programme's columns (batch, standing, the money) are read but never applied; change them on the programme's page.
   • If one startup's cell is changed to two different values - on two tabs, or on two lines of a programme export - the first row's value is used and the other is listed.

   

Fields: fill them yourself, or ask the startups#

A column your team adds is a field. Its cell shows the newest of two things: what your team put there, or what the startup sent when you asked - with where it stands, such as Awaiting review (startup), Approved (startup) or Asked 12 Sep · 16 days. A field can hold a value (a date, yes/no, a choice, an amount...) or a file of a kind (a pitch deck, a PAN card, or Other).

• Add column offers what already exists as you type: fields you have, and anything asked before - "Fathers' names · asked of 8". Picking one brings its earlier answers into the column; nothing is sent.
• Ask the startups, from a field's header or from the bar over ticked rows: one request to each startup, with the instruction you write. From the Startups page it goes to the startup itself; from a programme's sheet, to that programme's application; from Registrations, to the application. Each row ends asked or skipped with the reason - no founder on Ecosync, or already asked.
• Startups answer with the input the field needs - a date picker, Yes/No, its choices - on their Company Profile or on their application.
• Fill it yourself: type or paste in the cell and Save. A file field's cell takes an upload, and Upload files in its header takes many at once, each matched to its startup by name before anything is saved. Filling a row closes its open ask.
• A file cell, or a field in the row's side panel, opens everything about it: every time it was asked, each answer and file, and Approve, Ask again, Not accepted or Withdraw.
• Remind the startups about what is still waiting on them - from a field's header, from the bar over ticked rows (one field, or everything waiting), from a field's cell, or on the startup's Requests tab. Their founders get the request's own notification again, with the day it was asked; each request is reminded at most once a day, and an answer waiting for your review is not reminded. Each row says whether it was reminded, or why not. You can also switch on Remind founders automatically (Settings, Preferences - off until you turn it on): each morning a request still unanswered is reminded 7 and 14 days after it was asked, and whoever asked gets a list in the app - answers to review, requests unanswered for two weeks, and what was reminded.
• Once a field has been asked, its name stays - it is how the answers find it. A tab can still show another header.

Founders you keep, and their accounts#

A startup brought in from your records often has founders with no EcoSync account. Your team keeps their name, email and phone on the Founders tab. Open a founder's row and choose Make their account: they become the startup's founder and get the welcome kit - set a password, or sign in with Google. Someone whose email already has an account is added to the startup and told. Your team keeps editing the company until the founder first signs in; from then on its details are theirs to keep.

• Read the welcome kit first - both emails, as that founder would get them. Nothing is sent from the preview.
• No password is made or sent by your team. The founder's link to set one lasts 14 days; after that, Forgot password or Google works for the same email.
• If whoever reads the email says it is not them, one click takes them off the startup and your team is told. The row then reads Not them: correct the email, then make the account again.
• A made account nobody has used yet reads Not signed in.
• An invitation to claim sent before accounts were made this way still works, and can be cancelled.
• Founders of a startup that has left your centre are never contacted.

Files, notes and documents#

A startup's Files & notes tab holds what your team keeps about it: files you upload - agreements, certificates, a pitch deck from demo day - and internal notes. Files are visible only to your team unless you choose to share one with the founder; notes never reach the founder at all.

1. 1

   Keep a file or a note

   Add a file, say what kind of document it is, and choose who sees it. Notes sit on the right, newest first; pin the one that matters.

   

2. 2

   Ask the founder

   For a startup that joined without an application - brought in from your records, or linked by its founder - ask for a document here. The founder answers on their company profile; you approve the file or ask for a new one with a reason.

   

3. 3

   See the whole portfolio

   Documents, in the left-hand menu, then By startup, shows every startup against each kind of document - on file, requested, awaiting review or missing. Ask the whole portfolio for one kind at once, or download every file of one kind together.

   

A startup inside a program#

Opening a startup from within a program gives you the full picture: eight tabs and six summary tiles covering everything your centre has done with them. This is the screen to open before a review meeting.

Why you may see two different statuses#

This confuses people, so it is worth being precise. A startup has a status, and its link to each program has its own separate status. They are different things and they change independently.

Startups in more than one program#

Startups often come back - a pre-incubation graduate applies to your accelerator, or a portfolio company joins a themed cohort. The Associations tab shows every program at your centre a startup belongs to, so you can see the whole relationship rather than one slice of it.

• Opening a startup from inside a program shows you that program's view of them.
• Opening the same startup from the Startups directory shows the company overall.
• The Associations tile tells you how many programs they are in - the one on our example says four.
• Funding, mentors and desks are tracked against the specific association, so a startup in two programs does not have its records mixed up.

Common questions#