Competition is heating up as hundreds of young start- ups and entrepreneurial teams across the country compete to land a spot in one of five “accelerator” programs, each with deadlines looming this month. At stake is seed money, access to leading experts and mentors, and the opportunity to turn an idea into a viable product, and a dream into a daily reality.

So, what does it take to get into one of these programs? And what should a team consider before applying in the first place?

To gain insight, I spoke with Buzzable.com founders and LaunchBox Digital 2008 alumni Satjot Sawhney and Ashish Kundra. Little more than six months after completing the LaunchBox program, Sawhney and Kundra launched, Buzzable.com on February 27^th, and have already seen the diverse ways in which users are utilizing their platform.  (For example, teachers in the Highered group are bouncing questions off of each other, folks in the Mexico group are having an asynchronous chat, and the Buzzable team manages and responds to ‘buzzable-related’ tweets in the buzzable support group.

We spoke about their experience applying for, and participating in, the 2008 cycle of the LaunchBox Digital accelerator program. In this blog post, the first of a two part series about their experience with LaunchBox, Sawhney and Kundra shed light on the application process itself, and the key questions and main mindset that lead to their acceptance into, and success within, the LaunchBox Digital accelerator program.

What made you decide to do apply for a program?

A combination of seed funding and the opportunity to work with people who would help the business grow. The truth is, cash behind you makes things easier. You don’t waste time over analyzing minor expenditures, and instead focus on product development.

Why LaunchBox?

They forced us to answer critical questions from the get- go. Even at our very first interview, they critiqued the crap out of our proposal in a way that was very specific to our proposed business. This was precisely the type of feedback we felt would be necessary to help us reach our maximum potential.

How far along was your product when you applied?

We were at a very conceptual stage when we applied for the program, and actually ended up changing our business completely.

Can you elaborate on the application process?

After submitting our initial application and participating in a phone interview, we were invited to DC for a face-to-face meeting. At that meeting, we spent an hour and a half with LaunchBox principals, really getting into the nitty gritty of the company and answering many tough questions, some of which we had not yet even considered.

We didn’t just wait around after the interview, either. We spent the entire week after our meeting in constant contact with LaunchBox, following up on all of the questions we had been unprepared for or unable to answer.

It was an intense period of dialogue, but we also saw it as an opportunity to learn as much as possible from the interview process.  Our thinking was, “We may not get in, but we are going to learn everything from these guys while we have their attention…”

What are the top three things entrepreneurs considering an incubator program should weigh in deciding whether to apply?

The first question is definitely, are you ready to climb the mountain? Are you willing to commit to working 14- 15 hours a day, alone or with a partner in order to see this thing through? Second, you should ask yourself whether you need the money. What will you use it for? Don’t just take it for the sake of taking it- have a use for it. Finally, figure out what attributes of a program are most important to you. For us, it was about the mentors, and about having advisors that would be willing to ask the tough questions.

Take some time to do some self analysis first, it will help you determine whether an incubator program makes sense, and which one would be the right fit for you and your team.

What personal attributes do you believe made you successful in applying and participating in the LaunchBox program?

Persistence, persistence, persistence.

I’d say that the interview process helps to narrow down who really has what it takes to go through the program itself.   It is sort of like college admissions in that sense—the partners WANT participating teams to succeed, and therefore use the vetting process to identify those companies they believe can manage the workload, and the up-and-down-roller-coaster ride of it all.

Do you have any final recommendations for teams applying to one of the incubator programs this year?

Be passionate and sincere. If you are serious and you think you have an idea that is going to be big- communicate that clearly. At the end of the day, they are funding people, not just good ideas. Show that you believe in your idea and your team without a shadow of a doubt, and that you have the drive and personality to keep pushing.

For more information on Buzzable, check out this article in TechCrunch, or follow @buzzable on twitter. Feeling inspired? Click here for details on the LaunchBox Digital accelerator program, or read-up on one of these other programs currently accepting applications: Amplifier, TechStars, Y-Combinator and DreamIT.

Alexis Rodich, MBA Candidate, Guest Blogger