Streamlining Applicant Review Process: A Case Study on Launchpad LA's Use of Asana

Launchpad LA is a top startup accelerator that offers mentorship programs, funding, and office space to promising startups. It was founded by Mark Suster and Adam Lilling with a mission to help the local startup community. In 2011, it transitioned from a mentorship organization to a full-on accelerator. The accelerator has a small team and operates on a limited budget. Despite these constraints, it has managed to attract a high volume of applicants for its programs, with over 1,000 applicants per class. Over the years, Launchpad LA has seen more than 40 companies go through its mentorship and accelerator programs, 35 of which have been funded and nine of which have been acquired.

Launchpad LA, one of the world’s top startup accelerators, was facing a significant challenge in managing their applicant tracking process. Initially, they relied on a spreadsheet to track their applicants, which proved to be inefficient and cumbersome, especially with non-numeric data filling the spreadsheet's rows and columns. The problem was exacerbated when the number of applicants increased to over 1,000 per class. The selection committee had to sift through more than 300 rows in a Google Spreadsheet to pare the pool down to eight startups. The process was not scalable and became 'very ugly, very quickly', according to Kyle Taylor, Launchpad’s former director of operations. The existing software solutions were targeted at large businesses with large budgets, which was not suitable for Launchpad LA. They needed a cost-effective solution that could handle a high volume of applications and streamline their review process.

In search of a solution, Kyle Taylor discovered Asana, a popular project management software, which could be used as an applicant tracker. Asana allowed Launchpad to assign responsibilities to selection committee members, note next steps for specific applicants, and ultimately pare down the applicants to just eight admitted startups. However, Asana did not cover all the actions required in their process, such as pulling applications from a web form, sharing slide decks with the selection committee, and keeping all applicants informed with an email newsletter. To bridge this gap, Kyle turned to Zapier, an app automation platform. Using Zapier, Launchpad was able to automate the process of adding application answers to Asana when an application was submitted, adding applicant emails to a newsletter list, and sending attached pitch decks on submissions to a shared Dropbox folder among the selection committee. This combination of Asana and Zapier provided a comprehensive solution to Launchpad's applicant tracking challenge.

• The implementation of Asana and Zapier significantly improved the operational efficiency of Launchpad LA's applicant tracking process. The solution not only saved a 'ton of time' but also made the whole process 'a lot more efficient' for the small team. It eliminated the need for manual data entry and reduced the risk of errors. The automation of tasks allowed the team to focus on more critical aspects of the selection process, such as reviewing applications and making decisions. The solution was scalable and could handle the increasing volume of applications without requiring additional staff. Overall, the use of Asana and Zapier transformed Launchpad LA's applicant tracking process, enabling them to manage a high volume of applications effectively and efficiently.

• Managed to handle over 1,000 applications per class efficiently

• Streamlined the process of reviewing applications, saving a 'ton of time'

• Enabled the team to pare down the applicants to just eight admitted startups