There is a massive display screen above Marylin Ma’s desk in the Communitech Hub and all day, every day, it flashes the weekly sales goals of each team in the Rev accelerator.

It is a constant, Orwellian reminder that the cohort members have to get out and sell, and meet their weekly targets. And it is one reason that all four cohort members – BluePoint Technology, FunnelCake, Knowledgehook and Tallyfi – increased their sales in the first two months of the program, even though the holiday period is usually a dead season for sales.

“This new model is going extremely well,” Ma, the Program Manager, said in an interview in January. “We’re working with the companies religiously on their sales and marketing strategies.”

Rev started early last year as a means of helping companies with revenues to scale. The thinking was that the Waterloo Region was really great at launching companies but needed to pay more attention to helping companies grow. So Rev is a program for companies with a product and that need to get serious about building scalable marketing and sales processes.

Check Out The Members of Rev's Cohort 3

After the first cohort successfully concluded with about eight companies graduating, the organizers refined the program.

First, they staggered the intake. Four companies entered the six-month program in November, and another four entered the program in February. By staggering the program with a four-company intake at one time (rather than eight companies at once), Rev allows for more customized programming because each business is unique.

The second change is that the organizers intensified the executives-in-residence positions for the program, naming three of them for the four teams, and deepening their work with the companies.

“The mentors are almost acting as embedded executives,” said Ma, adding that these experienced executives are diving into the companies’ strengths and weaknesses, coming with them on sales calls and working side-by-side with the founders. “Being in the field allows the executives to gain insights directly from the customers. They’re then better positioned to advise where the companies should go.”

But for the most part, the goals of Rev haven’t changed since the program started a year ago – to grow revenues and develop solid corporate organizations. When the four members of Cohort 2 pitch at Centre Stage (the name for Rev’s demo day) in May, they will have to demonstrate how the sales and marketing engine they’ve built will help them achieve their future revenue targets. It’s what Rev companies have to do to graduate.

“We’ve gone in since Day 1 with that goal,” said Ma. “It’s never easy but we have a lot of knowledge under our belt now to better guide our companies.”