Designing the Successful Corporate Accelerator

About the Authors

Jules Miller has alternated between working in the corporate world and the startup/VC world for nearly two decades in Silicon Valley, New York, and Los Angeles. She started her career at Ernst & Young in the Venture Capital consulting group, then became an “intrepreneur” before she had any idea what that was. She would consistently (and annoyingly) suggest new initiatives to her boss, who thankfully allowed her to work on these projects as long as her core job was prioritized, then supported the initiatives that gained traction. This included completing the Big 4 accounting and consulting firm's first carbon footprint and also launching new business units around cleantech and environmental sustainability.

Miller then founded three companies, a consulting firm and two venture-backed tech companies, one of which is still a thriving, profitable business and one of which was acquired. She went through the process of applying to multiple accelerator programs as an entrepreneur and ultimately decided not to participate when accepted due to a perceived lack of value or long-term support that made it seem not worth it to give up a big chunk of equity.

More recently, Miller tried to address these issues when she launched two highly regarded blockchain accelerator programs for IBM and co-founded the IBM Blockchain Ventures group. She felt the challenges of corporate innovation first hand, and as a result has developed a clear perspective on building and managing accelerator ...