Startup Accelerators

CHAPTER 7Choosing an Accelerator Program

With the top programs, everybody in the VC community will be looking at you. But with some of these newer accelerators, especially regional ones or those in nontraditional verticals, you need to be sure that serious VC shops from outside your area take the program seriously and see its alumni as serious possibilities for funding.

Yael Hochberg, Rice University Professor of Entrepreneurship; Managing Director, Seed Accelerator Rankings Project

Significance of the Decision to Participate in or Forgo Accelerator Programs

Before considering which accelerator to do, founders have to first decide if they should do an accelerator at all. For instance, they have to consider the benefits accelerators offer (e.g., idea validation, accelerated learning, accelerated evolution, investment readiness, seed funding, advice/support network, investor/customer/strategic partner access, help with legal structure, help with getting strategy right, help with executing the strategy, etc.), whether they need these benefits, whether accelerators are the best vehicle for accessing these benefits, and whether the right accelerators for them are actually accessible.¹ Notwithstanding that they may not know what they don't know, if founders believe the response to any of these questions is “no,” then forgoing accelerator programs may make sense. Doing so means they don't unnecessarily dilute their equity, don't expose themselves to restrictive equity investment ...