In a recent post, there was a debate on the merits of our company, VerbalizeIt, joining up with an accelerator program and was questioned on the probable types of entrepreneurs and businesses fit for incubators.
On a final note, we made a correct decision to join in the ranks of TechStars Class of 2012 in Boulder, Colorado. But again, is joining business accelerator right for everyone? Launching a new venture has been made relatively easier owing to the assets of access to capital, and primarily a tremendous desire to start a business.
The potential growth in new business propagations have been met by a proliferation in the business accelerator programs, prominently engineered to help entrepreneurs to launch and scale their pursuits through carefully designed programs and access to enormous capital.
It needs to be noted that not all businesses and entrepreneurs can be deemed as a good fit for all accelerator programs and not again all accelerator programs can be acclaimed to possess equal caliber.
Here are three reasons for applying to a high-quality business accelerator:
Acceleration: The primary reason for it being called an accelerator is because of the fact that it provides crucial acceleration to the entire ordeal. Incubator programs have been structurally framed to provide assistance and help to entrepreneurs to succeed and fail faster. At the end of the day it is far better to fail faster and then realize your mistakes.
It saves time and lets the person to iterate on them quicker than it is to putter in ambiguity for months or years on a trot without prior realization of having headed the wrong way.
I must acquiesce to the fact that at the end of the day I was able to garner amazing feedback in a short period of time which in turn allowed me to improve and structurally integrate our business within a matter of days contrary to the conventional time period of years or months. According to David Cohen, cofounder of TechStars, “Do More Faster.”
Talent: Taking part in an accelerator gives entrepreneurs access to three types of talent:
On a final note, we made a correct decision to join in the ranks of TechStars Class of 2012 in Boulder, Colorado. But again, is joining business accelerator right for everyone? Launching a new venture has been made relatively easier owing to the assets of access to capital, and primarily a tremendous desire to start a business.
The potential growth in new business propagations have been met by a proliferation in the business accelerator programs, prominently engineered to help entrepreneurs to launch and scale their pursuits through carefully designed programs and access to enormous capital.
It needs to be noted that not all businesses and entrepreneurs can be deemed as a good fit for all accelerator programs and not again all accelerator programs can be acclaimed to possess equal caliber.
Here are three reasons for applying to a high-quality business accelerator:
Acceleration: The primary reason for it being called an accelerator is because of the fact that it provides crucial acceleration to the entire ordeal. Incubator programs have been structurally framed to provide assistance and help to entrepreneurs to succeed and fail faster. At the end of the day it is far better to fail faster and then realize your mistakes.
It saves time and lets the person to iterate on them quicker than it is to putter in ambiguity for months or years on a trot without prior realization of having headed the wrong way.
I must acquiesce to the fact that at the end of the day I was able to garner amazing feedback in a short period of time which in turn allowed me to improve and structurally integrate our business within a matter of days contrary to the conventional time period of years or months. According to David Cohen, cofounder of TechStars, “Do More Faster.”
Talent: Taking part in an accelerator gives entrepreneurs access to three types of talent:
- Team-members: The elite nature of acceleration enables entrepreneurs to surround themselves with the merits of self-driven individuals including prospective teammates.When we arrived at TechStars, we were a two-person team. We left as a team of six with far stronger prospects for our future
- Mentors: Best accelerators provide entrepreneurs access to mentors with enormous and vast experience in an array of fields including the likes of product development, customer development, sales, finance and customer operations. Holding discussions with the right mentor on a prospective niche will allow you to receive a plethora of feedback.
- Fellow Incubator Companies: One of the most unexpected benefits of TechStars was the relationships that we had developed with those incubator companies which also included the community of companies from previous programs. To this day we are still engaged with the immensely talented individuals for the sake of our own benefit.
Access to Capital: Most incubators have been known to culminate with a “demo day”, which can be referred to as an intensive day of company presentations to an audience of well-respected investors. It’s the perfect day to showcase the skills and the entrepreneur’s team accomplishments starting from an incipient level to the present day scenario.
Raising capital is not for all people, but demo day bestows entrepreneurs and investors with the opportunity to connect and explore a range of collaborative opportunities worth millions of dollars of capital and alongside also lets them cherish the relics of invaluable advice and expertise.
References:
http://www.forbes.com/sites/ryanfrankel/2015/05/15/the-insider-three-reasons-to-apply-to-a-business-accelerator-program/
