The concept of Startup Accelerator is sometimes misunderstood, and there are different understandings or definitions available, I however found the best definition of Startup Accelerators by Susan Cohen, she define accelerators as"
"Broadly speaking, they (accelerators) help ventures define and build their initial products, identify promising customer segments, and secure resources,including capital and employees. More specifically, accelerator programs are programs of limited-duration—lasting about three months—that help cohorts of startups with the new venture process. They usually provide a small amount of seed capital, plus working space. They also offer a plethora of networking opportunities, with both peer ventures and mentors, who might be successful entrepreneurs, program graduates, venture capitalists, angel investors, or even corporate executives. Finally, most programs end with a grand event, a “demo day” where ventures pitch to a large audience of qualified investors."[...Susan Cohen,2013]
In a later work she further refines an accelerator as
“a fixed-term, cohort-based program, including mentorship and educational components, that culminates in a public pitch event or demo day.”[...Cohen and Hochberg, 2014]
So the most important attributes of an accelerator that differentiate it from other startup supporting institutions are that:
- Accelerators are Fixed-term
- Accelerators are Cohort-based
- Accelerators are Mentor-driven
- Accelerators culminates in a public pitch event or demo day
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