The studio model shows the value proposition of the accelerator very clearly. The fact that itis gaining in popularity is shown by Andreessen Horowitz, the best-known technology VC who recently recruited no less than 45 experts to accelerate the growth of his investments. In the studio formula, startups are even more redeemed from the actual creation of the company than in the case of a ‘traditional’ accelerator. But it comes at a high price: they have to give up a significant part, up to 30 per cent of their precious shares. Y Combinator versus Harvard
The success and popularity of accelerators has also provoked a shock wave in academic circles. While traditional business schools prepare their MBA students for a career as executives by combining theory and business cases, accelerators have become the place where drop-outs realise the American dream. The MBA circle is, so to speak, perfectly tailored to work in an in vitro environment, but flounders in the disruptive in vivo world of a start-up. Where the MBA network relies on alumni, accelerators provide access to an instant, highly pertinent network that is immediately useful as a lever. And if startups need something to be able to grow, it is levers.
In the meantime, a select circle of accelerators has itself become an elitist Ivy League. It is therefore not surprising that the alma mater of startups, Stanford University, recently launched its own accelerator, StartX. It’s all about the money
Accelerators play a fundamental role in the tech ecosystem, acting as a quality filter for the enormous volume of start-ups, which helps investors in search for opportunities.
Even though accelerators are typically launched by ‘business angels’, they are backed financially stronger parties. At Y Combinator, this would be the VC Sequoia fund. However, an accelerator should be neutral and give everyone a chance to invest. Otherwise there is a risk that startups who do not receive follow-up funding (the ‘Series A round’) from their own VC have little chance of finding another source of financing.
Almost all acceleration programmes invest 15,000 to 2,000 USD for 5-10 per cent of shares. Some invest 50,000 USD, like the successful English Seedcamp. Others work without funding or offer a mere ‘room and board’ arrangement.
It is exiting for a startup business to be given an initial valuation of some 200,000 USD, but unfortunately it is just on paper and it is quickly gone, unless the company makes it to the next phase: that of rapid growth. One last word of advice
What young entrepreneurs are looking for in an accelerator are elements that increase their chances of long-term success: knowledge of the market and industry, product/business development support and contacts with investors. On the one hand, success depends in part on the profile of the people behind the accelerator and on the other hand, on the specific focus of the programme.
Do not underestimate the period of post-acceleration, as that is when the real work begins: scaling and traction. To do so, capital is an essential condition, whether it comes from investors or clients (‘bootstrapping’). And this is exactly the critical point where start-ups can use acceleration support.
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