Startup accelerator: Difference between revisions

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{{Short description|Company that invests in and supports startups}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=March 2023}}

'''Startup accelerators''', also known as '''seed accelerators''', are fixed-term, [[Cohort (educational group)|cohort-based]] programs, that include [[mentorship]] and educational components, and (sometimes) culminate in a public [[sales pitch|pitch]] event or [[demo day]].<ref>{{Cite journal |last=Cohen |first=Susan |year=2013 |title=What Do Accelerators Do? Insights from Incubators and Angels |journal=Innovations |volume=8 |issue=3–4 |pages=19–25 |doi=10.1162/inov_a_00184 |doi-access=free}}</ref> While traditional [[business incubator]]s are often government-funded, generally take no equity, and rarely provide [[funding]], accelerators can be either privately or publicly funded and cover a wide range of industries.<ref>{{Cite journal report|last1=Bone |first1=Jonathan |last2=Allen |first2=Olivia |last3=Haley |first3=Christopher |year=2017 |title=Business Incubators and Accelerators: the National Picture |url=https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/955469/business-incubators-accelerators-uk-report.pdf |publisher=UK Dept of Business, Energy and Industrial Strategy}}</ref> Unlike [[business incubators]], the application process for seed accelerators is open to anyone, but is highly competitive.<ref name="accelerating-studies" /> There are specific accelerators, such as [[corporate accelerator]]s, which are often subsidiaries or programs of larger corporations that act like seed accelerators.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Crichton |first=Danny |date=August 25, 2014 |title=Corporate Accelerators Are An Oxymoron |url=http://techcrunch.com/2014/08/25/corporate-accelerators-are-an-oxymoron/ |access-date=June 17, 2015}}</ref>

==Distinctive qualities==

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Seed accelerators do not necessarily need to include physical space, but many do. The process that startups go through in the accelerator can be separated into five distinct phases: awareness, application, program, demo day, and post demo day.<ref name="accelerating-studies">{{Cite book |last=Lisa Barrehag |url=http://acceleratorstudy.com/ |title=Accelerating Success: A Study of Seed Accelerators and Their Defining Characteristics |last2=Alexander Fornell |last3=Gustav Larsson |last4=Viktor Mårdström |last5=Victor Westergård |last6=Samuel Wrackefeldt |date=May 2012 |publisher=[[Chalmers University of Technology]] |___location=Gothenburg, Sweden |access-date=September 14, 2012}}</ref>

Accelerators provide enough funding to get a company to demo day, from which point the startup is on its own.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Kronenberger |first=Craig |date=March 29, 2021 |title=What Startup Model is Right for You? |url=https://medium.com/startup-studio-insider/startup-studios-vs-accelerators-82b8545aba0a |access-date=May 7, 2021 |website=Medium |language=en}}</ref> Moreover, this is where accelerators distinguish themselves from incubators and venture builders. They focus with high engagement on the early stage of the startup.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Schoofs|first=Daan |date=August 29, 2023 |title=Venture Building |url=https://duodeka.com/venture-building-blog/venture-builders/ |access-date=August 29, 2023 |website=Duodeka.com|language=en}}</ref>

==History==

The first seed accelerator was [[Y Combinator (company)|Y Combinator]], started in Cambridge, Massachusetts, in 2005, and then later moved to Silicon Valley by [[Paul Graham (computer programmer)|Paul Graham]].<ref name="accelerating-studies" /> It was followed by [[TechStars]] (in 2006), [[Seedcamp]] (in 2007), [[AngelPad]] (in 2010), Startupbootcamp (in 2010), Tech Wildcatters (in 2011), several accelerators of [[SOSVentures|SOSV]], [[Forum Ventures]] (In 2014), Boomtown Boulder (in 2014) and [[Antler (venture capital firm)|Antler]] (in 2017).<ref name="gilani4">{{Cite web |last=Gilani |first=Aziz |last2=Dettori, Gianluca |date=July 16, 2011 |title=Incubators in US and Europe - Speed and scale in capital formation |url=http://www.slideshare.net/dgiluz/accellerators-in-us-and-europe/4 |access-date=September 14, 2012 |publisher=Kauffman Fellow Program |page=4}}</ref>

In Europe, the first accelerator program was started by Accelerace in 2009 in Denmark (strongly subsidised by the Danish government) followed shortly after by Startup Wise Guys in 2012 in Estonia.

With the growing popularity of seed accelerator programs in the US, Europe has seen an increase in accelerators to support a growing [[startup ecosystem]].<ref>{{Cite web |last=Johnson, Bobbie |date=July 18, 2011 |title=Are Europe's startup accelerators speeding out of control? |url=http://gigaom.com/2011/07/18/are-europes-accelerators-speeding-out-of-control |archive-url=https://archive.today/20130124035329/http://gigaom.com/2011/07/18/are-europes-accelerators-speeding-out-of-control |url-status=dead |archive-date=January 24, 2013 |publisher=[[GigaOM]]}}</ref>

Forbes published an analysis of startup accelerators in April 2012.<ref name="forbes1">{{Cite web |last=Tomio |first=Geron |date=April 30, 2012 |title=Top Startup Incubators And Accelerators |url=https://www.forbes.com/sites/tomiogeron/2012/04/30/top-tech-incubators-as-ranked-by-forbes-y-combinator-tops-with-7-billion-in-value/ |website=Forbes |page=1}}</ref> Since 2010 there has been a substantial growth of [[Corporate Accelerator]] programs, which are sponsored by established organizations but follow similar principles.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Heinemann |first=Florian |date=June 17, 2015 |title=Corporate Accelerator database |url=https://corporate-accelerators.net/database/index.html}}</ref>

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*[[Business incubator]]

*[[Corporate accelerator]]

*[[Forum Ventures]]

*[[Flex space]]

*[[:Category:Startup accelerators|List of startup accelerators]]