Startups Anonymous Est. 2013 · Read-only archive
Questions

Should I Re-apply at my Old Accelerator?

Last year, I got selected by a prestigious accelerator. During my time there I learnt a lot in it, and its mentors gave us a big hand improving our product, and understanding our market, as well as getting attention from the press and a few investors.

However, we failed. A few months ago, my former team and I decided it was time to shut down, as we were stagnant and the product was ultimately not producing enough value as to keep it on.

I decided to take a full time job for a while to relax and regroup. However, I started working at night with a friend on what seemed like a very small side project, and it turns out to be having quite a lot of traction.

I think my old accelerator would be a great place to get some good insights on this new business, and to get some funding. Would it be ridiculous if I re-applied? I think I’ve learnt a lot of valuable lessons from my last failure, and I’m far more confident in my new partner than I ever was of my previous team. Would they trust me again after I failed last time? Has anyone ever been accepted more than once?

5 answers from the community

AAnonymous· May 23, 2014

Seeing that you've been through, by going back you may be able to offer advice to other startups as well as get advice.

I've got a question for you though. Was it one of the famous accelerators (Y,TechStars,AngelPad)? Were they able to help you in business development (ie. real test customers, partners etc)?

AAnonymous· May 26, 2014

Thats nice you can ask the question but won't follow up?

AAnonymous· May 23, 2014

Why don't you just build it yourself? Accelerators are stupid.

AAnonymous· May 23, 2014

Because I could use the 50k to get started. I know I don't need more than that.

AAnonymous· May 24, 2014

Outcome aside you've a track record with really valuable experience, when you reapply focus on what you learnt more than what you did.