It seems like accelerators are designed to help 22-year-olds build a prototype while living off ramen for 3-4 months. If you’re more experienced and have built a working product (with revenue) is there any reason to apply to accelerators? Or, just go for seed/angel funding?
Questions
What’s the value of an accelerator if you already have product+users+revenue?
8 answers from the community
A· Mar 24, 2014
22 or 32 if you're new to the startup space there could be value but there are tradeoffs.
A· Mar 24, 2014
Sometimes they provide value in terms of access to investors, but I think if your product is already having good traction it shouldn't be too difficult for you to gain investor interest. You don't need to give up 7% of your company to an accelerator just to have them put you in contact with some VCs.
A· Mar 24, 2014
Depends on your company's challenges versus cost of capital.
If an accelerator can help solve the challenge while adding other benefits (press/connections/future funding) in a fixed time period at a lower cost, then why not. Eg Since you don't need money now, compare the cost of hiring contractor/fulltimer to address Y challenge versus being in top 5 accelerator. What benefits would you realistically achieve in both scenarios after 3-6 months?
A· Mar 24, 2014
Accelerator Partners and/or Mentors can have strong connections to many of your potential customers. You can count on better conversion of leads if you are associated with an accelerator provided customer introductions are made by the accelerator.
#Kyron4startups
A· Mar 24, 2014
LOL. Come on, I've never bought anything because of accelerator involvement.
A· Mar 24, 2014
Exactly! That was a funny comment. The only real value they provide is access to investors. Everything else can be done by the founders on their own.
A· Mar 24, 2014
Oh boy, spam is already happening?!
Note Kyron is a new accelerator BFN (butt f--king nowhere) that probably doesn't know it's own ass from a hole in the wall. Otherwise, how can spamming a startup founder site with completely ridiculous info seem like a good idea? GTFOH
A· Mar 24, 2014
We worked with an "accelerator" for a while, and although they talked a good game about wanting to build a community, etc. - they functioned mostly as a landlord. We're way older than 22. Made some good peer contacts, but overall it was kind of a waste of time and did not live up to the hype.
If you're thinking about it, just make sure you go in with your eyes open and interview other older-than-22 CEOs who are based there to get a feel for what real value you'd be getting.