3 Factors That Must be Incorporated in an Accelerator Program
This article is written by Brian Malika, a Contributor Author at Startup Istanbul.
Most large partners invest in accelerator programs to nurture and prepare start-ups for partnerships engagements. During the accelerator programs, start-ups receive mentorship, leadership and design thinking type of training so as to facilitate them to be better placed at securing partnerships deals when the pitching time begins.
However, there is confusion within the start-up ecosystem on how an accelerator program should be designed. As such, some accelerator programs have produced half baked graduates while others have rolled out exhausting programs that left participants with no clear business path to pursue at the end of the accelerator program.
Therefore, in order to ensure that there is a standard accelerator roll-out procedure, I will write about Google’s model of running an accelerator program and at the end recommend undecided investors who are in the start-up ecosystem to feel welcomed by referring to this article whenever the need arises.
Google has put in place three factors that make up the whole Accelerator programs. And those factors include :
#Factor number 1: Bootcamps
#factor number 2: Solving the distance challenge
#factor number 3: Taking the launchpad step
1: Bootcamps
Google’s first accelerator step is to run virtual mentorship and training for the participating entrepreneurs for a certain period of time after which boot camps are organized. The bootcamps serve two main reasons :
(a.) To fine tune the personal abilities that the participating entrepreneurs have at the moment so that they can give the best shot for their start-up ventures.
During the boot camp sessions, there are one on one engagements that ensure all the participants are able to identify their unique abilities and connect the same to bettering the course of their start-ups.
(2.) the other reason is to profile success stories for all the entrepreneurs in the room and then share it with others facing similar challenges in the room as a basis of encouragement. These success stories are further stored in Google’s database and shared to a global audience whenever necessary.
2: Solving the distance challenge
Since Google runs a global accelerator program that begins with a virtual phase, the boot camp session is important to ensure that the entrepreneurs get the chance for a one on one interaction with each other as well as with venture capital representatives that usually frequent the boot camp sessions.
3: Taking the launchpad step
The final step of Google’s accelerator program is to launch the start-ups into action. This is done by linking start-ups that participated in the accelerator program with big companies that could benefit from the start-up ideas that have been worked on. The real launchpad process happens when the start-up founders convince the big companies to invest in them.