Traditional startup accelerators tend to:
- Focus on starting, running, and growing a new business before there is strong validation of the problem/solution and business model, most often leading to unsuccessful outcomes,
- Have to pick a cohort from a usually very large number of applicants, often with limited real data, and so possibly miss out on the applicants that could be the most successful,
- Have a set start and finish date and limited duration, which may not fit the schedule of applicants or provide enough time to achieve success, especially given the need to pivot,
- Have a linear program with a specific sequence of activities and tasks, which doesn’t easily allow for major pivots, teams that are at different stages, or the need to start again, and
- Provide investment upfront, when little progress has been made, and investors / funding panels often have little say in how the funds will be used (outside of certain exclusions).
