The new accelerator model: it's time to stop teaching and start doing.

Here’s an enigma for you. Over the years, I have been very vocal about criticizing accelerators (don’t believe me? Here’s a link to an article I wrote back in 2016 about the drawbacks of accelerators), and yet I have mentored in at least 15 different accelerators (from various countries), and even manage an acceleration program for the South Korean government (called KSC, it specializes in helping Korean startups go global). So, am I pro- or anti-accelerators? Thereby lies the enigma.

Truthfully, I am very much pro-accelerators. I think the concept of helping founders speed up the time it takes them to reach the next stage is right. I just think the way most accelerators do it is inherently wrong. Why is that? You ask.

Allow me to explain. A startup's most valuable resource is time. As the old adage says, "time is money," and this couldn't be truer for founders who want to turn their ideas into successful businesses. For startups, speed (i.e. distance divided by time) is the biggest competitive edge. Less time = faster execution. This crucial point seems to have been missed by many accelerators and startup launch programs.

According to recent data, there are over 4,000 accelerators worldwide, according to the latest data on Startup Blink . ?The United States leads the pack at 1,600, followed by Europe with over 1,200, and Asia with more than 500. All these programs aim to help startups grow and succeed, but if you browse the average accelerator website and look past the professionally crafted marketing language, the empty buzzwords, and the grandiose promises, in the end, what most of them do is focus on teaching. It’s a school with networking sessions and a demo day.

And yes, learning is essential, but it's not necessarily the most effective use of a founder's limited time. Founders need to be out there, building their products, talking to customers, and making deals. They don't have the luxury of sitting in a classroom for weeks on end.

Imagine this scenario: a couple of founders have a brilliant idea for a new technology. They join an accelerator, excited to take their startup to the next level. But instead of diving into development and customer acquisition, they find themselves sitting through hours of lectures on how to make a pitch deck, create a financial model, or design a website. Weeks go by, and they've made little progress on their actual product.

This is where I think accelerators need to shift their focus. Instead of trying to teach founders everything they need to know, they should be helping them do what they don't know. This a concept my partner and I at Investable Solutions call – “The Build Accelerator”. In a similar fashion to operational VC, who pair portfolio companies with the specialists they need to execute strategy, going so far as to have many of these specialists on staff. The Build Accelerator model assumes that the accelerator staff and network of mentors will do most of the heavy lifting when it comes to preparing the startup.

If a founder struggles with creating a financial model, the Build Accelerator pairs them with a financial expert who can do it with them. If they need help with web design, the Build Accelerator brings in a designer to work alongside them. The key is to provide hands-on assistance that allows founders to keep moving forward, allowing the founders (or executive team) to focus on what they do best.

We launched our first Build Accelerator program last year, with the first cohort of KSC 2023. We built pitches, financial models, and cap tables for the startups. We did business development and investor development to get them the meetings they needed. We essentially became an extended team for the startup, doing everything they were unable to due to understaffing or language limitations. And it worked beautifully. The Startups had targeted meetings, pitched professionally, and were able to expand their international presence. They accelerated their growth.

I truly believe that by adopting a "do, don't teach" mentality, accelerators can truly live up to their name. They can help startups accelerate their growth by providing the resources and support they need to get things done quickly. Founders can focus on what they do best – building their product and company – while the accelerator fills in the gaps.

It's time for accelerators to stop wasting founders' precious time with endless lectures and workshops and help startups achieve real acceleration and increase their chances of success. After all, isn't that what accelerators are supposed to be all about?