Founders, How Can You Get the Most Out of an Accelerator Program?

Written by Baylie Evans, gBETA Managing Director

The gener8tor accelerator staff members each work in-depth with dozens of startups each year, and we interact with founders constantly. When we welcome them into our accelerator programs, their success is our success. Some things we can teach: venture capital math, legal 101, comparables and valuations, for example. Some things are harder to teach: persistence, discipline, networking ability. 

So, I asked our accelerator staff this question:

In your experiences, what traits, characteristics, practices, skills, talents, etc. help founders get the most out of accelerator programs? What patterns do you recognize in your alumni founders that make significant progress in and after the program?

And we got some great responses:

Abby is a gener8tor partner and oversees the Skills, Investment Accelerator and the free-to-pariticpate gBETA Accelerator teams.

Baylie is part of the team that runs our gBETA Houston, gBETA Oklahoma City, gBETA Urban League, gBETA Greeley and gBETA Wyoming programs.

Rowan is the Managing Director for gener8tor’s Curql Accelerate for startups innovating in fintech.

Kristen is the Program Manager for gener8tor Oklahoma City.

I notice a common theme among these answers is curiosity; showing up fully, asking questions, interacting with fellow founders. Another is discipline to their goals with organized efficiency. 

Being a startup founder is just about the hardest job anyone could choose! No one expects founders to be perfect at everything, but curiosity and grit will take you a long way.

Learn more about gener8tor and the programs that can take your startup to the next level at gener8tor.com.