Startup accelerators are broken. From pitch decks to demo days, these outdated ideas only serve a niche demographic. And for the rest of us, we deserve a better way.
Where’s Wally? I mean Women?
You’ve read the stats about the tiny percentage of women-run startups that get funding, and the numbers continue to decline. These stats reflect the state of accelerators too.
Y Combinator, the world’s biggest accelerator program, proudly announced their 2024 winter cohort: 89% male.
Nothing’s changed since 2016 when I was an associate at Techstars, Cape Town. Out of 20 co-founders, only two were women. So 90% male. Deeply problematic.
Scroll through LinkedIn, and you’ll see other accelerators showing off their latest cohorts. The common theme? All male faces.
Open displays of misogyny aren’t empowering, they’re embarrassing. If we want change, we need to advocate for each other until there is equal representation. One woman is not enough.
I’ve had to block a VC who continues to post pictures of herself surrounded by five men as if it’s a good thing. You can guess who they fund. It’s not just men who are part of the problem. It’s anyone who accepts the status quo.
Demo Day: The Pitch Problem
Accelerators prepare you for funding via a Demo Day where you pitch your business. Each accelerator has a different pitch format you have to follow.
Accelerators are obsessed with your startup’s pitch and deck.
Ideas like TAM, SAM, SOM, Beachheads, Runway, Burn, and Churn are all part of the language VCs speak. And it’s a foreign language to everyone else. Especially when it comes to talking to your future customers.
Accelerators don’t prepare you to sell. They prepare you to raise. And unless you’re an Ivy League bro pitching to your Dad’s VC connections, chances are you won’t get funding.
So, for the rest of us, a pitch, even an outstanding pitch at Demo Day, is irrelevant because VCs won’t fund you anyway. When you’re not invited to play the game, you can’t win.
During my years at Techstars, I was promoted to their pitch coach position. I’ve taught over 20 founders to pitch and raise millions of dollars.
But it doesn’t matter how great your pitch unless you have access to people with money.
Typically, people devouring free box pizza don’t have hundreds of thousands of dollars to invest in your startup. Even if you’re pitch perfect.
And, even if your accelerator program has a great network and does get investors to show up on your demo day, remember that demo days don’t prepare your business for success; they prepare you for pitching.
For an accelerator to actually accelerate success, instead of making startups focus on pitching to VCs, they should focus on positioning for the market.
Accelerators need to teach positioning instead of pitching.
You need a product-market fit. And the only way to get that is to put your product into the market. The sooner, the better.
Mentorship Madness
TechStars used to call the weeks of mentor meetings “Mentorship Madness” which is a cute alliteration.
But mentorship IS madness because it’s not based on market opinions, it’s based on the mentor’s opinions.
It really doesn’t matter if Facebook ads worked for some guy a decade ago or if any of the principles and techniques worked for someone else. Only the market is relevant. Why waste your time asking anyone other than your audience?
Always ask your audience.
When you ask your audience, you never have to assume. You don’t have to waste time guessing.
Forget mentor-research. Do market research.
The awkward truth about accelerators: they’re not fast
Accelerators aren’t fast enough. They waste your time on outdated ideas that don’t matter.
When you’re a startup, every second counts. You can’t afford to take the time of up to 3-months or to give away equity for pitch practice, a formulaic deck, and a gamble on demo day.
You need to take action to get traction.
What’s the alternative?
Accelerators are broken. We need an alternative. That’s why we’ve started Creatrix Accelerator.
Here’s what makes Creatrix unlike any other accelerator in the world:
We’re inclusive
Instead of discriminating, we welcome women founders. Our mentors are 75% women. Our inaugural Summer 2024 Accelerator winners were 100% women.
We prove product-market fit
There is no pitch practice. You pitch once, to get accepted. Then, we practice positioning your startup in the market.
You’ll put your product out there, test calls to action, get feedback fast, and iterate until there’s sales.
You’ll build in public, in front of an audience, gaining traction from early adopters, advocates, and allies.
And we’ll promote you on social media and through our press partners like We Are Founders, giving you international exposure for visibility and credibility to build your brand and sales pipeline for deal flow.
We create your launch strategy
Every Creatrix Mentor has an accelerator background. But instead of just bringing personal experience to the table, our mentors share insights related to the industry excellence of top brands.
Our secret sauce is that we run the accelerator from a non-discriminatory, unbiased, immutably honest foundation: Creatix SaaS.
We use the intelligence up-to-the-minute data from social listening and share suggestions on what works best now so that you can leverage the best strategies to start ahead of competitors.
We position you to stand on the shoulders of giants. It’s like hiring a team of creative strategists, cultural analysts, and a marketing agency to give you launch campaigns and content plans. We do it all for you.
Our M.O. is getting you product-market fit and a standout launch strategy in 3-weeks
And finally, we do it fast. In 3-weeks, you’ll have validated your startup idea, launched it, and gotten the visibility, credibility, and traction you need for sustainable success. And we do it all for no equity, for free.
So, if you’re an early-stage B2C founder, you’re let’s talk.
