David Crow (Managing Director, Danger Capital Corporation)
Ravi Belani (Managing Director, Alchemist Accelerator)
Gillian McCrae (Venture Manager, Creative Destruction Lab - Atlantic)
Hussam Ayyad (Sr. Director, Programs & Partnerships, DMZ)
Nina Stepanov (Principal, Acceleprise)

Startup founders have several options for growth. They can expand organically, funnelling revenues back into expansion. They can take traditional debt, avoiding dilution but eating into margins. They can close equity financing, sharing their risk but also reducing their upside. But in recent years, the accelerator option has become an increasingly popular option.

Accelerator programs are not only a source of funding, but also access to experts, a forcing-factor for polishing your business plan, and a sanity check from smart investors who can see the proverbial forest for the trees that often blind a startup. If you want to get into the best accelerators, you need a strong team, a clear value proposition, and a viable business model.

After spending time on product-market fit, business models, analytics, and Lean approaches, it's time to hear more about what gets startups accepted—or refused. In this interactive panel, executives from leading startup accelerators share what they look for, how their programs work best, and the warning signs that turn them away from a potential applicant.

Startupfest 2019

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