Four Questions Founders Should Ask Before Joining an Accelerator

Every year, some 30,000+ startups vie for just 1,300 spots at GAN Accelerators. Success rates for startups after they graduate from a GAN Accelerator are pretty impressive, too — more than 80% continue to be in business today.

But staying in business after graduating from a program is extremely difficult. Doing so means getting a lot of things right, and one of the most critical is that founders receive the correct support while they’re in-program.

While accelerators tend to do a great job of asking founders questions that help to ensure startups are the right fit for their programs, I don’t think that founders always do the same.

Why is this important? In the exit interviews I’ve seen when startups leave accelerators, there seems to be a common denominator between the startups who were thrilled with their experience at the accelerator and those who weren’t. That common denominator? The startups that were the happiest with their programs had the right expectations going into the accelerator. But, if they had unrealistic or misaligned expectations, they were frustrated.