I’ve been helping a friend with his startup recently who shows a lot of promise: early (paying) customers, solid key elements of a product and a logical business model he’s validating. He’s in a perfect position to join an accelerator and take his company to the next level. The combination of great mentors, a structured program to plan and move the business forward and modest financing represent the things he needs most right now.
Unfortunately, every accelerator program is done this year or currently going on. In fact, unless he had applied by May, he’d have been out of luck for all of 2011.
We have a number of great programs already in place, but they’re all in the spring and summer:
Spring: TechStars
Summer: MassChallenge, Summer at Highland, BetaSpring (Providence)
…but nothing for the Fall or Winter.
This leads me to a few questions:
What would you tell someone in his situation?
Can Boston add another accelerator?
Would TechStars go twice a year like it has in NYC?