10 Years of Seed Accelerators — Insights for TechFounders

Many corporations afford an accelerator these days. In this way, they want to identify digital business models, technical developments and innovations earlier. The accelerator landscape has developed with enormous exponential growth from the beginning of 2005 to the present day, which has already led some stakeholders to speak of a bubble. The development from broad-based, purely financially oriented accelerator programs in the early days to group-financed programs with a clear verticalization will be briefly examined in this article. Attempting to incorporate insights from 10 years of Accelerator history led to the design of the TechFounders program. The core elements of this program will be explained in this article.

How it all began - the Y-Combinator

The first accelerator of its kind, Y-Combinator was founded in 2005 by Paul Graham, Robert Morris, Trevor Blackwell, and Jessica Livingston. The business model of this venture was completely unknown at the time, and so Paul Graham's team initially decided to accept eight startups in a "Summer Founders Program". The program was successful, and by 2006, 25 accelerators could be identified in a growth curve that has been unbroken ever since.

First, more programs like TechStars emerged in the U.S., and eventually the trend gained traction in Europe and Asia, leading to programs like Startupbootcamp.

As of 2015, the provider Seed DB lists 234 accelerator programs worldwide - although the number of accelerator-like funding programs is likely to be much higher. According to unofficial expert information, there are around 1,600 incubator/accelerator-like programs in China alone, for example. According to official statistics, North America leads the way as the cradle of the concept with 139 accelerator programs, followed by Europe with 57 programs.

It's not just the money that counts - how corporates and governments expanded the accelerator idea