Abstract: Accelerators, such as Techstars, Startup Chile, and Y Combinator, are increasingly prevalent parts of entrepreneurial landscapes. These fixed-length entrepreneurial development programs aid cohorts of startups by providing mentorship, networks, and signals of endorsement. Accelerators can have substantial positive effects on startup development and also shorten the time to shutting-down. However, since prior work has focused on startup-level outcomes such as financing, employee growth and customer traction, less is known about individual-level outcomes. In this short research study, we examine if accelerators providing start-up level benefits also amplify founders’ subsequent entrepreneurial careers, including raising their likelihood of founding or joining another startup and raising venture capital if they do so. We examine our research question using proprietary data on the accepted and almost-accepted applicants to a set of top accelerators. Unexpectedly, especially given that the sampled accelerator cohorts have been found to have boosted participating ventures, we observe no consistent evidence that these accelerators boost the subsequent entrepreneurial careers of participating founders. Our results contribute at the intersection of the literature on entrepreneur development programs and entrepreneurial careers, offering initial evidence of a decoupling between programs’ impact on startups versus founders. We conclude by discussing how these unexpected findings create opportunities for future research.
Speaker: Prof. Sandy Yu from University of Minnesota. https://carlsonschool.umn.edu/faculty/sandy-yu
Dr. Yu is an assistant professor in strategic management and entrepreneurship at the Carlson School. Her research examines key strategic concerns of entrepreneurs: fundraising and growth. Her current work focuses on the impact of start-up financing from sources such as venture capital, accelerators, and crowdfunding. Her research is supported by the Kauffman Foundation and the National Science Foundation. Dr. Yu’s single-authored Management Science paper on accelerator’s impact on hi-tech ventures has been widely cited. Sandy holds a Ph.D. in economics from New York University, a M.S. and a B.S. in electrical Engineering from Stanford University. Prior to academia, she worked at Microsoft, Toshiba, and Ooma.