ACCELERATOR PROGRAM ASSESSMENT

BUILDING CAPACITY ONE COHORT AT A TIME

For startup accelerator programs, the pressing question is always one of how effective the program is at supporting its cohorts of startup teams, in terms of educating them, coaching their work, facilitating their needs, and moving them toward a stage where they can demonstrate a solid value proposition that's worthy of additional investment, not to mention getting them in front of willing and able investors capable of taking them to the next stage.

To assess this, one must examine – in detail – seven (7) key areas of the program, namely:

• Management — Its Operating Procedures and Operating Budget.
• People Resources — Its Leadership, Mentors/Advisors/Coaches, Trainers, and Administrative Support Staff.
• Ecosystem Resources — Its Support Businesses, Prospective Customers, Investor Community, and Research Partners.
• Community Resources — Its Community Managers, Training & Community Events, and Library Resources.
• Public Relations Resources — Its Internally Managed PR Presence and Externally Managed PR Presence.
• Facilities Resources — Its Spaces, Furnishings, and IT Resources.
• Historical Performance Results — Its Presence of Outcome Goals & Objectives and Achievement of Outcome Goals & Objectives.

By intentionally addressing and mastering these seven key areas, any given accelerator program can become highly effective at supporting its cohorts of founder teams.

The need, therefore, is to know – as a startup accelerator – how far along one's program is, and how well this program stacks up against the best in the world (accelerators such as, for example, Y Combinator, 500 Startups, Techstars, and AngelPad).

To assess this, we carry out Global Innovation Institute's Accredited Accelerator Program Assessment Process.   This is a comprehensive on-site assessment that critically examines each of the above seven areas, scoring each one on a scale of 0 - 10, and thereafter assigning to the program an overall effectiveness rating (likewise on a scale of 0 - 10).

Learn more about Global Innovation Institute's Accelerator Program Accreditation at www.gini.org/aap/.

THE ENGAGEMENT

The Accelerator Program Assessment Engagement typically follows these steps:

1. We begin by listening to you so as to understand your goals for conducting the Accelerator Program Assessment and/or achieving GInI accreditation of the program.
2. We then walk you through the overall assessment process to ensure that you understand the process correctly and in full.
3. We then schedule the on-site assessment (including a detailed interview agenda) and set dates for when you will provide us with the upfront documentation (for the preliminary document review).   Preliminary documents are to be provided to us no later than one month prior to the scheduled on-site assessment.
4. Upon the scheduled date, we bring our Assessors into the accelerator and carry out the scheduled interviews with your designated leaders, staff, and founders.   The on-site assessment typically takes just one day to complete, though in some cases this can be a very long day.   We will establish this duration with you beforehand when scheduling.
5. Afterward, our Assessors will complete the AxPAAR and submit to GInI.   This typically happens within two weeks of completing the on-site assessment.
6. GInI will then conduct its review of our AxPAAR and thereafter notify you of its determination, as well as share with you a copy of the AxPAAR.   This process typically takes 4 weeks or less after receiving the AxPAAR from us.
7. Following GInI's review, you may contact us with any questions about the AxPAAR, or arrange to have us come present it to your organization in person.
8. Subsequent to this, and as desired, we can also be retained for consulting services to help you address the AxPAAR's gap findings, and in so doing improve the overall effectiveness of your accelerator program.   See our Corporate Incubators & Accelerators Consulting page for more details on this.