Last updated November 1, 2026. Not affiliated with any accelerator.
To get into an accelerator, show a reviewer three things fast: a team that can build, evidence the problem is real, and a reason to take you now. Answer every application question in plain, specific language, and send a short deck that backs each claim with a number or a named customer.
Upload your deck and get a free instant read from a VC point of view, before a reviewer sees it.
Programs differ, but reviewers tend to read for the same six things. Treat this as a checklist for your own application.
Can these founders build this and sell it? Reviewers look for relevant experience, a reason you are the ones to solve this, and signs you work well together.
A named customer with a painful, specific problem beats a big market slide. Say who hurts, how often, and what they do today.
Programs back momentum. A shipped product, paying or active users, or a fast cycle of customer calls all count. Show what changed in the last few months.
Can this become a large company? You do not need a perfect market model, but the path from first customers to a big outcome should be believable.
Each program has a focus, a stage and a style. Applying to one that matches your stage, sector or region reads as intent, not spray and pray.
Accelerators compress time. Reviewers want founders who take feedback, decide quickly and ship.
Browse accelerators in the directory to find programs that match your stage and sector.
Forms change every cycle, so read the live form. What follows is general guidance on the questions most programs ask, not a copy of any program's form.
One sentence a stranger can repeat. Name the customer and the job you do for them. Cut adjectives.
Pick one customer and one problem. Include how they cope today and what that costs them.
Real numbers with a time frame: users, revenue, pilots, waitlist, calls held. If it is early, say so and show the learning.
Name real alternatives, including doing nothing. Say what you do differently and why that matters to the customer.
Who pays, how much, and how often. A simple price and a reason it fits the customer's budget.
What have you done that makes you credible on this problem, and who builds what.
Name two or three concrete goals for the term, such as first ten paying customers or a seed-ready deck.
Programs in this style favor short, plain answers about the product and what you have learned from users.
Programs in this style lean on team, traction, and what you want from the mentor network.
Keep it short and in this order. Each slide links to a full guide with what investors look for and the red flags.
Open here. One customer, one painful problem, in their words if you have them.
What you built and why it is better than what they use now. One screenshot beats a paragraph.
Show the real product. Reviewers trust a working demo more than a roadmap.
Bottom-up: who you can sell to first and what each customer pays. Skip the top-down trillion.
The slide that gets you the interview. Numbers, dates, named customers.
Be honest about alternatives and say why customers pick you.
Why you, specifically. Lead with what you have built, not logos.
Simple: current burn, runway, and what the program and any investment unlock.
Say what you want from the program: goals for the term, not just money.
See the full slide-by-slide guide and how investors read decks.
Reviewers skim. If the first three slides do not tell them what you do, for whom, and what is working, the rest will not get read. Aim for a short deck.
Opening with the future of your industry instead of the customer and the problem. Lead with the problem, then show progress.
Words like 'strong growth' and 'many users' get circled. Replace each with a number and a time frame.
'One percent of a huge market' is a classic Red Pen note. Build the market from your first customer up.
There are always alternatives, including spreadsheets and doing nothing. Name them.
Say what each founder built or sold, and who does what. Skip the list of every past employer.
A different user count or a different pitch in the form and the deck makes reviewers doubt both. Use one set of facts.
Copy-pasted answers to 'why this program' are easy to spot. Name what you want and why this program is the place.
Cycles and deadlines differ by program, so use this as a planning shape and confirm dates on each program's page.
01
Send the form and a short deck that tell the same story.
Red-pen the application deck before you submit
02
Programs run their own review cycles and many follow with interviews. Keep shipping and be ready to send a short update.
03
If you get in, you work with mentors on the same deck over the program.
Re-check the deck with the Red Pen every week
04
You pitch to the investors the program invites.
Red-pen the demo-day deck before investors see it
Not every program has every step, and the order and names differ. The Red Pen marks are where an outside read helps most.
Pick programs that match your stage and sector. Read each one's terms, equity, fee and commitment. Start talking to customers if you have not.
Draft the application answers and the deck. Get a free instant read of the deck, fix what it flags, then ask a founder who has been through a program to review it.
Cut anything vague, align numbers across form and deck, record the video if asked, and ask for one more outside read.
Programs run their own review cycles and many follow with interviews. Check each program's page for dates, since cycles differ. Keep shipping and be ready to send a short update on what changed.
An accelerator is a fixed-term, cohort-based program for startups that already have a product. An incubator is a longer, looser program for teams still shaping an idea. If you are not sure which fits, read incubator vs accelerator.
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