We need to rethink accelerators
Over the past twenty years, entrepreneurship has moved to centre stage in the world’s economy. Large corporations continue to dominate most industrial sectors, but new jobs and value creation are increasingly expected to come from startups and small businesses. Around the world, cities are competing to attract entrepreneurs and help them grow successful businesses.
Accelerator programmes are a central plank in the machinery to support startups. More than 10,000 accelerator courses are now running around the world, typically providing a series of workshops and mentoring sessions over a 6–12 month period. Accelerators are the primary form of training for entrepreneurs, equipping them with the skills and strategic perspective to develop their businesses.
The problem is, the world’s accelerators are still training entrepreneurs with a methodology established in Silicon Valley in the 1980s. The approach is based on four assumptions, which are so deeply embedded they are not even questioned:
- The founding team’s only motivation is to get rich.
- Raising venture capital investment is central to success.
- The goal is to expand the business quickly, then exit.
- Non-financial consequences are not important.
Since 2009 The Trampery has worked with more than 1,000 startups. Our experience indicates these assumptions hold true for fewer than 5% of entrepreneurs. The other 95% are motivated by a complex blend of factors which may include solving a pressing problem in the world, the adventure of undertaking an epic challenge with a small group or achieving a different work/life balance for themselves.
Many entrepreneurs aspire to develop their business over a long period and have no desire to exit. Tragically, many who raise venture capital investment do so without understanding the actual long-term implications and come to regret their choice only when it is too late to turn back.
More broadly, the landscape for entrepreneurship is changing dramatically. In 2013 the World Economic Forum surveyed 5,000 young people on their views regarding business. 36% said that the main purpose of business should be to “improve society” whilst only 35% replied “generate profit”. In 2015, Forbes Magazine identified sustainability as “the next big thing” in entrepreneurship. In 2017 the United Nations concluded that engagement with entrepreneurs would be essential in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.
In other words, the current system of accelerators is training the world’s most talented entrepreneurs with an approach that completely fails to reflect their motivations and goals. Not only this, the world’s accelerators are actively perpetuating the most damaging aspects of capitalism. The system urgently needs to change.
In 2016 The Trampery started researching alternative approaches for entrepreneurial training. Five main principles emerged from our research:
- Experiential learning Research shows that learning impacts are increased through physical movement and exercises rather than passive classroom learning.
- Motivation & purpose Instead of making assumptions about a founder’s goals, an initial phase of activity is needed to draw out and clarify each entrepreneur’s underlying motivations. In many cases, this is a complex mix of financial, social, lifestyle and environmental factors. Once the motivations are clear, all strategy development should be referred back to that foundation.
- Hybrid business models Entrepreneurs who identify multiple priorities, including financial and non-financial outputs, need support to evaluate alternative business models and structures.
- Personality & behaviour Each entrepreneur can be more effective if they have an objective understanding of their personality and how their behavioural tendencies will affect other people.
- Mental health & wellbeing Entrepreneurs are amongst the groups in society with the highest rates of mental illness, whilst teams in early-stage ventures are frequently exposed to unusually high levels of stress. To be successful, entrepreneurs must be equipped with practical techniques to manage mental health and maintain wellbeing across their team.
We prototyped these principles in the Pathways Programme and Pathways Decelerator launched in 2017, with support from the European Regional Development Fund. The feedback from participating entrepreneurs was overwhelmingly positive. This gave us the confidence to begin a process of redesigning all The Trampery’s accelerator programmes around these principles.
In 2019 we launched the Sustainable Fashion Accelerator, with support from London Legacy Development Corporation. This takes our core principles and focuses them on the fashion industry, with a particular emphasis on reducing environmental impact and maintaining high working conditions. We are now working on two more sector-focused accelerators along with a flagship accelerator programme for growth-stage ventures.
For anyone who is organising an accelerator programme, or any kind of entrepreneur training, I would urge you to take a step back and don’t just replicate the standard approach. If you’d like to know more about The Trampery’s experience, we’re happy to assist; just get in touch.
#tramperyevo
