Feasibility Study for Startup Accelerator Ignition Program

This project aims to transfer knowledge and experience from an existing startup accelerator to a newly formed one in a different region with a different technology focus. Startup accelerators are proven to enhance early-stage businesses, making them more viable, profitable, and faster. Technology hubs around the United States are strategizing to become the "Silicon Valley" of their industry, and a startup accelerator is often central to that ambition.

Startup accelerators also contribute to national defense by developing critical technology domestically, reducing dependence on overseas supply chains. However, startups often struggle to raise sufficient funds to reach commercialization. Startup accelerators address this issue by offering relevant business development training and financial support.

Graduates are more successful at attracting investors, development partners, and grant providers. That said, a newly-launched accelerator faces its own challenges, needing to create a curriculum and best practices from scratch. The researchers will examine whether a centralized training and curriculum hub, based on an existing accelerator's experience, could expedite the development of a new startup accelerator in a different region with a different technology focus.

The training will prioritize diversity, equity, and inclusion, guiding the selection process. Academic outreach to encourage interest in science, technology, engineering, and math will also be encouraged. Promising results will lead to further research on a larger scale with more participant hubs and data.

The project seeks to meet three technical objectives: identify features that a startup accelerator should include to be effective, identify features of a technology startup business that correlate with graduating a startup accelerator program. Determine whether the NENY accelerator performed better than average accelerator without this particular curriculum.

The effectiveness of the training will be measured using a rubric of self-assessment and external scoring by industry and market experts. To minimize confirmation bias, the project team will implement a process for selecting one group of early-stage businesses to be participants in the startup accelerator; the others serve as controls who do not receive the training.

Companies in the control group will receive a stipend upon completing the surveys required throughout the six-month duration of the experiments. The researchers will compare the scores of the participant and control companies to identify relative performance differences. The researchers will evaluate the performance of the new accelerator by comparing it with other regional technology accelerators founded near the same time. Researchers will establish criteria for comparison in cooperation with industry experts.

This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.