Saba Karim
Contributor
Saba Karim is director of the startup pipeline at Techstars.
As the head of startup pipeline at Techstars, I’ve been getting on calls with founders, attending events, speaking on stages like TechCrunch’s Disrupt and hosting countless Twitter Spaces. Each time, I’ve been telling founders why they should join an accelerator.
Now, I am changing things up and going to lay out six reasons you shouldn’t join an accelerator.
If you only need funding
You’re better off going to VCs, angel investors, crowdfunding, applying for grants or seeking venture debt. Accelerators usually take more (equity), because they provide more than just money. They give you funding and fundraising opportunities, mentorship and networks, workshops and usually a place to work. If you don’t need any of that, then you don’t need an accelerator.
Accelerators are great because they’re a forcing mechanism to reach your most desired outcome by the end of the program, but no one is going to drag you out of bed every morning.
Keep in mind that fu …
