accelerators

Less than a month ago I was happy to be able to write about a new accelerator focused narrowly on technological solutions to problems faced by our oceans — and today the organization behind that acc

How old is venture capital? Probably as old as the first hunter/gatherer. Yet, until the mid-20th century, it was mostly practiced by wealthy individuals and families. Modern VC was initiated by Frenc

The top startup accelerators have a history of seeing the future in ideas that sounded silly at the time. After all, who would have foreseen billion-dollar businesses based on renting your air mattres

A fund and accelerator for advanced technology startups, The Engine, closed its debut fund at a robust $150 million this week, according to its president, CEO and managing partner, Katie Rae. Last yea

The entrepreneurs in the Techstars NYC program are going to spend today meeting with investors, reporters and other folks from the tech industry — but luckily, I had a chance to do rapid-fire interv

Demo Days are not the best way to help most entrepreneurs get the funding they need. And in the long run, they are not helpful for investors, or the broader ecosystem -- in fact, they aggravate blind

An accelerator for hardware and robotics startups called HAX is holding its 9th Demo Day in San Francisco today. Startups pitching investors there span industries from education to agriculture and 

Three members of the senior investing team at Genesis Partners, a major Israeli venture firm, are stepping out with a new, early-stage fund of their own called F2 Capital. For the unfamiliar, Genesis

There’s no shortage of startup incubators and accelerators, but there’s always room for improvement and iterations on an old operating model. Expa Labs, a six-month program for startups

MIT is getting into the incubator business in a big way with "The Engine," a major fund and accelerator space aimed at nurturing early-stage companies solving big, difficult problems in tech and scien

Dreamit Ventures’ accelerator has ditched the demo day, according to Chief Innovation Officer Steve Barsh. That’s not the only change the early-stage venture firm and accelerator has made of late.

An accelerator that helps tech nonprofits develop their products and raise grant money, Fast Forward, has attracted $1.25 million in philanthropic funding of its own. Backers include big names in vent

It seems most founders believe investors asking for “extras” on the side are simply greedy and short-sighted. While it’s easy to criticize investors, I believe this behavior is driven in large p

Startup accelerators are an excellent way for early stage startups to get up to speed quickly, identifying their best growth strategy and a reasonable plan to achieve it. The number of accelerators ha

This summer, as Chairman of the House Small Business Committee, I had the opportunity to honor an innovative business accelerator called First Batch. This isn’t your typical business accelerator. Fi

It's no secret that most startups fail. What’s a bit less obvious is that most startup accelerators also fail. While a few top-tier programs get the cream of the crop unicorns of the future, the hun

Techstars, one of the most prominent accelerators in the world, announced yesterday that it was introducing what it called “an equity back guarantee.” The idea is that founders who join the progra

Hari, a smart and very savvy early-stage entrepreneur, emailed me to ask if it was worth joining a well-known accelerator. I texted an emphatic "No!" We then spoke to each other for over 30 minutes an

Building a corporate accelerator is certainly in vogue these days. Wells Fargo launched a new accelerator program last week targeting financial services startups and has already unveiled its first cla

Back in April, accelerator <a target="_blank" href="http://angelpad.org">AngelPad</a> held a demo day <a href="https://beta.techcrunch.com/2014/04/17/meet-the-11-new-startups-launching-at-angelpads-sp