OPEN ACCELERATION

IMPACT Accelerator pioneered the
Open Acceleration approach.

Open Acceleration is a methodology to
managing startup accelerator programs
which is transparent, demanding, and
data-driven.

Open Acceleration guarantees that participating startups are getting the education, support, resources, and connections that they need.

The underlying premise of Open Acceleration is generosity: by freely offering assistance and information, we benefit the community as a whole. Open Acceleration holds all members of the startup world responsible for contributing generously and openly to the ecosystem.

What is Open Acceleration?

Open Acceleration is...

Data-driven

The best way to gauge whether our results are good or bad is by determining KPIs and other benchmarks, continuously monitoring the data, and making changes based on our results. This, incidentally, is known as the Build-Measure-Learn loop in the parlance of Lean methodology, a way of working that many startups use. You could say that we are best able to help startups by treating our own accelerator program as a kind of startup: agile and constantly being improved.

Transparent

Of course, the data generated can’t do much good if we guard it jealously. We developed custom software, discussed later in this whitepaper, that shares our metrics and KPIs as openly as possible among mentors, investors, corporations and the community (respecting privacy where appropriate). Additionally, an Open accelerator tells startups how to apply — and how to stand out. There’s no guesswork involved. Startups are informed about selection criteria as well as the various steps of the selection process. No murky nepotism, just transparency.

High performing

We take acceleration seriously, holding our startups to high standards. We expect a lot of them during the program. On the other side, we also have high expectations of our own performance. We strive to offer our startups the best experience possible

Globally connected

Open Acceleration programs are the hubs of international connections and contacts. It can be hard to get admittance to an Open Acceleration program, but once you do, boom! Your network explodes as you forge connections with movers and shakers in your field all around the planet.

More about Open Acceleration

De-localized mentoring

One of the key components of acceleration is the training and connection to mentors offered by the accelerator. However, many accelerators require startups to temporarily move to a new city in order to take advantage of their services. Open Acceleration, on the other hand, understands that sometimes moving is out of the question for startups. That’s why training and mentoring is de-localized, or non-location-specific.

Easy sharing of data and documents

By default, there’s a lot of paperwork involved in the acceleration process. Startups need to share their metrics and KPIs with mentors, mentors need to share their evaluations and comments with the accelerator managers and the startups, and the accelerator managers need to be able to keep an eye on everything that’s going on with all participants at once. Open Acceleration cuts through this knot by offering a time-effective solution for communicating and sharing data. Less time spent on necessary evils like paperwork means there’s more time devoted to the stuff that really counts.

Low entry cost

Open accelerators give a large amount of money while taking only a small percentage of the company in return. In some cases, the accelerator takes no equity at all! For example, IMPACT Accelerator does not require startups to give equity or return the money. It’s a grant, freely given and designed to help the European startup ecosystem grow.

OPEN ACCELERATION

IMPACT Accelerator pioneered the Open Acceleration approach.