Teaching Them How to Fish: The Makings of Business Accelerators

Abstract

One-third of early-stage venture financing currently goes to business accelerator-backed startups. We examine whether startups join accelerators to alleviate financing constraints or to improve human capital for long-term growth. Using a novel three-stage two-sided matching econometric framework, we quantify and compare explanatory powers of short-term financing prospects and long-term growth prospects for the revealed preference during the accelerator admission process. We find that short-term financing prospects explain 48% of the variations in the matching values, while variations of key five-year startup performance prospects can explain 96%.