There are a lot of paths to consider in the early stages of a startup’s life. In between looking for Angel investors and different rounds of seed funding, and trying to found a viable model and creating a helpful network, the path of a startup accelerator program might start to come up more and more.

Accelerators are becoming increasingly essential to a healthy startup ecosystem, connecting the dots to several major business advantages and, even, simple logistics (like, what is the best physical space to work in everyday?).

Though increasingly popular, the details of what an accelerator program actually is, how they differ, and what the key steps for applying are can be tough to assemble all in one place. To make it a little easier, we created a visual guide to understand accelerator programs and their application process better.

The Road to Startup Accelerators

A High-Level View

Of course, this is just a very high-level view of understanding the differences and general application process for accelerator programs. Some programs specialize in very specific verticals, others may be purposefully industry agnostic.

An essential takeaway that is not fully covered in the above guide is the realtionships entreprenuers are able to make with much bigger corporate partners of the program. These relationships can lead to exciting partnerships, additional funding, buyouts, and insightful understandings of industry struggles and processes.

For a first person account of a recent MassChallenge experience, check out this post.

This post has been updated from its orginal publication on 2/3/2020.