Bridging the “Pioneer Gap”: The Role of Accelerators in Launching High-Impact Enterprises

Lall, Saurabh; Bowles, Lily; Baird, Ross

doi:10.1162/inov_a_00191

Cited by 31 publications

(20 citation statements)

References 4 publications

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“…There is no consensus on how to best measure the company's growth. Various scientific studies cite metrics such as sales, number of employees, assets, and cash flows [23]. There is also a perception that perhaps the most important aspect of accelerator companies' long-term success is simply gaining investor contacts [7].…”

Section: Scheme Of Accelerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and Specificities of Local Innovation Accelerators: A Case of Poland

Szczukiewicz¹,

Makowiec

2021

Sustainability

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Accelerators are one of the most recent and prominent institutions that support start-up development. The phenomenon of accelerators impacts academia as well as policy makers and practitioners. However, the research on accelerators is still very scant and the majority of research concerns the most prestigious and successful American accelerators. The purpose of this paper is to outline the characteristics of Polish accelerators and their specificities, with the focus on the differences between public and private accelerators. The collateral aim of the authors was to describe characteristics and components of an innovation accelerator and its placement in the ecosystem of institutional support for start-ups. The first part of the study focuses on the definition of an accelerator, the review of relevant literature and the differences between other well established institutions such as incubators and business angels. The second part of the study presents the current state of accelerators in Poland. It is observed that the majority of the accelerators in Poland are publicly funded and accelerators avoid taking equity in accelerated start-ups. This is an effect of the competition from public accelerators, which offer a sizable equity-free grant of 200,000 PLN. This study enriches the research on different models of local accelerators and their acceleration programs.

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Section: Scheme Of Accelerationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Characteristics and Specificities of Local Innovation Accelerators: A Case of Poland

Szczukiewicz¹,

Makowiec

2021

Sustainability

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“…To address those complex needs of sustainability-oriented startups more effectively, a new type of accelerators has appeared in the last few years, so-called impact accelerators. Impact accelerators specifically support early-stage startups that generate a meaningful social and/or environmental impact alongside positive financial 2 of 22 returns [4,5]. Due to this purpose, it might be expected that impact accelerators will desire different outcomes than traditional commercial accelerators.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Worldwide a great number of early-stage sustainability startups (also called impact startups) have been launched. However, only a few have been able to overcome the "pioneer gap" and build teams, find a customer base, or raise the necessary capital [5,11]. Impact accelerators seem to be highly relevant at this early stage of firm development [4].…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Selection Process and Criteria of Impact Accelerators. An Exploratory Study

Butz

Mrożewski

2021

Sustainability

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Start-up accelerators, a relatively new and competitive type of business incubators, are nowadays considered to be a highly effective way of providing venture support. Start-ups who have been supported through accelerators have an approximately 23% higher survival rate than other new businesses. This positive effect can be explained by the highly selective process accelerators apply when deciding on which venture projects to support. It comes as no surprise that understanding this process and the respective selection criteria is at the core of accelerator/incubator literature within entrepreneurship research. Existing research is however limited to the investigation of commercial accelerators which provide support to start-ups having an economic purpose only. Hence those academic findings cannot be simply extrapolated to accelerators supporting ventures combining economic goals with social and ecological purpose. Given the growing meaning of sustainability entrepreneurship and hence the increasing number of sustainability-oriented accelerators, the above limitation seems to be an important research gap. This paper addresses the above gap by investigating the selection processes and criteria of so-called impact accelerators focusing on the support of start-ups expected to create not only economic outcomes but also positive social and/or environmental impact. Building on existing accelerator literature, we qualitatively investigate the selection processes and criteria of nine European impact accelerators. By comparing our findings with existing research, we identify important differences between the selection approach of commercial and impact accelerators thus contributing to sustainability entrepreneurship research and practice.

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“…Business accelerators are emerging as a mechanism to connect early‐stage ventures to potential investors. The training and mentoring, as well as the signaling effect of participating in these selective programs, are likely to have a positive effect on the probability of receiving grant funding (Lall, Bowles, and Baird ; Pandey et al ). We include a dummy variable, venture previously accelerated, that indicates whether a venture has previously participated in an accelerator program (prior to the program to which it is currently applying).…”

Section: Methodsmentioning

confidence: 99%

The Expat Gap: Are Local‐Born Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries at a Disadvantage When Seeking Grant Funding?

Lall

Chen

Davidson

2019

Public Administration Review

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Donor agencies and foundations use grants to stimulate entrepreneurial growth in developing countries. However, some practitioners have asked whether these grants tend to flow to expatriate entrepreneurs with ties to developed countries (where most grants originate), rather than to local entrepreneurs. This article tackles this question using a data set of 3,434 nascent ventures from 92 developing countries. The authors find that ventures with ties to a developed country are significantly more likely to raise grant financing and in more substantial amounts. Ventures with a founder born in a developed country are the most likely to receive grants, with a weaker effect when considering prior work experience in a developed country. This “expat gap” cannot be explained by differences in education level, prior experience, or ties to other developing countries. Donors seeking to support local entrepreneurs in developing countries should consider ways to make their recruitment and selection processes more equitable.

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Bridging the “Pioneer Gap”: The Role of Accelerators in Launching High-Impact Enterprises

Cited by 31 publications

References 4 publications

Characteristics and Specificities of Local Innovation Accelerators: A Case of Poland

Characteristics and Specificities of Local Innovation Accelerators: A Case of Poland

The Selection Process and Criteria of Impact Accelerators. An Exploratory Study

The Expat Gap: Are Local‐Born Entrepreneurs in Developing Countries at a Disadvantage When Seeking Grant Funding?

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