How to get into a startup accelerator mini guide WIP
I skimmed part I and will read it all later, but one piece of advice that stuck out to me immediately, that I think is important, is the one where you say &quot;make sure you can afford it&quot;. This I believe is critical to success.<p>Two years ago I was accepted into an accelerator program close to my home. While I did not have to move and was able to commute, it still placed a financial burden on me.<p>A little background context first. Prior to the accelerator starting I had been consulting during the day and working on the startup in my free time and at night&#x2F;weekends. While I had a little money in the bank and a cushion saved for emergencies, that cushion was meant more for if the bottom falls out of my world and I need to live for 6-7 months with absolutely no income. A little over half of that &quot;emergency&quot; money was tied to non-cash assets that I was willing to depart with (i.e. sell stocks) should my world collapse, but at the same time was easily accessible and could be converted to cash fairly quickly. While this money was separate from long-term retirement planning, and was meant to be accessed with minimal tax burden, I had not intended for it to subsidize my living just to join an accelerator. So my first decision was whether to cash out some emergency money or not, so I could focus on the accelerator and stop consulting.<p>The initial accelerator marketing stated a $10K stipend to each member. However, after being accepted we were informed that this was actually going to be disbursed at intervals. No big deal, but it did play a factor. We were also told that the initial disbursement would be paid within 30 days of acceptance (which just happened to coincide with the first day of the accelerator). So I wasn&#x27;t too worried and figured I could keep my emergency funds intact.<p>The start of the program comes and goes, however, there was no disbursements. As weeks added up, I began questioning the partners as to when the money would be disbursed. By this point I had practically burned through my cash savings and was at the point where I had to make a decision. I could (a) cash out some emergency funds; (b) take on a couple small consulting jobs to make ends meet till the disbursement hit; or (c) quit the accelerator.<p>After the halfway point passed in the accelerator and two disbursement dates had been missed, I put further pressure on the partners, but by this point I was at the breaking point. I kept being told any day now. So I picked up a couple small consulting jobs that I could do in a few hours here and there.<p>By now I had a bad taste in mouth with the program for the disbursements being strung out this long and a complete lack of transparency on the partners behalf. By the time the initial disbursement finally did come I had to use that money to catch up on my bills and expenses that I had incurred directly by participating in the accelerator. But that bad taste lingered even after those disbursements, and when it became apparent that the demo day at the end would not materialize, I ended up just dropping out entirely. I continued with my startup, but had to go back to consulting to ensure my financial well-being.<p>Money may not be able to buy happiness, but it can buy you a whole lot less stress whether you realize it or not. And the less stress you have going on in your outside life, the more you can focus on your startup life. The way this situation played out added a stress that impacted my overall ability to focus on my startup. So instead of being able to use the accelerator as a time to put 100% into my startup, I was left to spending 75% of my time worrying about and making sure I had money for bills and living expenses.<p>Long story short, don&#x27;t count on the money from the program to make ends meet. Be in a financial position to use that money more as a cushion so you don&#x27;t have to worry about your bills&#x2F;living expenses.