Ready to hit the gas on your startup?                    Apply Here

Accelerate is a nine week program open to community members and OSU researchers, students and staff who intend to establish a privately held, high-growth entrepreneurial venture. This stage focuses on developing a minimal viable product and engaging in customer discovery to validate your product/market fit.

The regular Accelerate program runs three times a year (fall, winter, and spring). Through the scheduled program events, one-on-one sessions with the staff, meetings with mentors, and access to intern assistance on projects, startup teams will receive the support they need to get their concept into the marketplace.

Accelerate has both in-person and remote options that meet every week for nine weeks. Each session runs for two hours from 3pm-5pm on Tuesdays. The fall cohort will begin October 8th.

Accelerate Program - The OSU Advantage Accelerator

 

Entrance Requirements

  • Intent to establish a privately held, for-profit organization
  • Amenable to advice from staff and mentors
  • Apparent growth prospects as an innovative traded sector entity
  • Comply with all responsibilities and duties as outlined in the client agreement/participant agreement and exhibits
  • Intent to drive economic growth and create jobs

Program goals

  • Develop a process for finding and interviewing your target customers
  • Define your minimal viable product
  • Validate your product market fit
  • Develop a repeatable sales model
  • Identify team needs and build accordingly

Graduation Portfolio

  1. Product Market Validation
  2. Elevator Pitch
  3. Five-minute Pitch Deck
  4. Next product and market development steps identified
  5. 25+ customer discovery interviews conducted

Community Team Fees

  • Equity: 1%
  • Royalty: 2 & 1/2% of sales. This is payable when annual sales reach $200,000. Lifetime cap on payments is $100,000.

 

 

We offer the Accelerate Program for 9 weeks on Tuesdays from 3pm - 5pm, 3 times a year:

Fall term:

  • Begins October 8  --  Applications open September 3rd

Winter term:

  • Begins January 21  --  Applications open November 1st

Spring term:

  • Begins April 8  --  Applications open March 3rd

 

Interested in applying in future cohorts? Submit an interest form here and we'll contact you!