The Accelerator Survival Guide: How to lead, design and execute great programs

Sean Percival

Mar 2020 · Storedale OU

About this ebook

This guide is a collection of experiences, frameworks and startup accelerator best practices. It’s the ideal starting point for program directors but any member of an accelerator’s staff can find value within its pages. Learn how to maximize your program and avoid the major pitfalls with this true survival guide.

Ratings and reviews

I share my experience from running and building dozens of startup accelerator programs.

About the author

Sean Percival is an American entrepreneur, investor, and author from California. He has invested in 100+ startups and founded several of his own. He has been a startup accelerator Program Director at over 10 programs throughout the world. 

As a former Investment Partner and Program Director for 500 Startups, one of the most well-acclaimed startup accelerators in the world, Sean has a unique depth of experience in accelerator management. During his time at 500 Startups, he ran several programs including the 500 Startups flagship program in Silicon Valley, in addition to programs in other parts of the world. These programs touched on all stages of startups from the very early stage pre-accelerator type programs all the way to later stage Series A growth programs. During his time there, Sean helped to create and implement several new accelerator frameworks and processes that are still used to this very day at 500 Startups.

Additionally, Sean has helped establish or worked with several other accelerator programs such as the Katapult Accelerator and various industry-specific programs. Through these programs, Sean has been lucky to work directly with hundreds of startups from all over the world. This has given him unique insights into the good, bad and ugly of running accelerator programs. He’s taken this wealth of experience and packaged it up here as a guide for accelerator program directors and staff members.