‘Say yes to everything’: These founders have advice for joining Big Tech accelerators

Big companies aren’t often thought of as charitable toward the smaller guys. They can be bureaucratic, stodgy, slow — but they’ve also mastered processes that keep their large ships on course, with lessons to spare. Conversely, startups are the new-idea hubs. They’re fast-moving, scrappy, lean — but their leaders often lack the expertise to know where to grow next, or the resources to get there. Both sides can learn from each other, if they create space to foster those relationships.

In the world of technology, it’s not uncommon for Big Tech companies to offer support to early-stage startups (especially those that might use their services) in the form of funding, product credits and connections. For instance, Google has Google for Startups and Amazon has Amazon Web Services (AWS) Startups, both of which offer accelerators.

What’s the real benefit of participating? Chiefly, heightened exposure to high-profile connections, thanks to the host orgs’ scale and influence.

Two Philly-area startup founders who joined these accelerators within the last year shared their experiences and advice with Technical.ly.

EdLight

Teryn Thomas, CEO and cofounder of edtech company EdLight (a 2023 RealLIST Startups honoree), participated in the Google for Startups Accelerator: Black Founders at the end of 2022. Thomas previously told Technical.ly that she was hoping to build a community of fellow founders and potential investors through her experience with Google.

After completing the 10-week program, Thomas said this accelerator had come at the perfect time for EdLight, which is a digital platform that teachers can use to organize students work and provide feedback.

“It’s clear the program runners understand the challenges and opportunities that are facing similar-sized organizations,” Thomas said. “As a result, every aspect of the accelerator feels thoughtfully crafted to encourage and develop their participants.”

Thomas said the accelerator gave her the opportunity to build relationships and learn from experts in both scaling and technology, as well as from peers.

“Being able to learn firsthand from the technical and renowned experts in the accelerator like Ovetta Sampson is a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity,” she said, referring to Google’s director of user experience for Core ML, and a machine learning expert. “In addition, the relationships you’re able to build with other participants are one of the unexpected treasures of participating in the accelerator.”

Her advice for any company leaders considering a similar program is to “say yes to everything that comes your way.”

Walkthrough

Megan Valentine, cofounder of Walkthrough, a personalized financial advising app, participated in the AWS Impact Accelerator: Women Founders at the end of 2022. This program provided networking, $225,000 in a combination of cash and AWS Activate credits, and technical guidance to the 25 startups that were accepted. Valentine said that included workshops about sales, pitching, product and tech.

“The community of powerful women founders changing the world inspired us, the business mentorship empowered us to level up our B2B sales, and the technical mentorship continues to help us ensure we’re building robust, secure software,” she told Technical.ly. “The whole program had a lot of heart in it — the AWS folks cared deeply about helping every team succeed, and many aspects of the programming and mentorship were tailored to each company’s needs.”

The accelerator also provided useful connections to mentors and experts, and introduced Valentine to VCs and biz leaders who could use her company’s platform.

“AWS has amazing resources!” she said. “They have lots of business mentors with experience running startups and connections to key decision makers at big companies. Their technical experts continue to help us build out our backend on AWS [infrastructure]. AWS has given us key introductions to VCs and to businesses that might pilot Walkthrough’s financial advice as a benefit for their employees and the communities they serve.”

Valentine’s advice for other founders who might pursue similar programs is go into the experience understanding what you want to get out of it, whether that be community, VCs, business education, customers, etc. Also, talk to as many people as possible.

“Go in with the mindset that everyone has something valuable to teach you,” she said. “You never know where a key introduction or way of thinking will come from, and staying open is super helpful here. Make real connections with people, set up meetings with all of the mentors you can reach, and ask lots of questions.”

Sarah Huffman is a 2022-2024 corps member for Report for America, an initiative of The Groundtruth Project that pairs young journalists with local newsrooms. This position is supported by the Lenfest Institute for Journalism.