1. Startup Accelerators:
to DO or not to DO?
2013 SXSW Panel Picker
A Talk by Tim Falls, SendGrid Community Guy
Monday, August 13, 12

2. the intended audience
• startup founders, entrepreneurs
• tech / non-tech
• accelerators
• directors, mentors, investors, partners
• anyone interested in these topics:
• startup growth / strategy
• community
• mentorship
Monday, August 13, 12

3. what you’ll learn
• startup accelerators defined
• state of the accelerator ecosystem
• is an accelerator right for your startup?
• pros and cons of participating
• making the right decision
• if you DO
• getting the most out of your accelerator experience
• if you DO not
• alternatives to the accelerator
• how/where to learn more
Monday, August 13, 12

4. this talk brought to you by...
• personal experience
• interviews with the experts
• research
• general observations
• the letter “t”
Monday, August 13, 12

5. who am i?
@timfalls on twitter
community guy @sendgrid
i lead the developer relations team
former associate @techstars
2009 - 2011
Monday, August 13, 12

6. who is sendgrid?
email service in the cloud
infrastructure | deliverability | analytics | APIs
delivering billions of emails per month; over 50B to date
tens of thousands of customers - startups and non-startups
techstars graduate: 2009
Monday, August 13, 12

7. the story of an accelerated startup
Fall 2008 : 3 co-founders assemble, start building
May 2009 : enter TechStars, acquire first paying customers
August 2009 : launch at demo day
November 2009 : seed round = $750k
April 2010 : A round = $5M
January 2012 : B round = 21.6M
~50 employees
Aug 2012:
~100 employees
Boulder, Anaheim, SF, NYC, Providence, Portland, San Diego,
London
~4B emails/month = 133M/day = 5.5M/hr = 90k/minute = 1500/sec
Monday, August 13, 12

8. accelerator: what it is
community | mentorship | resources | inspiration | $
Monday, August 13, 12

9. state of the accelerator
• list of startup accelerators: growing
• quality vs quantity
• profile of the accelerator startup: evolving
• maturity & progress
• business vs idea
• team vs opportunity
• the application and selection process
Monday, August 13, 12

10. is acceleration for you?
the good
the bad
who’s right?
who’s wrong?
asking questions
finding answers
making a decision
Monday, August 13, 12

11. tips & tricks
if you do
before, during, after
if you do not
other options
resources
Monday, August 13, 12

12. questions, answers,
discussion
Monday, August 13, 12