A lot of accelerator programs make the same mistake: they design a curriculum that looks great on paper but doesn’t actually match with the founder’s needs. Startups sit through lectures on business models and market validation, when what they really might need is practical guidance on scaling their existing revenue streams.

The problem? The curriculum isn’t built for them. A pre-seed founder still figuring out their customer base doesn’t need a deep dive into Series A term sheets. A fintech startup can’t use the same growth playbook as a B2B SaaS company. If the content isn’t relevant to their stage and industry, founders check out.

The solution isn’t to overload them with information. It’s to build a curriculum that forces action-real customer conversations, financial planning with actual numbers, marketing strategies they test immediately. 

We’ve worked with accelerators that get this right. Here’s what they do differently:

The fundamentals

Some fundamentals apply to every startup, but how they’re taught makes all the difference. A theoretical overview won’t help founders - it needs to be practical, actionable and directly tied to their current challenges. Instead of just covering topics, structure the curriculum so they immediately apply what they learn.

Below are the key modules for a pre-seed/early-stage accelerator, but always tailor them to the stage, industry, and specific needs of your startups.

Business model development

Most founders think they have a business model. What they actually have is a bunch of assumptions. The easiest way to break that illusion? Have them map out their business in five minutes. No long explanations, just who their customer is, what they’re selling and how they make money.

Then, have someone else in the room explain that same business back to them. Nine times out of ten, it sounds completely different. That’s where the real work starts, clarifying what they actually do and who cares enough to pay for it.

Market research that doesn't suck

Telling founders to “validate their idea” isn’t helpful. Give them a deadline to talk to real potential customers and force them to come back with insights that change their original plan. If nothing changed, they weren’t listening.

A startup once swore restaurants would love their inventory app. After five conversations, they realized no one wanted another system in their kitchen. But they did want a way to predict food waste. That startup survived because they learned before building something no one would use.

If you want your startups to really understand what market validation is, why it matters and how to do it properly, send them to this: Market Validation: A Step-by-Step Guide. It breaks down the process in a way that actually makes sense.

Financial planning that actually gets used

If you let them, founders will guess their numbers and move on. Instead, have them build a 12-month cash flow projection and then sit down with an investor or CFO who rips it apart. Nothing makes financial reality hit faster than a spreadsheet that shows they’ll be broke in six months instead of twelve.

A team once realized they’d forgotten to include tax payments in their runway calculation. That mistake would have killed them. Better to catch it in the program than six months into running out of cash.

Marketing that isn't just posting on social media

Forget long marketing strategy sessions. Give founders 48 hours to launch a simple landing page and collect 50 signups. If they can’t, their messaging is off, their audience is wrong or no one cares. And all of that is more useful to know now rather than three months later when they’ve spent time and money on the wrong approach.

One startup went from zero signups to 100 overnight by changing their headline from a generic “AI-powered hiring platform” to “Spend 70% less time hiring your next engineer.” Clarity beats buzzwords every time.

Sales without the theoretical nonsense

Sales workshops often talk about “building relationships” and “understanding the customer journey.” Those things matter, but the fastest way to improve sales? Make founders send 10 cold emails right there in the session.

If they aren’t getting responses, they tweak and try again. It’s uncomfortable, but it forces them to stop overthinking and start talking to customers.

That said, sales strategies vary depending on the business model. A B2B SaaS startup selling to enterprises needs a completely different approach than a DTC e-commerce brand. Cold outreach might work for one, while partnerships or paid acquisition work better for another. Workshops should be specific and tailored to the business models of the startups in the cohort rather than applying a generic sales strategy across the board. Bringing in industry-specific sales experts can help founders refine their approach based on how their customers actually buy.

Legal without the overwhelm

Most founders don’t need to become legal experts, but they do need to avoid mistakes that can sink their startup. Instead of overwhelming them with legal theory, give them a one-page checklist covering the absolute basics: founder agreements, IP protection, and equity splits. Then, let them fire off legal questions to a startup lawyer in a rapid Q&A session.

Legal needs vary depending on the types of startups in the cohort, so your approach should be customized accordingly. A SaaS startup might focus on data privacy laws like GDPR, while a sustainable startup needs to navigate environmental regulations, certifications and compliance standards. Fintech companies deal with financial regulations and health startups must comply with strict data protection rules.

If you are a niche-specific accelerator, instead of offering generic legal sessions, bring in niche-specific legal experts who understand the unique challenges of the industry. A one-size-fits-all approach won’t cut it when startups have vastly different regulatory hurdles. Having the right legal guidance early on helps founders avoid costly mistakes and stay compliant as they grow.

Pitching that doesn't waste time

A common mistake: founders spend too much time on their slides and not enough on what they’re actually saying. Have them pitch without slides first. 

If the story isn’t clear without visuals, the deck won’t save it. Investors don’t invest in ideas. They invest in traction, a scalable market and a team that can execute. Yet, many founders pitch as if raising money is about having the coolest technology.

A simple way to get them thinking like an investor? Have them switch roles. Give each founder an imaginary $100K to “invest” in their peers. Which companies would they back and why? Most will quickly realize that an impressive idea without proof means nothing. The ones that feel “investable” usually:

• Have real customer interest (not just “potential”)
• Can explain how they make money in under 30 seconds
• Show a clear path to growth, not just “if we get 1% of the market...”

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Curriculum that matches your startup’s stage

A pre-seed startup that hasn’t built a product yet needs something completely different from a seed-stage company fine-tuning its revenue model. The curriculum should match the entry level of knowledge founders have when they join or they’ll either be overwhelmed or bored.

• Pre-seed & early-stage startups → Focus on market validation, defining a business model and understanding the problem they’re solving. Get them in front of real potential customers within the first week. Fundraising at this stage? Less about pitch decks, more about proving there’s an actual demand.
• Seed-stage startups → They’ve validated demand and might have early customers. Now, the focus should shift to growth tactics, early sales strategies, financial planning and refining unit economics. Leadership and hiring become more relevant as they start building a real team.
• Series A+ startups → At this stage, they don’t need “how to build an MVP” workshops. They need scaling strategies, high-level fundraising insights, hiring at scale and operational efficiency. If the curriculum still focuses on basic startup topics, they’re wasting their time.

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The fastest way to kill engagement in an accelerator? Put a founder who’s already making $1M in revenue in the same sessions as someone with nothing but an idea. Match the curriculum to the startup’s reality or they’ll tune out.

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Industry-specific adjustments

Some things need to change depending on who’s in the room.

• Tech startups → Bring in a CTO to challenge their scalability plans before they build something that breaks at 100 users.
• Sustainability-focused startups → Push them to prove they can make money and impact, not just one or the other.
• Healthcare startups → If they don’t understand regulations early, they’ll waste months building something they legally can’t sell.
• Fintech startups → Security and compliance aren’t optional. Get a banking or payments expert to tear their plan apart before investors do.
• EdTech startups → Selling to schools and universities is different from selling to consumers. Let them pitch to real educators and adjust based on actual feedback.

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The pattern is obvious - every industry has its own roadblocks and startups need people who’ve been through them before. The fastest way to make a curriculum relevant is to bring in experts from the industry who can point out the pitfalls, shortcuts and realities founders won’t find in a Google search.

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Implementing the curriculum

A well-designed curriculum is useless if it’s delivered in a way that puts founders to sleep. Nobody remembers slides from a three-hour seminar. They remember what they did, the feedback they got, and the problems they solved.

Workshop and seminar formats

Interactive workshops

If founders aren’t actively working on their startup during the session, it’s probably a waste of time. Every workshop should end with founders walking away with something useful - an improved pitch, a refined customer persona, or a tested sales email.

Expert-led Seminars

Bring in founders, investors, and operators who have actually built something before. The key here? No theory, no generic advice. Give them a specific topic and have them share actual examples, numbers, and failures.

For instance, Instead of “How to Scale Sales,” get a founder who went from $10K to $1M ARR to walk through their sales pipeline, step by step.

Peer-to-peer learning

While mentors provide invaluable insights, startups gain a different kind of value from each other. Create opportunities for them to critique each other’s work - business models, pricing strategies, marketing messaging. Other founders often spot blind spots that mentors miss.

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Mentorship and coaching

One-on-one mentoring

Group sessions are helpful, but founders need personalized feedback. Set up structured one-on-ones with mentors who can dig into their specific challenges.

• Match mentors based on expertise, not availability. A fintech founder doesn’t need general startup advice - they need someone who understands financial compliance and fundraising in their space.
• Set clear objectives. A mentor meeting shouldn’t be a casual chat. Make founders bring specific challenges to solve.

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Group coaching sessions

Not every challenge needs one-on-one mentoring. Group coaching lets founders learn from each other’s questions. A session on hiring, for example, becomes much stronger when founders share real hiring mistakes and how they fixed them.

Industry-specific mentorship

General business advice doesn’t work for every industry. As mentioned earlier, you need to bring in niche experts who understand the specific roadblocks, regulations, and sales cycles founders will face. If you don’t have these experts in-house, set up partnerships with industry organizations, experienced founders, or investors who specialize in those fields.

Why would these experts be interested? Simple - many of them have been in the same position before and want to give back, build their personal brand, or scout promising startups early. Investors use mentorship to identify future deals. Seasoned entrepreneurs see it as a way to stay connected to emerging trends. Corporate executives often do it to find innovative startups they can partner with.

The right industry connections can mean the difference between six months of trial and error or getting the right answer in a single conversation.

For your accelerator, bringing in niche experts leads to higher-quality startups, a stronger reputation, and better investor confidence - making the program more valuable and credible, thus attracting even more partnerships. 

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Making the curriculum work without the chaos

Designing a great accelerator curriculum is one thing. Keeping it structured, accessible and actually useful? That’s where things usually fall apart.

Startups miss important sessions. Founders forget where to find key resources. Mentors get double-booked or, worse, don’t get booked at all. Before you know it, you’re drowning in emails, calendar invites, and Slack messages trying to keep everything on track.

That’s why the best accelerators use systems that do the heavy lifting and that’s exactly what Acterio helps with.

Journeys keep everything structured. Instead of startups wandering through the program at their own pace, they follow a clear step-by-step path. You can track their progress, see where they’re stuck, and make sure they’re actually completing the work, not just showing up to sessions.

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Resources stop the endless “Can you resend that document?” emails. Everything from templates and case studies to workshop recordings can be kept in one place. If founders need to revisit something, they know exactly where to find it.

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Mentor Booking takes the headache out of scheduling. No more back-and-forth emails trying to set up meetings. Startups just pick a time, book a session and get the one-on-one help they actually need, whether it’s from an investor, an industry expert or a legal advisor.

At the end of the day, an accelerator is only as effective as its execution. A strong curriculum is useless if founders can’t access it, track their progress or get the right mentorship at the right time. Acterio makes sure that doesn’t happen.

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Final thoughts

A good accelerator isn’t just about packing founders into a room, throwing information at them and hoping something sticks. It’s about forcing real action, getting them to test ideas, challenge assumptions and make actual progress faster than they would on their own.

If the curriculum isn’t structured properly, startups either drown in irrelevant information or waste time on things they already know. If the program doesn’t match their stage, they check out. If they can’t find the right resources or mentors when they need them, they get stuck.

The best accelerators cut the fluff, adapt to their cohort and make sure founders walk away with results, not just notes.

Structure the program so founders don’t get lost. Bring in the right industry experts. Give them access to the right resources when they need them. If you do that, your accelerator won’t just be another program, it’ll be the one that actually made a difference.

If you want to run a program that’s structured, scalable and actually helps founders move forward, Acterio can help.

Get in touch with us to see how we can streamline your accelerator’s curriculum, resource distribution and mentorship process, all in one place. 

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