The Virtual Accelerator is Arizona Commerce Authority’s 12-week venture development program that empowers early-stage startups to grow their businesses, pursue venture financing, and more.
Donor Name: Arizona Commerce Authority
State: Arizona
Counties: All Counties
Type of Grant: Accelerator
Deadline: 06/02/2023
Grant Duration: 12 weeks
Details:
With a streamlined online framework, the Virtual Accelerator’s course content and mentorship opportunities empower founders to grow their businesses, pursue venture financing, and craft competitive applications for other programs.
Founders in the accelerator are paired with an expert coach who provides mentorship, support, and guidance. These mentors are community partners with deep experience building, scaling, and exiting successful startups. As part of Arizona’s ecosystem tools to enhance innovation in the state, the Virtual Accelerator utilizes the ACA Arizona Innovation Network (ACA IN), an asynchronous resource library and networking hub.
Through 12 weeks, early-stage entrepreneurs learn the skills necessary for commercializing a successful startup. Weekly learning modules cover topics ranging from understanding your value proposition and defining your problem statement all the way through effective go-to-market strategies and fundraising preparation.
Each week founders attend a live, virtual cohort meeting with ecosystem mentors and fellow founders, as well as ACA innovation experts, to learn that week’s content. During these sessions, founders have the opportunity to source feedback from their multiple coaches in breakout groups. Founders may also access the ACA IN Resource Library to dive deeper into topics where more information may be useful. Furthermore, during weekly networking “watercooler” sessions, founders can network and solicit feedback from anyone in the program.
Eligibility Criteria
The Virtual Accelerator program is explicitly for early-stage founders, even those in the conceptual stage. The program is designed to equip companies with the skills and knowledge to succeed in the Arizona Innovation Challenge and other business plan competitions.
For more information, visit Virtual Accelerator.
