Most startup accelerators are actually making your company worth less.
April 16, 2026
Original Paper
Beyond Demo Day: Sorting and Value Added in Startup Accelerators
SSRN · 6566858
The Takeaway
Every founder dreams of getting into a top accelerator to boost their valuation and network, but the data tells a much grimmer story. A study of 750,000 startups found that the vast majority of these programs provide 'negative value added' compared to companies that never joined one. Unless you land in a tiny 'right tail' of elite programs like Y Combinator, you would literally be better off doing nothing at all. For entrepreneurs, this means the prestigious 'demo day' badge might actually be a signal of wasted time and equity rather than a launchpad. It turns out that for most founders, these programs are more like expensive social clubs than business boosters.
From the abstract
We study who joins startup accelerators, how founders sort across programs, and which accelerators improve startup outcomes. Using a comprehensive sample of about 750,000 U.S. startups linked to 329 accelerators, we adapt the teacher value-added framework from education economics to estimate accelerator value added (AVA) while accounting for sorting. Selection is systematic: observably better ventures are more likely to enter accelerators and to sort into higher-AVA programs. Yet accelerator per