As the pace of technology and disruption increases and the average company life expectancy continues to shrink, organisations need a strategy to future proof their business and avoid an ugly demise. Organisations need to be able to change direction and grow new businesses, if their market moves. In the famous words of Jack Welch, former CEO of GE, “if the rate of change on the outside exceeds the rate of change on the inside, the end is near.” This is where corporate accelerators come in. Corporate accelerators bring the best of corporate muscle and startup speed together. Such programs allow large organisations to stay competitive, boost growth potential and reduce the chance of being disrupted. Let’s delve deeper into why your company should run an accelerator program.

Innovate or Die

Engaging with startups who are at the cutting edge of new technologies can spur innovation at large organisations that are struggling to maintain relevance or uncover new growth strategies. The corporate accelerator model allows large corporations to foster relationships with startups at an early stage, giving large organisations  insight into emerging trends, the visibility to detect threats as early as possible and leverage opportunities for new products or services.

More than Just a PR Exercise

Competition for exceptional talent is high and employee churn costs companies tens of thousands of dollars every year. Sponsoring an accelerator program to improve brand in the market to attract and retain top talent is a no brainer. Beyond being a great marketing hack for talent acquisition, the organisation’s newfound proximity to startups can be the extra ace up your sleeve when closing deals. Being familiar with the latest technologies and a part of the industry disrupting action can increase the trust factor and comfort levels of potential new clients.

Identify Intrapreneurs

One of the greatest benefits of corporate accelerators is the exposure that employees gain from connecting with the startups. Whether through mentorship, bootcamps or workshops, employees and managers at all levels are exposed to the startup mindset that embraces risk, speed and experimentation. Seeing how startups #GSD encourages employees to adopt new ways of thinking, implement new tools and ultimately shifts the culture towards one of innovation and intrapreneurship.

Industry Specific Innovations

Many corporate accelerators focus on a specific industry or technology. For example, the Mills Oakley Accelerator focused on LegalTech, the upcoming Charter Hall Accelerator is aimed at PropTech and the Village AR/VR Xperience Accelerator is centered around the future of entertainment, which encompasses anything from gaming to education. Collaborating with startups empowers corporates to unlock new industry-specific commercial opportunities and increase their speed to market.

In Summary

Corporate accelerators are a win-win strategy, affording startups industry domain expertise and mentorship, targeted and deep marketing and distribution channels and access to a large pool of resources. Corporate accelerators offer organisations a number of unique advantages including:

• Deeper engagement with the startup ecosystem,
• Being at the forefront of new trends, enabling early detection of emerging threats,
• Reinvigorating the brand and increasing brand awareness,
• Attracting and keeping top talent,
• Boosting employee engagement, mindset change and seeding a culture of innovation,
• Generating new industry-specific commercial opportunities and increase their speed to market,
• Access to new technology and if all goes well, a longer lifespan by way of investing in and/or acquiring said startups.

Interested in exploring a corporate accelerators? Get in touch with us to find out more about our accelerator programs and how organisations we’ve partnered with have accelerated their innovation success. Give us a buzz on (03) 9020 2010 or email us at [email protected].