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As the Growth Manager at Gust, one of my responsibilities is to evaluate accelerator programs on the Gust Accelerator Platform to determine if they are a good fit for our community of founders. The guidelines we use for this, which were built by the Gust team, leveraging the collective decades of experience we have working with startups, can also be used to help founders determine which accelerator is best for them.

Accelerators are as diverse and varied as the start-ups they serve. While there are some universal features, such as an application and selection process and educational programming, the specific offerings can differ widely. Most, but not all, will offer networking opportunities (with the exception of programs that focus heavily on one-on-one mentorship) and most, but not all, will offer some form of funding opportunities, either through direct investment or by leveraging their network of investors for targeted introductions or a demo day-style event. Let's delve deeper into the details.

Being the founder of a startup can be both exciting and scary, particularly when raising capital from investors and managing your company’s finances. If this sounds familiar to you, a financial model is one tool you need to have in your corner. Whether you’re a first-time founder who is hearing the term “financial model” tossed around in fundraising conversations, or a serial entrepreneur who has built models of your own in the past, this post will help explain why a solid financial model has become a requirement for fundraising and scaling your startup. We’ll explain what a financial model is and how you can use it. And we’ll cover 10 reasons why you should start building a financial model for your startup right away.

As the influence of artificial intelligence continues to extend its reach across a diverse range of industries, the question remains: What legal rights do AI users have in output generated by AI systems? In a previous post, I reported on the recent announcement by the U.S. Copyright Office, which took the position that most AI output would be unprotectable by copyright because it is created by a machine rather than a person. This article explores other legal rights in AI-generated output, principally trademark and trade secret rights, that may be available to AI users.

When you run a startup, securing the right types of funding at the right moments can feel like a never-ending game of chess. You have to think twenty moves in advance, and if you make just one mistake, you might end up sabotaging the whole game. And plenty of founders do sabotage the game: It’s estimated that 80% of startups don’t make it past the first year, and 90% fail over the long run. And even those who do make it have their regrets: The average SaaS founder walks away with 20% equity in their company, with some hitting numbers as low as 1% or 5%—not much when you consider the overall emotional, financial, and spiritual investment founders make into their companies. So, what can a startup founder do to ensure they’re navigating raising funds strategically? Keep reading to learn everything you need to know about how to raise funds for startups, including the different types of funding available, which growth stage is most appropriate for each, and what investors look for in a startup.