E9: How to Start an Accelerator w/ Jay Krishnan
Jay Krishnan is a globally successful entrepreneur, investor, innovation ecosystem builder, and Chief Executive Officer of the Accelerator Centre (acceleratorcentre.com).
An executive leader with over 20 years of experience, Jay boasts an impressive resume of international success. With experience spanning the venture capital space, entrepreneurship, and product development and management, Jay knows firsthand what it takes to turn a good idea into a great one and to grow a company from a startup to a globally competitive business.
Having been involved in the founding stages of 3 startups himself, he has experienced the full startup lifecycle - from failure to success- spanning seeding, raising capital, scaling, and exit; with one company ultimately acquired by a multi-national conglomerate.
Episode timestamp:
0:51 Introduction
3:41 How an Accelerator can help founders validate and grow
5:30 Jay's entrepreneurial journey and his successful exits
8:18 Principle #1: Working with the right set of people
10:46 How to evaluate whether you are building with the right people
14:37 Principle #2: Having alignments with your Investors: alignment of culture, alignment with goals, alignment with the mission statement
18:27 How to evaluate whether an investor is right for you
22:41 When is the right time for a founder to raise
24:44 How Jay decided to switch from a VC to an Accelerator CEO
29:56 When should founders think about joining an Accelerator, and whether accelerators are right for founders
An executive leader with over 20 years of experience, Jay boasts an impressive resume of international success. With experience spanning the venture capital space, entrepreneurship, and product development and management, Jay knows firsthand what it takes to turn a good idea into a great one and to grow a company from a startup to a globally competitive business.
Having been involved in the founding stages of 3 startups himself, he has experienced the full startup lifecycle - from failure to success- spanning seeding, raising capital, scaling, and exit; with one company ultimately acquired by a multi-national conglomerate.
Episode timestamp:
0:51 Introduction
3:41 How an Accelerator can help founders validate and grow
5:30 Jay's entrepreneurial journey and his successful exits
8:18 Principle #1: Working with the right set of people
10:46 How to evaluate whether you are building with the right people
14:37 Principle #2: Having alignments with your Investors: alignment of culture, alignment with goals, alignment with the mission statement
18:27 How to evaluate whether an investor is right for you
22:41 When is the right time for a founder to raise
24:44 How Jay decided to switch from a VC to an Accelerator CEO
29:56 When should founders think about joining an Accelerator, and whether accelerators are right for founders
