Esosa Eghodaro experienced the benefits of being part of a business accelerator growing up … [+]
When Esosa Ighodaro co-founded CoSign, an app that lets shoppers buy items they see in social media posts, she found that being part of an accelerator was a powerful fundraising advantage. As part of the Seamless Accelerator program in Grand Rapids, Mich., the company raised $1.4 million from three lead investors.
“The accelerator was a great stepping stone as a first-time entrepreneur, teaching me how to clearly define our problem, drive fundraising and understand what investors are looking for,” says Ighodaro. “There’s a lot of talk about bootstrapping, but most successful businesses have strong support systems, and accelerator programs often provide this kind of support.”
Today, Ighodaro is devoting her energy to making it easier for other founders to raise funds as the founder of AcceleratorCON, an event taking place in Brooklyn, NY on Friday, November 8, to bring startups and accelerators together .
The event, held at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, has two tracks, one for startup founders and one for accelerator leaders — bringing them together in a pro-sports-style draft. Speakers will be Seth Godin; Ankur Nagpal, founder of Teachable (who I will be interviewing as a volunteer moderator) and Carry and Reham Fagiri, founder of AptDeco.
Also in attendance will be experts such as Geri Stengel, founder of research firm Ventureneer, and representatives from accelerators such as ERA NYC, Cela Innovation, Hearst Labs, Kaplak Ventures and Quay Acceleration, among others. The event, sponsored by Microsoft, Oracle and TechStars, has about 500 registered participants, according to Ighodaro.
Only 2.3% of venture capital goes to female founders, according to PitchBook, and less than half of one percent (.48%) of all venture dollars went to black founders in 2023, according to Crunchbase.
“Technology investing is still a very relationship-based industry,” says Ighodaro. “It’s hard for people outside traditional networks—those who haven’t gone to Ivy League schools or aren’t connected through family or community ties—to break through. Through this new initiative, founders have a chance to connect directly with investors without I need a “warm introduction”, which can be transformative for those who do not have established networks for investing”.
Ighordaro works in the world many founders would like to use as VC-in-residence at Pipeline Angels, a group focused on providing a “family-friendly” round of investment to entrepreneurs who may not have that backing and Banking Formation of Barclay Skout investment venture (BBFI) for an investment vehicle managed by Zeal Capital Partners in New York.
One of her goals for the event is to help underrepresented founders make the kind of connections that can lead to successful fundraising rounds.
“Through this new initiative, I hope to expand these opportunities for people of color and women to access accelerator programs,” she says. “Studies show that founders are more likely to secure funding after participating in an accelerator, especially for women and founders of color. These programs create networks and connections that are invaluable, especially for those without an established network.”
Startups that participated in accelerators raised between 50-170% more than similar startups that did not, according to research recently published in the Harvard Business Review. These startups were also more likely to survive or be acquired.
Ighodaro first saw the need for new entrepreneurial communities through her experiences as a founder. “When I first started in tech, especially in New York around 2011-2012, there weren’t a lot of resources or communities for people like me, so I felt isolated,” she says.
She addressed this by co-founding Black Women Talk Tech, a community for scale entrepreneurs. “Black Women Talk Tech became a way to build community, provide resources and create content tailored to our needs,” she says. “We run a conference series called Roadmap to Billions that aims to help founders learn what it takes to build a worthwhile business without constantly having to fly to California for resources.”
Noticing more accelerators opening, she started digging and found more than 3,200 programs listed on Crunchbase. “Many founders are unaware of these opportunities, and I saw a gap where I could help them access these resources,” she says.
Ighodaro’s experiences with Women Talk Tech showed that the same small group of supporters showed up frequently, creating a tight-knit community. That led to her current initiative to help founders connect with investors and accelerators—“something that would have been valuable when I was building my startup,” she says.
After the AcceleratorCON event previously went virtual due to flash flooding in New York, Ighodaro says she’s excited to finally keep it live — and create an opportunity for more startups to raise funding . “For underrepresented founders, access to capital is critical,” she says.