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What an accelerator application needs to show

The Consumer VC work group on what they look for when they read an accelerator application.

Updated October 13, 2026

Show why this team has to build this, let the reviewer use the product, and report a completed learning cycle with honest numbers.

  • Why this team, and why now. Niko Bonatsos wants the specific user and pain, and what the founders built because they understand it. Anish Acharya asks for the team's edge, what it knows that others miss and why the timing works. Kirsten Green looks for a consumer insight in plain language, and Alfred Lin for why the company will matter in ten years.
  • Put the product in the application. Nabeel Hyatt wants a link or a short demo, what users can now do that they couldn't before, and the biggest risk with the evidence that you can solve it. If the team changed direction, he suggests a few lines on what changed its mind.
  • Numbers that survive a follow-up question. Niko asks for active and retained users with the cohort and time window, discounts counted in acquisition cost, and an LOI called an LOI.
  • Before retention, show a learning cycle. Anish gives the most weight to a working product, the users who tried it, what they did and a change the team shipped as a result, with dates and a user count. Alfred adds a weak metric alongside the plan to learn from it.

Group chat with Kirsten, Alfred, Nabeel, Niko, Anish — the Consumer VC work group

Question:

What makes an accelerator application stand out?

Niko Bonatsos
Niko BonatsosFounder of Verdict Capital. Former Managing Director at General Catalyst
Show why this team had to build this product, then show that people come back to it. When I met Saturn’s founders, they described a problem they knew firsthand: arranging time with friends was harder than scheduling work calls. Their proof of concept already had striking engagement and retention, and their closeness to high school users came through in the product.Medium
For an accelerator application, I’d give the reader three concrete things: the specific user and pain, what the founders built because they understand that pain, and a small cohort’s repeated use over a defined period. Report active and retained users with the cohort and time window. A download count alone can hide whether anybody uses the product.Medium
Alfred Lin
Alfred LinPartner at Sequoia Capital. Former Chairman and COO of Zappos
I would make the case for why the company will matter in ten years. At the seed stage, the evidence can come from a change in the market before your own traction is strong. Explain what changed, why your team can act on it now, and how your product changes the customer's experience. Share a weak metric alongside your plan to learn from it. That candor is useful evidence of how the team makes decisions.Medium
Niko Bonatsos
Niko BonatsosFounder of Verdict Capital. Former Managing Director at General Catalyst
Alfred’s ten-year case gets sharper if the application names the first distribution path. For a consumer product, I’d ask: where will the first tightly connected users discover it, and why does using it get better when their friends join? Those are questions I’ve used to evaluate consumer products, alongside the technology that makes the product possible now.Medium Write the answer around one initial community and the behavior that brings the next user in.
Nabeel Hyatt
Nabeel HyattEIR and former General Partner at Spark Capital. Board observer at Discord
Put the product itself in the application. Give me a link I can use, or a short demo if it needs one, and tell me what users do with it that they could not do before. I learn much more about a founder's judgment from that than from a market-size slide.Spotify
Then name the biggest risk in the idea and the specific evidence you have that you can solve it. Early-stage founders can make a stronger case by proving the one thing the business depends on than by trying to make every box in an application look green.hallwaychat
Anish Acharya
Anish AcharyaGeneral Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Former VP Product Management at Credit Karma
The strongest application makes three things easy to see: why this team has an edge on this problem, what they know that others miss, and why the timing works now. Those are the questions I raised when discussing Deel, including the risk of a good idea arriving at the wrong time.Apple Podcasts
For an early team, I'd make the evidence of learning concrete: what did you ship, what did users do, and what did you change as a result? I've described speed of learning as a company's early superpower, because faster cycles get you to product-market fit faster.Apple Podcasts
Kirsten Green
Kirsten GreenFounder and Managing Partner of Forerunner. Board member at Glossier
I would look for a specific consumer insight that the founder can explain in plain language: who has the problem, what they do today, and what the founder has seen that others have missed. Our investing lens starts with founders who see what people need early and understand the person as clearly as the technology.forerunnerventures
The application should also explain what makes the product worth trying in the first place. I look for a distinct idea that meets a real need, gives people a reason to talk about it, and delivers on its promise once they try it.YouTube Let the founder's own voice come through: do the homework and explain why you care about building this. I have urged founders to be informed and be themselves when pitching.abcnews.go
Niko Bonatsos
Niko BonatsosFounder of Verdict Capital. Former Managing Director at General Catalyst
The numbers in the application should survive a basic follow-up question. If revenue grew after a promotion, include discounts in customer acquisition cost. If a buyer signed an LOI, call it an LOI and say what still has to happen before a contract. I’ve seen founders overstate pipelines and later miss their projections; an honest account of what has converted gives a reviewer more to work with.Medium
Alfred Lin
Alfred LinPartner at Sequoia Capital. Former Chairman and COO of Zappos
A narrow starting market can make a large ambition more credible. DoorDash had product-market fit in Palo Alto, and Tony Xu's team saw an overlooked path through the suburbs while competitors focused on cities. Tony's experience working in restaurants with his mother also gave him firsthand knowledge of the merchants they served. In an application, I would connect those pieces: identify your first market, the customer insight that led you there, and the next adjacent market you can reach if the first one works.Medium
Nabeel Hyatt
Nabeel HyattEIR and former General Partner at Spark Capital. Board observer at Discord
A change of mind can be the strongest evidence in the application. I met Cruise when the team was building an aftermarket self-driving product for Audis. I liked the team, but the product and its path to market did not convince me. Later Kyle came back with what he had learned, a plan for fully autonomous driving, and a demo. That product experience changed my decision, and we moved quickly to invest.Spotify
So if the team changed direction, use a few lines to say what you believed before, what you saw that changed your mind, and what the current product proves. That sequence lets a reader judge how you learn under uncertainty.
Question:
Anish, Niko asks for a defined retention cohort and warns against inflated numbers. For an application submitted before retention can be measured, which specific evidence of learning would carry the most weight, and why? Please cite a public source.
Anish Acharya
Anish AcharyaGeneral Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Former VP Product Management at Credit Karma
Before retention is measurable, I'd put the most weight on a completed learning cycle: a working product, the specific users who tried it, what they did, and a change the team shipped because of what it learned. Include the dates and the user count so the reviewer can separate a real test from a founder's prediction. Early on, I've described speed of learning as a company's superpower, because faster cycles get a team closer to product-market fit.Apple Podcasts

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In This Conversation

  • Kirsten Green
    Kirsten Green

    Founder and Managing Partner of Forerunner. Board member at Glossier

  • Alfred Lin
    Alfred Lin

    Partner at Sequoia Capital. Former Chairman and COO of Zappos

  • Nabeel Hyatt
    Nabeel Hyatt

    EIR and former General Partner at Spark Capital. Board observer at Discord

  • Niko Bonatsos
    Niko Bonatsos

    Founder of Verdict Capital. Former Managing Director at General Catalyst

  • Anish Acharya
    Anish Acharya

    General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz. Former VP Product Management at Credit Karma

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Frequently Asked Questions

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    Why the company will matter in 10 years, why a customer changes what they do, who comes back and why, and what this round pays for. Each needs a specific example or number.

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    Around one story. With a working demo, one order is the shift, the demo, the business model, evidence of behavior, how the business grows, what can't be copied, then team, risks and the raise.

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