🚀 The Backable Brief: Six things that get you into an accelerator
Accelerators. How to get in. I blew off the best networking move available to me. Don't make my mistake.
Backable works with underestimated, but undeniable founders raising pre-seed through Series A. If you’re planning a raise, book 30 minutes with me.
Don’t be like me.
When I was a founder, here is how I thought about accelerators.
YC? Seriously? No way. I’m not moving to SF for 12 weeks. Unreasonable.
Techstars? Who needs it.
500 Startups? Sure, I’ll apply. And then I half-assed the application.
Here is what I did not understand at the time. If I had gotten into YC, my company could have raised more money, faster, and with far less pain. There was a real shot on the table and I waved it off.
Maybe I would have made a different call if I had known that.
So learn from me.
For founders without a Stanford, Harvard, Wharton, or MIT degree, without FAANG or OpenAI on the resume, no one at the accelerator is scanning the applications looking for you. No one is handing you a shortcut. You don’t have the keywords.
Your shot at getting in rides on one thing. The evidence that you belong there and that you are undeniable.
Evidence is something you can build.
Here is how to get in.
1. Lead with traction. Everyone has a big vision. Anyone can say a bunch of jargon that sounds ambitious. What gets you in is concrete numbers. Here are my users who are paying me. We’re growing 40% MOM.
2. Make the team answer obvious. Why you. Why this. Why now. Not your life story. The specific reason you are the right person to win this exact market. Name it or they will guess, wrong.
3. Get specific where everyone else hides. “Disrupting a $40B market” tells them nothing. “Three carriers pay us to cut dispatch time 30%” tells them everything. Specific reads as true. Vague reads as hiding.
4. Cut the jargon. They read hundreds of these. Write so a smart outsider gets it in one pass. Founders who explain a hard thing simply are the ones investors trust to sell it.
5. Answer the question they asked. Clearly. Tell them the hard part. A real answer to a tough question beats a slick dodge. Anyone who meets with founders develops a spidey sense of where things are working and where no work has been done.
6. Know the stakes and do the work. The application is an exercise that will improve your startup either way, but treat it like it can change the odds of success for our startup. Because it can. The top accelerators make raising money MUCH easier, and MUCH faster.
More money means you get more chances and more time. More money means you can pay yourself and your team - which reduces your stress and allows you to operate at your top capacity. More money means customers will probably trust you more.
Doing the work on the application is the most important part.
So we built something around it to help.
This August, Backable is running a month-long program to get your accelerator application ready before the fall cycles open.
It is built for you - the underestimated founder.
You don’t have a buddy who can call up the head of the accelerator to get you in.
You’ ve got real traction or close to it.
Listen, you’re not gonna get in by sending the same app as the Stanford dropout.
Four weeks. We work on your team story, your traction, your answers to the tricky questions, and which programs are worth your time. You walk out with applications ready.
Spots are limited. Reply with AUGUST or grab 30 minutes here and I will send you the details first.
What is the one question on an accelerator application you get stuck on?
Reply and tell me, I read every reply. Or if you are ready to talk about your raise, grab 30 minutes here.
🎙 ICYMI: Founder Spotlight: Caroline Dell of Goodword
Relationships are the life hack. Not AI.
🔥 This week Goodword launched! I sat down with Caroline Dell, co-founder and CEO, to talk about how she raised Goodword’s $4M seed. 🔥
She scaled Chief from 200 to 20,000 members. She has seen fundraising from the inside at Lola and Chief. And yet, this was her first time raising as the founder.
The thing she said that I can’t stop thinking about:
“When you are the founder, your work is really the relationships you’re developing with the investors more so than the pitch deck or the data room.”
She would know. Most of the investors on Goodword’s cap table, she did not know before the raise. Someone she knew… knew them.
🚀 ACCELERATOR SPOTLIGHT🚀
Four programs with the most network impact for underestimated founders, including one with a deadline right now.
TECHSTARS
Deadline: June 10, 2026 — 5 days away
Apply: techstars.com/accelerators
Investment: $220,000 ($20K for 5% equity via CEA + $200K uncapped MFN SAFE) plus $2M+ in partner perks
Format: 3-month, September 2026 cohort, virtual with optional in-person events
Programs open right now with a June 10 deadline: NYC, Anywhere (remote-first), Boulder, AI Health Baltimore, Alabama EnergyTech, Columbus, Future of Food, Space, and more.
Techstars is one of the most durable networks in early-stage investing, over 10,600 founders in the alumni community. Multiple programs. Multiple cities. One deadline. June 10. Apply now.
Y COMBINATOR
Late applications still being accepted — no guaranteed decision timeline
Apply: ycombinator.com/apply
Investment: $500,000 standard deal ($125K for 7% equity + $375K uncapped SAFE)
Format: 3-month cohort, in person in San Francisco, July to September 2026
The Summer 2026 on-time deadline passed May 4, but YC explicitly reviews late applications. If you have been sitting on this, submit now. A late application reviewed is better than no application. YC is the single most powerful network signal for an underestimated founder. The brand travels everywhere.
SOMA FELLOWS by Soma Capital
Rolling admissions — open now
Apply: programs.somacap.com/fellows
Investment: Up to $2M uncapped SAFE
Format: Remote-first with optional in-person events, bi-annual cohorts
Best fit: Early-stage technical founders, skews toward builders in AI, SaaS, fintech, and deep tech
Soma has been early in 30+ unicorns including Deel, Rippling, and Ramp. The terms are exceptional, uncapped SAFE at zero equity dilution is genuinely rare. Rolling admissions means no deadline pressure, but that also means no urgency, which is how good opportunities slip. Apply this week.
SOUTH PARK COMMONS FOUNDER FELLOWSHIP
(Spring 2026) Rolling — open now
Apply: southparkcommons.com
Investment: $1M in total funding
Format: Friendly to individuals and early teams, including pre-idea founders
Best fit: Frontier tech, deep tech, and research-driven startups
SPC is a community of builders who fund people before the idea is fully formed, which is rare. If you are technical and earlier than most accelerators will take you, this is one of the few that leans in. Rolling admissions, so apply this week rather than letting it drift.
🏆 JUNE DEADLINES
Cartier Women’s Initiative (2027 Edition)
Deadline: June 16, 2026 at 2 PM CEST
Amount: $100K (1st) / $60K (2nd) / $30K (3rd) per region (no equity), plus 1:1 coaching and INSEAD program.
For: Women-led impact businesses, any country. 1 to 6 years in operation, revenue-generating, under $2M raised in dilutive funding.
Apply: cartierwomensinitiative.com
(Apply button top right. They don’t make this one easy to find.)
Visionaries Pitch Competition
Deadline: June 18, 2026 at 11:59 PM EDT
Amount: $30,000 grand prize / $10,000 runner-up (no equity), plus pitch mentorship and professional services.
For: US-based, women-owned, for-profit businesses, under $500K raised. Finalists pitch live in LA on September 28.
Apply: visionaries.co/pitch-competition
Amber Grant for Women
Deadline: June 30, 2026 (monthly cadence)
Amount: $10,000 x 3 grants (no equity) + eligibility for $50K year-end grant. $15 application fee. June category is Business Support Services.
For: 50%+ women-owned US or Canada businesses, any stage including pre-revenue.
Apply: ambergrantsforwomen.com/get-an-amber-grant
HerRise MicroGrant (HerSuiteSpot)
Deadline: June 30, 2026 (monthly)
Amount: $1,000 (no equity). $15 application fee.
For: 51%+ women of color-owned US businesses, under $1M annual revenue.
Apply: hersuitespot.com/herrise
SecretSOS Foundation Grant (Q2)
Deadline: June 30, 2026
Amount: $2,500 (no equity). $15 application fee.
For: US-based business owners 21+, women/veteran/minority-owned or traditionally underserved.
Apply: secretsos.com/grants
📅 APPLY ONCE, ELIGIBLE ALL YEAR
Verizon Small Business Digital Ready
Deadline: Rolling, monthly selections June through December 2026
Amount: $10,000 (no equity)
For: US small businesses. Complete two free courses or events on the Digital Ready platform to unlock the application. Apply once, stay eligible all year.
Apply: digitalready.verizonwireless.com/funding
🎟️ PICK ONE. APPLY.
The founders who get in are not the ones with the best app. They are the ones who actually finished it and hit submit.
Three programs close this month. Techstars on the 10th. Stop reading lists of opportunities and go become one.
We can help you nail the application.
Pick one this week. Apply.
🎤💥 Hasta la proxima,
Helena
Backable
P.S. ONE REMINDER
🚨 Techstars — June 10 deadline. 6 days. $220K + the most durable alumni network in early-stage. Multiple programs, including remote-friendly. Apply now.
Backable works with underestimated, but undeniable founders raising pre-seed through Series A. If you’re planning a raise, book 30 minutes with me.