[smegmalife]

I have to respectfully disagree with some of this article, based on my experience with an accelerator. The point isn't necesarily to raise money. For us, we met lifelong connections and mentors who taught us stuff we knew nothing about. For example, in a week we learned how to do inside sales effectively, which would have otherwise taken us months.

And yes, it is easier to raise funds this way. But you don't have to raise funds at the end. Most accelerators give you barely enough to live off of. If you go through a prestigious accelerator, you will have a lot easier time raising funds in the future from the connections you make.

Finally, interviewing customers works great for some. It works terribly for others, since it can be misleading. If you're in a good accelerator, the mentors will help guide you on delegation of time spent coding vs bus dev vs talking to customers.

[tonydiv]

A handful of recent surveys indicate that even VCs aren't very good mentors. Would you disagree?

Speaking for myself, I've found that most people are willing to offer their advice for free, whether or not I am in their incubator or portfolio.

Not disagreeing here, just curious about your outlook and experiences.

[smegmalife]

The mentors I've found valuable aren't VCs, so I can't speak to that.

And the thing I've come to realize, is that most advice is bad, so you have to sort through 100 potential mentors to get 2-3 that actually add value. The type of value that you look back and think that was life changing.

Also, I've found that accelerator mentors are much more emotionally invested in being helpful for the long term.