Accelerators

Strategies for Successful Accelerators

An interview with Marlon Evans, CEO, NexCubed

An interview with Marlon Evans, CEO, NexCubed

by: Steve Hayton |

November 28, 2022

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Articles | Accelerators | Strategies for Successful Accelerators

Drive Results

NexCubed, a venture accelerator based in San Francisco, CA, is known globally for its success. Not only do many of their companies leave raising a substantial amount of capital, but NexCubed is also known globally for the high number of applications it receives for its accelerator program every year.

Driving Those Results: Marlon Evans, NexCubed’s CEO, says that a specific focus on three aspects of their accelerator leads to its success – while being insanely curious about what the founders need. When asked what those three are, Marlon said he and his team focus on:

Selecting entrepreneurs that would be successful with or without them.

“Our goal is just to try to make it easier for them. We try to identify the scrappy ones that are really passionate about what they’re building and are going to make it happen one way or the other.”

Being crystal clear on what their value proposition is. 

“Remember that in many cases, you’re selling to these entrepreneurs. If you’re competing against Y Combinator and others, why should they come to you versus another program?”

Staying in their lane. Appreciate what you’re good at and stick to it.

“There are competing forces suggesting what you should be doing. We chased a lot of these suggestions and learned a lot in the process. We realized that we’re really good at coming in early to a company, finding them the right resources that they need in order to be successful. And we decided to just do that.”

What Founders Are Saying: “Founders would come to me and say; hey, I went to this well-known program and 90% of the content that they provided wasn’t relevant to my business at all.”

His Advice For Accelerator Operators: Don’t forget, your niche is your strength; “the bigger you get, it’s almost like the less inherent value in the programming you need. For the well-known accelerators, I’d say it’s at the point now where it’s like a great university. Maybe you don’t learn anything, but nobody’s really checking to see if you did, they just see your degree and that’s that. Whereas the young pups on the block have to show the quality.”

Go Deeper: Watch this clip from our recent panel discussion on changing accelerator terms featuring Marlon. You can learn more about this call and watch the replay.

 

Go Deeper

Watch this clip from our recent panel discussion on changing accelerator terms featuring Marlon. You can learn more about this call and watch the replay at this link.

Watch Replay

Nex Cubed is a leader in innovation-driven value creation, as a long-term strategic partner and shareholder. They back bold entrepreneurs who are willing to take serious risks to solve real problems. Their core focus is working with early-stage founders to give them everything they need to succeed. They provide a highly competent incubator team to support and guide their startups with quarterly cohorts.

They are the conduit between startups and the ecosystem that brings them success, whether that’s large corporates, mentors, advisors, investors, or academia.
Their large network of highly successful mentors and professional investors, coupled with a loyal and active alumni base, is able to open doors and provide advice throughout the span of each cohort.

Focus:

Artificial Intelligence, Augmented/Virtual Reality, Cloud, eCommerce, Internet, Machine Learning, Mobile, SaaS, Software, Technology

timing:

Fall, Spring

Location:

325 Pacific Ave Suite B, San Francisco, California 94111