Assessment criteria for seed accelerators in entrepreneurial project selections

Copyright © 2020 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd.This paper contributes to the literature on accelerators by filling the gap concerning the criteria used to select venture projects. Seed accelerators develop strict and rated assessment criteria for project selection that grants them objectivity and guarantees program success. This study uses a sample of 309 cases to analyse the criteria applied by an accelerator when selecting projects. Among these cases, 15 entered the accelerator stage. Our work first examines variables linked to the business project, such as the extent of innovation, extent of investability, speed of acceleration and extent of team consistency. It then assesses entrepreneurial skills such as negotiation, teamwork, creativity, communication and leadership. Our findings show that extent of team consistency and speed of acceleration are the most widely-used variables to assess a business project, while the most valued entrepreneurial skills are leadership followed by creativity. Furthermore, the project is more likely to enter the acceleration stage in the presence of higher team consistency and creativity.