> if you read a little about some mentors, there's no sign that any of them were entrepreneurs before, not in the strict sense of the word.

You're right this is a huge red flag imo

k00b

It's really interesting to hear about these scams in other places. They're a bit different, but the core is much the same. Not to say that if you read a little about some mentors, there's no sign that any of them were entrepreneurs before, not in the strict sense of the word.

tom335

Name something you once wanted that you're happy to have never received?

All but a few accelerators offer real acceleration. The next best class of accelerators don't accelerate but appear to give what mostly amounts to money at an artificially low cap and emotional support. Then the remaining are outright scams. 60% is criminal!

There's an "accelerator" in Austin that takes 1% in return for $0, a hot desk, classes, and a mentor network. They also have a "partner vc fund" which solicits investment from retail that has a 50% management fee and a 50% performance fee when [the industry standard is 2% and 20%](https://www.investopedia.com/terms/t/two_and_twenty.asp) respectively.