Picking an accelerator for your chemistry start-up

How do you turn a laboratory discovery into the backbone of a business? Over the past generation, the bench scientists and engineers who generate potentially world-changing innovations have increasingly had to shoulder the burden of entrepreneurship. Centralized research operations funded from the balance sheets of publicly traded corporations have given way to scrappy start-ups backed by private investors. But chemistry entrepreneurs don’t have to go it alone. Science-oriented business accelerators have emerged to help scientific founders along the start-up route. Each has its own nuances and is driven by its own motivations. Researchers who find the right one can turn an impossible task into one that’s just extremely difficult. Accelerators are like business school boot camps. They focus on giving founders the boardroom skills and investor connections they didn’t get from, say, a PhD in chemistry. Accelerators provide an intense educational program that lasts anywhere from 2–12 months. Participants typically