OCEAN Accelerator™
Finally, a high-tech accelerator for humans.
What Makes
Our OCEAN Accelerator™ Unique?
Product Design & Development
Go-to-Market Strategy
Investor Readiness
Mitigating Isolation & Burnout
Founder Identity & Building Culture
The OCEAN accelerator helps early-stage founders build venture-backable companies. Our 17-week program leverages seed funding, mentors, education, and professional services to help grow startups while inviting founders to integrate their faith, purpose, relationships, and health into their startup journey.
Check out Demo Day 2023 to watch the pitches from OCEAN Accelerator Cohort 9 founders.
The RESULTS
About 90% of high-tech startups fail within 18 months.
OCEAN Accelerator Alumni are beating the odds in every way.
60%
fail due to misreading market demand
250+
fail because they ran out of funding
$1.6M
fail because they had a weak founding team
45%
failed in 2018 due to cash flow problems
Starting a business affects every aspect of a person. We help founders prepare for due-diligence, develop their growth strategies, and refine their financial models while integrating faith, purpose, and holistic health into the programming. As a result, founders are better equipped for the tumultuous and long start-up journey.
There are a lot of accelerators, but this is the only one designed for humans.
There are a lot of ways to start a business. Most of them are at the expense of everything else important in your life. The OCEAN Accelerator program is designed for you to bring your whole self to your start-up journey from the earliest stages, so you build your business out of an overflow of relational, spiritual, mental and physical health.
FAQ
Have Any Questions?
Up to 10 companies are selected per OCEAN Accelerator Cohort.
We like to keep our class size on the smaller side in order to be able to offer more personalized guidance and training throughout the program.
- Apply once Cohort 10 application opens.
- Once your application is complete, we will send you a link to help us understand the profiles of your founding team. We use Wendal, an AI tool developed by Connetic Ventures, to help us identify the highest-potential founding teams.
- Interviews with our selection committee.
- Offers will be extended after all interviews are done.
Ideally, we are looking for post-product and post-revenue teams with great co-founders. Some other things that will strongly influence your chances of being accepted:
- Multiple Co-founders–We like to see at least two, one of whom should be technical
- Domain Experience–Are you working on something that you know a lot about?
- Customer Validation & Business Model– have you spent time proving you’re solving a problem that people really care about (and are willing to pay money to solve)?
- High Cultural Potential–We believe in building into people who are trying to change the world and who are likely to be good stewards of their success
- High Growth Potential–We’re looking for venture-backable people and ideas with a high likelihood of creating sustainable businesses that grow quickly and create lots of high-paying jobs over time
- Tech-Based–Because web/tech business is what we know best, we believe we have the highest potential to understand and help accelerate businesses with a web or software foundation
Terms for Cohort 10 investments will be shared as you move through the process.
OCEAN accelerator accepts tech startups that are beyond the idea stage. Not sure if you should apply? Go ahead anyway. Applications put you on our radar and can help you think through your business as you process the application. Seriously. Do it.
No, you can participate in the 17-week program from anywhere in the world. The cohort will get together onsite in the United States for welcome week, a mid-session retreat, and closing week.
No. OCEAN is a federally recognized 501(c)3 and welcomes applicants of any race, color, national or ethnic origin, ancestry, age, religion, disability or handicap, sex or gender.
Along with world-class business content, our program also draws from wisdom in the Bible and the life of Jesus, so we do ask that founders be willing to participate in those discussions as part of the cohort.
We believe in the integration of faith and entrepreneurship. We seek to fulfill our mission daily through our OCEAN accelerator program.
All companies are expected to have your founding team at three onsite weeks.
Welcome Week (June 3-7), Mid-Session Retreat (July 29-Aug 2), Demo Day (September 23-27).
During the other weeks, there are 4-6 hours of virtual meetings each week scheduled during U.S. business hours along with field work.
OCEAN ACCELERATOR HIGHLIGHTS
Are you an Investor?
OCEAN accelerator alumni companies have raised an average seed round of $1M, and together have raised more than $100MM together. If you would like to hear about current fundraising campaigns from the OCEAN portfolio and upcoming investor events, join our investor newsletter.