Finding And Developing Partners Of The Future

In the past 18 months, the buzz and momentum surrounding tech accelerator programs in the US has exploded, and now more than 100 tech accelerators dot the country. This boom is not only great for the startup community, but it also presents an opportunity for the established tech vendor community. The flood of entrepreneurial talent graduating from accelerators means that new partnerships are plentiful. Accelerators offer tech vendors the chance to influence future tech companies, feed platform support growth, and better serve customers. Tech vendors that fail to capitalize on this emerging trend will watch their partner-associated revenues contract as Baby Boomer-run partner businesses steadily become acquired or close down. Considering the rate at which new tech accelerators keep cropping up — and the fact that SMBs have long been the engines driving economic growth — tech vendors would be remiss not to proactively recruit these new entrants into their partner ecosystems (or launch accelerators of their own).