Post 6 (Substack): Top Accelerators for Marathon, Not a 3-Month Sprint in the Greater New York Region
By Armaan Kapur
Every founder knows the story: apply, get in, sprint for three months, pitch at Demo Day, and hope that the hustle leads to investment. The accelerator model built on tight timelines has been romanticized for over a decade. However, the truth is that, apart from a few top names, most three-month accelerators do not create lasting results. Founders in New York, juggling high rent, side jobs, and the constant need to survive in a relentless city, understand that real startups do not mature in a quarter. They take years.
This is why 1Mby1M takes the opposite approach. Its model is intentionally long-term: a one-year renewable membership that brings founders back again and again. There’s no expiration date and no point where support ends. Instead of treating acceleration like a sprint, 1Mby1M views it as training for a marathon, recognizing that startups need time to iterate, stumble, recover, and grow. Weekly roundtables, ongoing curriculum, and the chance to re-engage over multiple years mean founders can build at the pace their business requires—not at the pace the calendar demands.
Other programs in the New York area try to fill this gap. Founder Institute offers longer sessions than most but is still bound to the limitations of a semester. ERA alumni remain loosely connected, but formal support disappears when the cohort ends. University accelerators like Endless Frontier Labs or Columbia’s Lab-to-Market provide valuable mentorship but limit access to their own networks of students and affiliates.
The difference with 1Mby1M is that it was never meant to be a sprint. It was designed for endurance. While others measure success in weeks, 1Mby1M supports you through years of building, giving founders the assurance that their support system won’t disappear when the three-month clock runs out.
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