S3 E3: Accelerators, Incubators and How to Leverage Them with Raphaele Leyendecker

About this episode

This episode explores the differences between incubators and accelerators for hardware founders, featuring insights from Raphaele Leyendecker.

This episode digs into incubators vs. accelerators for hardware founders , featuring Raphaele Leyendecker , Managing Director at Techstars Sustainability Paris , climate-tech entrepreneur, and investor in 75+ startups. If you’ve wondered when to join which program—and how to actually get value without wrecking your cap table—this one’s for you. In this episode, you’ll discover: 🐣 Incubator vs. accelerator—what’s the difference, and when to choose each (incl. TRL ≥ 4 guidance for hardware). 📈 Traction over fundraising: LOIs, paid pilots, and revenue beat pitch-only decks. 🧱 Build vs. outsource: how to avoid outsourcing your core know-how and protect IP. 💸 Equity & terms: when dilution is worth it, and how to evaluate program fit (incl. market expansion). 🚫 Common pitfalls: accelerator-hopping, joining too early, fantasy timelines. 🔁 Pivoting & solo founders: when pivots make sense; why solo is OK only with a real team. 👉 If you’re a hardware founder, engineer, or product builder, this one’s packed with battle-tested advice, real stories, and frameworks to help you build better. This episode is generously brought to you by our sponsor Onshape, the only cloud-native…

People in this episode

Host: Sera Evcimen

Guest: Raphaele Leyendecker

Topics covered

• incubators
• accelerators
• hardware startups
• fundraising
• intellectual property
• equity
• common pitfalls

Keywords

• hardware founders
• traction
• fundraising
• equity
• dilution
• program fit
• pivots
• solo founders

Sponsors

Onshape

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Techstars Sustainability Paris

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