The AccelerateHER incubator program is offered by Stoke and the Center for Women Entrepreneurs at TWU.
The program helps early-stage companies develop and test ideas to grow their businesses with a hands-on focus by the program manager, mentors and partner networks.
Through AccelerateHER, women and women identifying business owners will receive intensive business development training, access to funders and mentorship, and networking opportunities. In addition, they will receive work space at Stoke, a coworking facility in Denton serving entrepreneurs, remote workers, freelancers, small businesses, and tech-enabled companies. Participants of the program must show proof that a minimum of 51% of the business is owned by a woman.
Since 2020, each fall, Stoke and TWU team up to offer several women-owned businesses the opportunity to focus on developing their businesses through a five-month incubator program that provides hands-on workshops, resources, mentorship, and more. Weekly workshops are purposefully ordered so that each member of the cohort has a solid starting point in the program and can make specific goals for their personal and professional outcomes from the onset.
We’ve made a short list of some of the many reasons why you could benefit from participating in an incubator program like AccelerateHER! The application will close on Monday, August 22nd at 5 PM.
Accountability to self, peers, and program managers
Entrepreneurship can feel like a lonely and isolating journey. The AccelerateHER cohort and administrators offer support, encouragement, excellent company, and resources. Not only are you working with fellow business owners who are going through similar challenges or growth, you are also among sounding boards who have different backgrounds and perspectives from you that could help you creatively problem solve or come up with new ideas to grow your business. Program administrators, Heather Gregory (Stoke) and Tracy Irby (TWU CWE), have extensive experience as entrepreneurs and champions of entrepreneurship too.
The incubator program requires a time commitment of a couple of hours per week (watching the workshop video and completing the accompanying worksheet, then attending the workshop to meet and discuss with the mentor and peers). Once a month, the cohort will meet for two hours to dive into an exercise or practice for the pitch event. This time that you take to work on your business will benefit you many times over and continue on after the actual weekly workshops and the program ends. Just how much you get out of the program depends on how much you put in.
The celebration following the 2022 AccelerateHER Pitch Event!
Structure to working on different components of the business
The workshops are organized so that the content is applicable to you and your business, even if you and your fellow cohort participants might be on slightly different pages or phases of business. You’ll have guides, resources, and tools to help you complete activities that will contribute to your entrepreneurial skills.
We start with foundational activities like business planning and fundamentals and move toward technical skills, financial models, and marketing strategy. Partnering with the Center for Women Entrepreneurs at TWU enables us to combine networks and find the right expert for each workshop to help you.
Resources from experienced mentors
Each of the workshop leaders and mentors are entrepreneurs or small business owners themselves and have been through so many startup and small business situations which means that no matter what you’re facing, there will be an expert prepared to help you. Their guidance on topics that include business planning, strategizing, branding, marketing, finances and other business-related topics will help you move your business forward responsibly and with lasting positive impact. Though the mentors will encourage you to learn and fail “fast,” with their wisdom, it might not be quite as painful as it would be without them. In addition, mentor networks overlapping with that of Stoke and TWU’s mean that your own connections and networks will grow.
Kick impostor syndrome to the curb
If you’ve ever had moments in which you feel like you don’t know what you’re doing or aren’t qualified to run your business, participating in the AccelerateHER program will empower you to handle those thoughts productively. You will actively be building up your entrepreneur toolkit learning from the pros during the program, and you’ll be cheered on the entire time. AccelerateHER is also a space to talk about and sometimes commiserate about the difficulties that arise as a business owner/entrepreneur. The education, resources, and people you meet through the program will help you be confident in your decision-making and operations.
Enduring connections
We’ve witnessed friendships and professional relationships form and grow through the AccelerateHER program, and we continue to see participants give back to their peers and to their communities. It has been a joy to stay in touch with participants who have graduated from the program and taken their businesses in different directions!
If you want to hear from a few of the participants from past cohorts, check out the recording of the recent Ask Me Anything style Lunch + Learn, where they shared a bit about the application process and their experience.