The value of mentors in incubation and acceleration: a managerial perspective

Chapter 27 describes findings from a longitudinal study of accelerators and the perceptions of accelerator managers conducted from 2013 to 2019 in the evolving Australian entrepreneurial ecosystem. To address a significant gap in the accelerators literature, the authors apply Linguistic Inquiry and Word Count (LIWC) to help understand the descriptions and perceptions of the value of mentors by accelerator managers. The findings suggest that mentors do not necessarily add tangible rewards to their protégés. Instead, they find that the impact of mentors in accelerators may be less instrumental or tangible, and might be more educational, reflective, and intangible than previously observed in the literature. The chapter explores the practical and research implications of these findings.