There are many successful startup accelerators near me (Y- combinator, 500.co, & many copycats).
They get a batch of ~100 people every 3-6 months & train them up in product, strategy, marketing, finance, operations, with experienced mentors. Then, at the end, do a big "demo day" where they invite investors to take them to the next steps.
What they don't do, is really expose these people to the non- elite. The boring, the weird, the failures, the common. These places are really bubbles of the elite, mentored by elite, & introduced to the elite.
Yet, their customers will NOT be the elite. To succeed, they have to understand how the majority lives.
Beyond marketing to the non-elite, they need to get more creative in their product strategy & UI/UX. Creativity is fostered more by mixing existing things than by creating novelty from muses/ether.
So, let's get the accelerators to visit boring, common places, taking factory tours of a chicken farm, or a GED study program, or a church, a free health clinic, or any other place that 99% of the companies, mentors, and investors never visit.
If you run such a place, let me know. I will boldly contact these accelerators to make introductions for you.-- sophocles, Jul 07 2015 Center for Accessibility http://dclibrary.or...vices/accessibility [JesusHChrist, Jul 07 2015] How about if they come visit a library for the blind?-- JesusHChrist, Jul 07 2015 JHC: fantastic relevant example. But, most of these accelerators are out on the West Coast like me. It'd be more fully bakable if we could find similar ones within a short lyft/drive/bus/etc.-- sophocles, Jul 07 2015 Any cheap flights to Detroit?-- RayfordSteele, Jul 08 2015 random, halfbakery