EO ACCELERATOR

The catalyst that enables first-stage entrepreneurs to catapult your business to the next level

    • Graduate spotlight


      Kris Marshall  

      Kris Marshall, EO Detroit

      How would you describe the value of Accelerator and EO?

      How would you describe the value of Accelerator and EO? I do not believe you can find a better investment in your business than EO and Accelerator. This organization’s sole purpose is to help entrepreneurs grow their businesses and there is an international community there to support you! I run a charity (which means I probably have one of the tightest budgets in EO), and I have not hesitated to invest in EO. With the culture, enthusiasm, and commitment of EO and the EO members, you cannot help to always be inspired and motivated to be more and do more!


      Glenn Grant  

      Glenn Grant, EO Boston

      What are some of the valuable lessons that Accelerator taught you?

      I learned right away from the group as well as speakers Mark Moses & Jack Daly if you want to grow you must have a sales engine. I think it was Jack Daly who asked the group “How much do you want to grow your business this year? And how many sales people have you hired?” In a nutshell he said if you don’t hire sales people, you’re not going to grow, period. This prompted me to figure out how I could hire a sales person, even on a tight budget. It became very clear to me that I had to figure out how to finance that hire or we would not grow at the pace I wanted to grow. It seems so simple now but it really took the bluntness of Jack to put it into perspective and a “must do now” item on my to do list. In one learning day we did an exercise called the Unique Ability Model where we identified on a spectrum what things as an individual we are great at down to the things we “suck at” from our list of tasks and responsibilities in the business. We were told to take the things we suck at off our plate ASAP as they suck our time, we hate doing them, and there is someone we can find out there who will like to do them. I used that model to make an internal hire and I also outsourced. I now do many less tasks I hate and I have more time to do the things I’m really great at in my business.


      Eric Gregg  

      Eric Gregg, EO Portland

      How would you describe the value of Accelerator and EO?

      While there is tremendous value in the educational opportunities provided by EO, the reality is that an even bigger value comes from the collective knowledge of the other members and board leadership. Being able to dive deeply into a variety of issues that face your business is essential, and EO provides that better than any other organization around. The accelerator program is really an extension of that, providing the ability of like-minded entrepreneurs to work together to get their businesses to more than a million in revenue.


      Hanny Lerner  

      Hanny Lerner, EO New York

      What are some of the valuable lessons that Accelerator taught you?

      Accelerator taught me to set business goals and be accountable for them. In each of our quarterly classes, we had to complete the Million Dollar Focus Plan and identify what our business strategy & strategic goals were for the next 30, 60, 90, 365 days. Each time we met, we had to review with the class what we accomplished/didn't on our list. I never wanted to be the person didn't accomplish my goals and so I set a daily reminder on my phone to ensure that each day I looked at my focus plan to get the items checked off. I did! My first M&M mentor (Diane Howells) taught us the importance of creating Manuals and how instrumental it is to growing the business. Now, every job at my company has a fully documented manual. Each employee at my company can now be replicated (and replaceable). I agree, a company can't grow without manuals.


      Derek Weber  

      Derek Weber, EO St. Louis

      How would you describe the value of Accelerator and EO?

      There are two types of value, both tangible and emotional. -Emotional: Being surrounded by other successful, driven, positive people inspire you to continue to be better and push through the low points. Having a group of peers and mentors that are fighting the same fight gives you an extraordinary level confidence.
      -Tangible: We have implemented dozens and dozens of ideas and concepts picked up from the program to make my business more efficient, effective, and scalable.


      Siobhan Green  

      Siobhan Green, EO DC

      How did the Accelerator program impact your community?

      Every time I returned to my office from an Accelerator meeting, my staff noted that I was passionate, enthusiastic and inspiring. I credit our good year (we went from $600K in revenue to $1.17M) to my improvement as a leader of a great team of people. In terms of impact on our community, we hired more people, we leased office space, and offered more services to the US government that are valuable and useful.


      Matt Schwartz  

      Matt Schwartz, EO New York

      Since joining the organization, what has been your favorite EO experience?

      There has not been a single EO program that has been a waste of my time. Some of the most memorable speakers for me were David Bach and Gary Vaynerchuk.