I worked at crypto VC for 2 years and went through hundreds of different protocols. One thing I can say for sure is that general accelerators absolutely don't matter. There is not a single advantage that you get from joining an accelerator. Their pitch might be pretty good: they might have startups that fundraised from tier1 and good advisors section on the website. But let me tell you something: those who got those tier1 investments would get them without accelerator as well. And this advisors section on the website is just a section, no big name is going to advise you, because there are other dozens of protocols that is in the same cohort. Yes, you can get the money from the accelerator, but usually this comes with absolutely robbing valuation that doesn't make any sense at all. These "advisors" are going to tell you the obvious things that you already know (most of the time). The reality is if accelerator sees that you're a smart guy who is highly likely going to be successful — they're trying to get you in their accelerator and extract your future tokens/equity at very low price. The thing is: they (probably) realize that you will be successful without their help, but hey, don't you want to have our fancy logo on your website and get a chance to talk to like-minded people and get advice? I don't know how it is in traditional world, but in crypto you can reach out to almost anyone and ask for their advice: just be genuine, respectful and very clear at expressing your idea on paper. That's all what matters. You will be amazed how many people are willing to help you for free, just because you're doing something. It already means a lot if someone starts their venture and you probably know the person that you'd like to get a piece of advice from. If you want to be "guided" or "told" how it would be better to run your company — it's not your company and you're not founder. Out of all accelerators, the only one that people say good things about is @alliancedao. I haven't ever heard someone say nice things about anything else. I'm not sure how Alliance is like inside, but their hit rate is extremely good and feedback as well. And yes, most of the YC founders nowadays go to YC just to show a fancy logo on their website and the ability to tell investors that they passed the bar (I attached the image below). Regarding Ecosystem Funds: I'm going to slightly disagree with WenMoon regarding ecosystem funds, because the main interest here is different. Ecosystem funds usually have only 1 goal: enhance the ecosystem with good applications. The ecosystem fund is really deeply interested in your success, because they can: a. Show how unique apps can be on their chain b. Drive TVL, revenue, activity, and other metrics They're directly incentivized to work with apps, because they either have a pretty narrow focus (sometimes) or they want to differentiate, so they spend a lot of money to work with different people. @hotpot_dao said that they picked up 15 applications out of 300. I see nothing wrong here, because that's only 5%. Yes, probably not all of them will succeed and become flagship application on MegaETH, but those who will, will be very important. In general accelerators, people will give you generic advices that mostly is applicable to any other protocol in any ecosystem. Ecosystem funds/accelerators better understand what they want, what builders they want, and what apps they want, so the sample can be more accurate. At the end of the day, if you're smart — you will be noticed.