Series A Needs to Change
October 6, 2025
I’ve been in Silicon Valley for almost 20 years and during that time the Series A round has barely changed.
Today we’re talking about getting recommendations from Alumni for your accelerator program application. These recommendations are very important, but there is some nuance.
This is not a game of Pokemon. Spending dozens of hours collecting numerous endorsements is probably not a good use of time, better to get a smaller number of more meaningful recommendations instead.
The ideal situation is a strong reference from an alum that knows you really well. This is preferable to numerous lukewarm recommendations.
If you don’t know any program alumni, it’s ok to get a couple of recommendations by hustling on social media or networking to alumni. Just don’t make this option your first choice.
Best of luck out there.