A Business Accelerator is a professional services firm that offers consulting services to its clients. At Impulsa, we define Business Accelerator as an organization that enables its client to grow in a sustainable way through the use of proven tools and methods that have been utilized to help many other companies grow.

Sometimes its important to differentiate betweem a startup accelerator and a second stage business accelarator. While startup accelerators usually are what is referred to as business incubators or seed accelerators, in contrast, a second stage business accelerator can be thought of as a management consulting firm targeting established small and medium sized firms who seek to boost performance and develop sustainable growth path - to reach that second stage of growth. Whether young or old, many companies sooner or later plateau in terms of revenue, and the growth bottlenecks can vary greatly between organizations. The business accelerator's role is to help identify bottlenecks for growth and enable its clients to achieve accelerated and sustained growth. One classic hold-up is the entrepreneur / founder who insists on having a finger in the pie across all decisions made and actions taken by the company - a sign that the company since long has outgrown the governance structure still in place.

A second stage business acceleration program typically lasts between 3-6 months and it is aimed to assess and improve the entire “business machinery” that a growing organization needs to have in place to succeed. Strategic focus, institutional strengthening, human resource training and financial strategy, are some of the dimensions that a second stage business accelerator may offer. The business accelerator’s emphasis is on accelerated and sustainable growth, and to eliminate organizational, operational, and strategic bottlenecks that prevent the client firm from growing.  In essence, a second stage accelerator bears a strong resemblance to traditional management consulting firms, but with an adjusted service offering to fulfill the needs of small and medium sized firms.