Polygon founder launches Beacon Accelerator for Web3

• Polygon co-founder Sandeep Nailwal has helped launch a Web3-specific accelerator run by top Web3 veterans.
• Beacon Accelerator started in October with a cohort of 15 companies and 30 founders
• The inaugural cohort will last 12 weeks and see founder pitch their projects more than 300 leading Web3 investors in January 2023.

Sandeep Nailwal, the co-founder of blockchain network Polygon and Web3-focused investment firm Symbolic Capital, has launched another founder-led project aimed at advancing the growth of the Web3 ecosystem.

The new project Beacon Accelerator launched today, 20 December 2022 under the leadership of some of the most prominent figures in the crypto and Web3 space. It’s a Web3-specific program by founders for founders, Nailwal said in a press release shared with CoinJournal.

As such, Beacon’s founders are from various sectors key to Web3 development, including experts across legal, fundraising, security, and operations.

Core contributors who’ll run the project alongside Nailwal include former DCG chief security Uri Stay, former Sequoia Capital VP Prateek Sharma, and Symbolic Capital co-founder Kenzi Wang. Among topics this team of ‘Core Contributors’ will focus on as they offer mentorship and advice to Beacon’s founders include GameFi, DeFi, metaverse, and consumer apps.

An inaugural cohort of 15 companies and 30 founders

Beacon’s inaugural cohort comprises 15 companies and over 30 founders and started in October. The twelve-week program offers access to topnotch mentors and builders in Web3, remotely available from 12 cities in nine countries.

Mentors for the first cohort will include ecosystem founders, investors, and operators, with such names as Magic Eden co-founder and CEO Jack Lu, Origin Protocol founder Matt Liu and Coinfund partner Evan Fang.

As noted in today’s press release, the inaugural program ends this January and will see projects pitch to a gathering of over 300 leading Web3 investors during a Demo Day to be live streamed across the world.

Nailwal on founding Web3 projects 

Commenting on the launch of the accelerator program and its place in Web3 development, Nailwal said that founding a Web3 project is markedly different from Web2 startups. Founders cannot follow the same playbook applicable in Web2 and that Beacon will help projects navigate the ecosystem.

“Our ultimate goal is to build the greatest network of web3 founders in the world,” Nailwal said, adding that his experience after going through the Binance Labs accelerator had taught him something.

“I found that the greatest resource in any accelerator is the other founders going through the program alongside you. We think that as our alumni network grows, the overall quality of projects being built in web3 will increase as founders help each other find success,” he explained.