Help Us Discover the Next Big Startup

Whether you're a founder, investor, mentor or just someone with a great network, your referrals matter. Our Startup Accelerator Program Referral Form makes it easy to introduce promising early-stage companies to our program—and when your referral is accepted, you'll earn equity-free advisor credits you can use to mentor participating startups.

Why This Form Works for Accelerators and Referrers

For accelerator programs: Managing referrals can quickly become chaotic when they arrive via email, LinkedIn DMs, and intro calls. This template creates a structured intake process that captures everything you need—startup stage, industry vertical, founder background, funding requirements and competitive landscape—so your selection committee can make fast, informed decisions.

For referrers: The form is quick to complete and transparent about what information is needed. Share the link with founders you believe in, or fill it in yourself if you're making the introduction. Either way, the credit system incentivizes quality referrals and creates a win-win ecosystem.

Automating Referral Workflows with Stepper

Once a referral is submitted through Paperform, you can use Stepper to automatically route it through your review process. For example:

• Send accepted referrals to your CRM and trigger an intro email to the founder
• Notify your selection team in Slack when a high-priority referral arrives
• Award advisor credits to successful referrers and update your rewards dashboard
• Schedule follow-up tasks or calendar holds for founder interviews

This keeps your referral pipeline moving without manual handoffs, so you can focus on building relationships rather than managing spreadsheets.

Who This Template Is For

This form is ideal for startup accelerators, incubators, venture studios, angel networks and innovation labs looking to source deal flow through trusted referrals. It's also a great fit for founders, VCs, startup advisors and ecosystem builders who regularly make warm introductions and want a professional, trackable way to share opportunities.

With Paperform's flexible design, you can customize the branding to match your program, add conditional questions based on startup stage, and embed the form directly on your website or share it as a standalone landing page.