Business Accelerator

Supporting early-stage founders in the growth of their ventures.

A Praxis Fellow and mentor engage during a breakout discussion at a mentoring event.

12DAYS

‍

03EVENTS

‍

12 VENTURES

‍

$75Kopt-in investment CAPITAL

‍

35+MENTORS

We believe that Christian entrepreneurs who are spiritually serious, culturally astute, and in community are uniquely suited to leverage the power of business for the good of their neighbors—building sustainable ventures that renew culture, bless their people and partners, and embody the love and grace of the gospel.  

Through our flagship Business Accelerator, we help entrepreneurs become deeply formed as redemptive leaders who guide their ventures to become more effective, more profitable, and more redemptive in their impact.

This mentorship-driven, non-residential Accelerator equips founders of top ventures as they innovate in their industries. We accept just 12 seed and early-stage ventures every year, with up to two co-founding leaders (known as Praxis Fellows) per venture.

Unlike many conventional accelerators, the Praxis Business Accelerator is fee-based rather than equity-based. The fee enables us as a nonprofit to recoup a portion of the expense of running the program, which is generously subsidized by our donors.

2023 Business cohort Applications

Applications for the 2024 Business Accelerator program open in April 2023. The 2024 program cycle itself will begin in October 2023 and run through May 2024.
‍
To tell us about your interest in being considered for that cohort, complete the interest form. To nominate or recommend a candidate for the program, complete the nomination form. We'll review your nomination and invite them to apply when applications open again in April 2023.

Explore the Accelerator

about the program
our portfolio
who should apply?
start your application

What Praxis offers

During and beyond their participation in the Business Accelerator, Praxis supports the growth, health, and impact of new ventures by equipping entrepreneurs in five critical areas.

  • Values-Aligned Capital

    Enabled by program mentoring, Showcase events, informal gatherings, and other introductions, over $100M in investment and philanthropic capital has been placed into portfolio ventures through our community.

    New for the 2023 program, Praxis Capital Partners is an initiative led by generous investors in the Praxis community who are committed to supporting redemptive ventures in our portfolio. All ventures in the Accelerator program will have access to $75,000 in opt-in investment (in the form of a SAFE note or as part of a current round) that may be used to fund areas of greatest need determined by Fellows. This capital will be available to Fellows after the completion of the first in-person event (October 2022) and must be claimed by Summit in May 2023.
    ‍
    This capital allocation is not a direct investment in Fellows by Praxis as an organization; instead, it represents a deepening of our long-standing model to facilitate direct relationships between funders and founders in the Praxis community. We have established Praxis Capital Partners to better connect and engage both groups in the work of building ventures.

    Read more about praxis capital partners in our FAQs
  • Expert Mentoring

    Through our Accelerator programming and introductions, Fellows are introduced to dozens of mentors who—in addition to bringing domain expertise and consultative skill—are exemplars of redemptive leadership.

  • Transformative Content

    In the company of mentors, faculty, and peers, we use the Redemptive Business Playbook and Rule of Life to apply the paradigm-shifting ideas, commitments, practices, and experiences of redemptive entrepreneurship to each Fellow and venture.

  • Spiritual Formation

    We integrate prayer, teaching, and other shared spiritual practices into the program so that we grow in faith as we grow in leadership. We connect Fellows to providers of trusted resources (for marriage health, counseling, and spiritual direction) in the community.

  • Talent Network

    Fellows looking for values-aligned talent for their ventures can post their venture’s open jobs, search on profiles of people who have participated in a Praxis experience, and make connections with others in the community.

A digram with give spheres representing Praxis' main initiatives.

What Fellows gain

You'll strengthen your business. In the Accelerator we're working together to make your venture more effective, high-impact, profitable, and redemptive as it grows. You'll regularly discuss and apply powerful principles and specific tactical counsel across the business, in multiple aspects of strategy, operations, and leadership. You'll enjoy access to capital, talent, and other resources to grow your venture, through personal introductions, gatherings, and private tech-based platforms.

You'll grow as a leader. You'll be interacting with dozens of Praxis Mentors—wise leaders with expertise on strategy, operations, fundraising, and leadership. You'll receive sustained personal coaching from our senior program team. As a result, you're very likely to become more effective, more resilient, and more redemptive as a leader.

You'll become part of a life-giving, venture-building community. From day one you're part of a diverse cohort of amazing peers leading early-stage ventures in various sectors, sharing the highs, lows, and insights of the journey to grow your ventures as you grow in your faith. You'll be supported by the Praxis team, a tight-knit group of advocates and connectors ready to help you thrive in the program. And the program is an onramp to ongoing participation in the wider Praxis community, launched at our end-of-program Summit and Showcase with hundreds of active philanthropists, mentors, Fellow alumni, and thought leaders—all focused on the shared work of venture building.

Read more in our FAQs

Accelerator Sessions

Each Accelerator event is customized to the needs of the Fellows and the expertise of the mentors.

Together we work through the Redemptive Business Playbook and the Praxis Rule of Life for Redemptive Entrepreneurs. We also draw from a library of over 150 topics (briefly sampled here) for supplemental talks, workshops, and breakouts that leverage each mentor's areas of knowledge and passion.
‍
With every component of the Accelerator content—whether it’s about leadership, strategy, or execution—we apply best practices, share personal experiences, and push the redemptive edge of the topic.

dynamic conversations BASED ON the redemptive business playbook

start reading
products

Designing products & services that genuinely benefit the world

Digital Product Design: From UX to Impact

Innovation & Reinvention: Adapting with Markets & Moments

brand

Building brands that advance narratives of truth and hope

Brand Strategy: Identity & Ideology in the Marketplace

Thought Leadership: Influencing Your Sector

culture

Advancing a team culture that develops people for the long haul

Building & Managing Tech-Forward Teams

How Money & Equity Shape Mission & Culture

business model

Optimizing for sustainable & measurable value to all stakeholders

Business Model Innovation: Creating Paths to Market

Product to Sales to Customer Success: Redemptive Strategy in the Value Chain

PARTNERSHIPS

Constructing partnerships of mutuality, integrity, and high performance

Raising Capital: When, If, and How to Finance a Round

Entrepreneurship & Networks: Creating Opportunity Through Relationships

ambition

Seeking first the good of others in every aspect of leadership

Being the CEO: The Psychology of Leadership

Entrepreneurship & Worship: How Practices Shape Imagination

DYNAMIC CONVERSATIONS FROM THE Rule of Life

start reading
Time

Practicing rhythms of work & rest that sustain our energy (and our team's) over the years

Money

Practicing simplicity & generosity to dethrone our preoccupation with wealth and possessions

Imagination

Practicing limits on our consumption of media & tech to steward and refresh our creative ability

Decision-Making

Practicing dependence on God in our discernment, rather than relying on our own autonomous wisdom

Power

Practicing sharing rather than accumulating status and authority to generate possibility for others

Community

Practicing presence and submitting to accountability with others who are not part of our work

Accelerator Cycle

The Accelerator runs from October 2022 to May 2023, and is anchored by intensive, multi-day, in-person events, with regular one-on-one coaching sessions with core team mentors and other small-group virtual sessions in between.  

Over the course of the program, Fellows interact personally with 35+ mentors and team members through small group discussions and one-on-ones.

Fellows also benefit deeply from the experiences of their peers. They encourage and challenge one another, engage in problem-solving sessions on key issues, and introduce one another to their own networks.

During the Redemptive Imagination Summit in May, Fellows close their program year by presenting to the community (including hundreds of potential funders) in their program Showcase.

April 1, 2022

Applications
Open

June 30 - July 15, 2022

Invitations
SENT

Coaching Sessions

Oct. 3-7, 2022

Mentoring Event

New York

Feb. 6-9, 2023

Mentoring Event

San Francisco, CA

May 22-24, 2023

Summit &
Showcase

Napa, CA

Active Community Participation

No other organization that I know is so deeply and intentionally leaning into the challenge of bringing a redemptive spirit to our personal and work worlds. Praxis challenges me personally, and those I get to serve, to think and act in ways that are "not of this world."

Rich McClure

Lead Director, World Wide Technology

Business Accelerator Mentor

Wildsam Print Materials
As an entrepreneur, so often I am focused on the immediate next thing. Praxis points me to think foundationally about the heart and soul of our company.

Taylor Bruce

Founder & Editor in Chief, Wildsam

2018 Business Fellow

Steve Lee
We've learned what it means to see Aura as a vehicle of God's vision and grace, and how to leverage creativity to focus on achieving our true mission rather than chasing after business metrics.

Steve Lee

Co-Founder & CEO, Aura

2019 Business Fellow

The Praxis Community is an immeasurably valuable part of my life. I've been regularly challenged (and encouraged) by the Praxis team and community that Sabbath rest, gleaning, and redemptive sacrifice can be practiced consistently. These practices and Praxis’s other frameworks have significantly influenced the way I lead in business, in the nonprofit space, and in my home. You won’t be in many of our team meetings where we don’t discuss how we can operate closer to the redemptive edge.

Cody Nath

President & CEO, Refined Technologies

Praxis Capital Community

Praxis is a phenomenal community filled with wise, helpful and passionate people who have lifted me up every step of the way in my business journey — they stand apart in quality, intentionality and effectiveness. And the Praxis model of Redemptive Entrepreneurship is honestly one of the most life-changing perspectives I’ve ever heard and has truly shaped the way I mentally frame my company.

Sarah Dubbeldam

Founder, Darling Media

2019 Business Fellow

Through Praxis's concepts of redemptive entrepreneurship (and redemptive investing), I have started to reconcile my work as an investor and entrepreneur with the work God has called me to do. This community inspired me to develop an investing thesis that redefines our success metrics around what would glorify Christ.

Allison Long Pettine

Partner, Ridge Group Investments

Business Accelerator Mentor

Through my experience with Praxis, I now think more deeply about what God can do in the lives of entrepreneurs and their customers — and about how I can witness via investing, rather than just mitigating risk through safe bets that are uninspiring.

Beto Pallares

Managing Director, Joseph Advisory

Praxis Capital Community

In Praxis I found a community of entrepreneurs and investors who get it. They are the kind of Christ followers I want to be like, and they helped me build our business in real, practical ways. Every time I connect with Praxis people I’m encouraged, challenged, and lightened.

Ted Pantone

Founder, Mango Fund; CEO, Turaco

2019 Business Fellow

Accelerator Community

Meet our Mentors

Seasoned founders and investors offering strategic insight to the current cohort.

Meet our Fellows

The entrepreneurs in our current cohort.

Meet the program Team

Praxis team members and Venture Partners who serve Fellows and connect them with resources.

Our Portfolio

A sampling of the 100+ ventures that have completed or are in the current cohort of the Business Accelerator:

Our accelerators have served 200+ active ventures

View the full portfolio

who should apply?

We select ventures that are:

  • Post-hunch, actively pursuing traction and growth in what they are building
  • Designing an innovative solution in their sector
  • Aiming to pursue their mission through a scalable model
  • Addressing a critical cultural issue through a redemptive approach

led by serious christians who are:

  • Aiming to embody the gospel through a redemptive venture
  • Humble and teachable, with a passion for excellence
  • Seeking an accountable community to grow together in faith
  • Working full-time on their ventures

A note on venture stage: The Praxis Accelerator is designed to support early-stage venture development. This program is best suited for entrepreneurs who have moved past the concept stage and are pursuing growth (whether that is early product-market fit or plans for significant scale). We typically engage entrepreneurs in the first five years of building their venture that have established revenue; however, we regularly include pre-revenue founders that are pursuing ideas at the redemptive edge of their sector that are still proving out model and structure.
‍
‍

we're passionate about building a diverse community of exceptional entrepreneurs from every continent and background, including greater representation of:

  • Women
  • Racial and ethnic minorities in the U.S., including Black, Latino, Asian American, Pacific Islander, and Native/Indigenous people
  • Currently underrepresented regions globally, including sub-Saharan Africa, Latin & Central America, and South and East Asia
  • Entrepreneurs coming from and working in economically marginalized communities and sectors

A note for working parents: Praxis is committed to supporting entrepreneurs who are balancing the demands of early-stage venture development alongside raising a family. By structuring our program as non-residential, we’re intentional in limiting the amount of travel and hours needed to participate in the Accelerator to three events during the 9-month program cycle. We don’t want the needs of parenting to interfere with your ability to apply or participate in our Accelerator, and we do our best to accommodate working parents through schedule modifications and breaks for nursing mothers.

Apply

2023 Business cohort Applications

Applications for the 2024 Business Accelerator program will open in April 2023. The Praxis team will review applications, conduct interviews, and notify selected candidates by July 2023. The 2024 program cycle itself will begin in October 2023 and run through May 2024.

ACCELERATOR fees

Through the support of our generous donors, we are able to subsidize most of our actual costs to deliver the Accelerator. Fellows routinely rate the program as delivering exceptional value and impact.

The fee includes all food and accommodations for roughly ten days at the three in-person events, plus program materials and access to all the elements described above.

BUSINESS FELLOWSHIP — $10,000

ADDITIONAL SEAT (for 2nd Fellow) — $2,000

Due to program size and venue commitments, if for any reason a Fellow cannot participate in a portion of the program, the fees are nonrefundable (even in extenuating circumstances).