Conector puts its mentors on the cap table

The adviser who likes your startup has another meeting. The investor who wants to stay in touch has a crowded inbox. Conector Startup Accelerator was built around the distance between that initial enthusiasm and the work that follows. Its proposition is unusually concrete: bring experienced people into a young company’s orbit, then give them a place on its ownership register.

For founders, the bargain is consequential. They receive help from people who have built businesses, sold products and met investors. In return, Conector and its mentors can become shareholders. The scarce resource being traded is sustained attention. Whether that attention earns its place on the cap table is the question running through Conector’s story.

The startup that barely got any help

Before the accelerator launched in 2013, Carlos Blanco had experimented with supporting three projects through Grupo ITnet and First Tuesday. His own account describes an uneven result: one received substantial involvement, another less, and a third barely received help at all. He also complained about some entrepreneurs’ lack of formality. Good intentions had produced an unreliable service.

The response was to professionalize the operation, bringing in Elisabeth Martínez to manage it. Blanco recruited partners through a succession of conversations, including pizza with Xavier Verdaguer. The founding circle also included Marc Vidal, Gerard Olivé, Marc Ros and Risto Mejide. Miguel Vicente’s arrival was announced for the following January.

That cast gave the new company an unusual mix of digital business, advertising and public visibility. Mejide brought a television and advertising profile; others brought experience in building internet companies. The initial promise leaned heavily toward commercial execution: helping a product find a business around it.

Contemporary reporting put the partners’ initial investment at €60,000. That was capital to establish Conector. Blanco also described an indirect benefit for the founders: finding companies in which they might later invest. From the beginning, the organization combined an entrepreneurial support mission with an interest in the businesses emerging from it.

A small board, a longer conversation

Conector calls its approach “Mentoring de verdad” - real mentoring. Its mission, “Dar continuidad al talento,” translates roughly as giving talent continuity. The phrasing suits the problem: a promising founder needs the next useful conversation, followed by another one when the first suggestion has met reality.

The launch model described three to five mentors per project, chosen through mutual selection. Later program descriptions retained the small-board approach. An adviser with sales experience can challenge customer acquisition; another with financial experience can examine the plan. The attraction is a group assembled around the company’s needs, with repeated opportunities to work together.

There is a practical lesson here for founders outside any accelerator. Choose advisers for the decisions you need to make. Agree on a meeting rhythm and bring back the result of the previous discussion. A famous name may help secure an introduction. Repeated contact creates the opportunity to notice that the original diagnosis was wrong.

“Mentoring de verdad”

Conector’s promise: real mentoring.

Conector’s public program sequence runs from applications and a Startup Day pitch through mentor matching, acceleration, a shareholder agreement and Demo Day. The final event introduces projects to its investor network. The sequence makes clear that admission starts a period of work; the investor presentation comes after it.

The price is a piece of the company

Conector’s general program description sets a ceiling: the combined participation of the accelerator and mentors will not exceed 10%. The percentage depends on the startup’s situation. That is a limit, rather than a statement that every company hands over the same amount.

The economic idea is straightforward. An ownership stake gives advisers an interest in the company’s future. For the founder, it creates a continuing cost if that future becomes valuable. The useful conversation is therefore specific: who will help, what expertise is relevant, and what work will the relationship involve?

Partner benefits form another part of the offer. Conector’s perks directory advertises services valued at more than €400,000, with names including AWS, OVHcloud and Mixpanel. That headline is a service valuation. Its usefulness depends on the tools a startup needs and the provider’s conditions. A cloud allowance can reduce an infrastructure bill; payroll still requires money.

This distinction also applies to investor access. A prepared introduction may improve the opportunity to raise capital, but the investor must still decide to invest. Conector’s investment page invites co-investment in accelerated startups. The program and the financing decision are connected activities with separate outcomes.

Glovo, before it was the obvious example

In January 2015, Blanco announced 11 startups in Conector’s third Barcelona acceleration. Glovo appeared on the list as an app for collaborative errands and delivery. Seen at that point, it was one young company among a cohort, with the ordinary problem of turning a proposition into repeated demand.

Glovo’s own history remembers the early service as two app options: buy something or send something. Orders initially numbered fewer than ten a day, and the team sometimes completed them. In 2016, with money again running short, the business decided to build a marketplace of local stores. An Indian restaurant in Barcelona became its first restaurant partner.

That sequence is more instructive than treating an alumnus as a trophy. The initial product did not arrive with its eventual commercial shape attached. Usage, limited demand and pressure on cash forced further choices. Conector’s portfolio page links Glovo with mentors including Sacha Michaud, David Tomás, Rubén Ferreiro and Blanco; it places experienced people around the early company.

The distinction matters when judging accelerator results. A recognizable graduate establishes that the program was part of its history. It cannot tell us how the company would have developed elsewhere. On Conector’s homepage, Kompyte chief executive Pere Codina makes essentially that point: he cannot know the alternative history, but he would choose the program again.

Porsche brings a different set of doors

Conector also delivers programs with corporate and regional partners. In December 2017, Porsche Ibérica and Porsche Digital announced a Conector collaboration targeting smart mobility, lifestyle, customer experience and the Internet of Things. The plan called for five to eight startups and five months of intensive work on their businesses.

The attraction of that arrangement is specific industry context. For a startup selling into an established sector, understanding how potential customers operate can matter as much as broad business advice. Conector’s Porsche program lists participants including Garage Scanner and Macco Robotics, illustrating how different the projects within one corporate brief can be.

Elsewhere, the program archive includes ABANCA Innova, historical Bankia accelerations and Novartis health challenges. CambrAccelera, developed with the Sabadell Chamber of Commerce, serves young technology businesses in that area. These relationships give Conector several constituencies: founders seeking help, investors seeking companies, and partners seeking contact with new businesses and ideas.

Then the meeting room went online

In April 2020, Conector described running Barcelona #13 entirely online. Some remote participation was already familiar: out-of-town founders and traveling mentors had connected to earlier sessions. Moving everything online exposed additional possibilities. Webinars could reach larger audiences, and speakers could contribute without making the trip to the office.

The company’s account argued for keeping more virtual activity after the emergency. In January 2021 it launched PRD#1, a dedicated five-month digital program. Participants included Nexus Clips in gaming content, Breiko Breiko in road transport and Sycai Technologies in medical technology. The mix showed that a shared delivery format could accommodate very different businesses.

A June 30, 2025 update announced the kickoff of BCN25, introducing the methodology, team and selected entrepreneurs. Conector’s public listings also include an in-person Barcelona AI program. Taken together, these examples show an organization using both physical and remote formats, with the program determining how participants meet.

Pick the people before the program

Conector occupies a familiar stretch of Spain’s startup market: the space between building an early product and becoming ready for outside investment. Its particular proposition is the mentor board and the equity relationship behind it. Founders have alternatives with different economics.

SeedRocket says it takes no equity for selection, mentoring, training or investor contacts; mentors can invest privately on separately agreed terms. Lanzadera likewise described its program as free and without equity in August 2025. Those alternatives make Conector’s ownership bargain something to assess carefully against the actual people and work on offer.

Fit also begins with the startup itself. In a 2017 interview, Conector business development manager Bernardo Martínez emphasized a minimum viable product, evidence of potential and a market capable of supporting investor returns. He identified customer acquisition as a central difficulty: a good product alone does not explain how customers will arrive.

That is why this approach has limits. A business serving a deliberately small market may have little need for an investor-oriented accelerator. A founder who only wants occasional feedback may find a continuing equity relationship hard to justify. Martínez’s advice was to speak with several accelerators and investigate their mentors and previous startups.

The habit worth copying costs no equity: ask why you need help, identify who can provide it, and make the next conversation test what happened after the last. Conector has built a business around organizing that relationship. For a founder considering the bargain, the deciding evidence should be the quality of the people who will keep turning up.