Reflections on the Cox Cleantech Accelerator

Getting accepted into the Spring ‘26 cohort for the Cox Cleantech Accelerator (powered by gener8tor) was a definite turning point for LCOE.ai where I’m the co-founder and CTO. We’d been at it for 2+ years and needed more definitive signal that we were on the correct path. Being one of the 300+ applicants from around the world that got into one of the 5 open slots is certainly some signal. But, like most things for us, it wasn’t straight forward. We were actually ranked #6 but one of the original 5 had to drop out. Being lucky is signal, too.

The structure of the Accelerator is 12-weeks, in person, in Atlanta, with various Cleantech oriented programming. This included founder stories, a round-table with legal experts, mentor swarms (more on this later), and on-sites with related companies. One example the former is what I branded as “smell week,” where we spent one day visiting a compost facility, then visited a farm. However, most was general corporate fare. As Cox is the corporate sponsor, much of the content was oriented around them and their green initiatives. Which makes sense, as one of the major draws beyond the $250,000 program check is the opportunity to sell to a large enterprise at a company stage where it can be hard to attract interest from larger buyers.

We did have concerns, specifically as it related to us. First is that I’m not Atlanta based, having moved to Seattle in 2018. Twelve weeks is a long time to be away from home and it was taking place during the exceptionally busy end-of-school season with extra practices and performances, along with birthdays, anniversaries, and weddings. Some very important moments would have to be missed. We also don’t want to take up space in a program if we’re not going to give it our all.

We also wondered if we’d gain enough given the reality that our Atlanta roots and strong network already brought Cox into the fold as a customer and several quality investors onto our cap table. Plus, this is a go-to-market Accelerator and my domain is technology. Would I really get value in flying across the country multiple times in 12 weeks?

Yeah actually, it was transformational.

Leading up to the Accelerator I had been focused on working in the business. Our team isn’t big and there’s a lot to build to keep ahead of an emerging landscape. Being on-site, in meetings about the business, forced getting out of the weeds. It became apparent that our path wasn’t a successful one and we would have to make drastic and uncomfortable changes. We changed our CEO, shifted who our customer was, along with how we would find an qualify them. It wasn’t a question of hustle or drive, we simply were trying to sell to people with no money, which makes it hard to build a viable business.

Which takes us to the mentor swarms. Each swarm is 5, fifteen minute conversations. The “mentors” range from corporate officers at Cox, Cleantech founders, business leaders in Atlanta, and investors. It’s a whos-who of people that can help companies like ours. We had 5 of these swarms a week over the course of 3 different weeks, for a total of 75 new conversations any of which could be incredibly meaningful. This new level of busyness can’t be solved with AI or more hours. We had to get very good at saying “no” and passing on interesting, but not directly relevant, tangents. On the positive, it was absolutely amazing to go through an Ideal Customer and messaging pivot with meetings already lined up. We were able to go from concept to a refined message in a day. It would have taken weeks if we did this through normal go-to-market motion.

There’s also something about being in person with other mission driven founders. It’s not just making money (still very important), but the broader picture that what we’re doing moves the needle towards having a healthier planet. I love working from home and I’m lucky enough to have friends that I see regularly for “office talk.” But it’s different being around people that were so excited about a problem that they through caution to the wind and set out to create it. I’m hoping the 9Zero climate hub fill some this void I didn’t know I had.

Of course there were some trade-offs for these benefits. The program, buy design, focuses on established companies. Established companies come with baggage, like prior business and personal commitments. It’s not feasible to relocate for a full 12-weeks and office was pretty empty in the low-content periods. People would cycle in-and-out, but never at the same time, so there was a lack of cohort cohesiveness that programs that target younger companies have. I would have preferred a hybrid program that had N weeks of you have to be here, Y weeks of you should be here, and X of it’s okay to be remote, ideally keeping key industry conferences in mind. I personally got a lot of value from the other founders and would have liked to see them more.

Then there’s the simple fact that you can’t go home again. A goal of the Accelerator program is to present Atlanta as a hub for Cleantech innovation. I agree with the thesis and though the program did a great job bringing in incredible people that prove the viability. I loved being part of Atlanta’s startup ecosystem growth from the early naughts to the time I moved. The Beltline is amazing and I had a blast staying in the Highlands and visiting all the old haunts. However, I also know that it’s our the reality of living in Atlanta with our daughter. I love seeing Atlanta succeed and improve, but Seattle’s the place for us.

Finally, I want to give a huge shout out to Miguel Granier and Hannah Turner. It’s clear they poured their hearts and soul into making this program a success. From wrangling with the schedules of 75 mentors, to bringing in high quality contacts from Cox, to the candid meaningful advice, to all the after hours events, they went above and beyond. While most of us rotated out, they were on it for the full 12 weeks.

To borrow the cliche, we didn’t get what we initially wanted from the program, but we got what we needed for future potential success. It’s been great to get back with renewed energy and focus, with real excitement that we are doing the right thing at the right time.

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