Sandeep Nailwal, the co-founder of Ethereum scaling solution Polygon, unveiled an accelerator called Beacon today built by a team of Web3 founders with the objective of bringing early-stage crypto projects online with mentoring and financing.

The management team of Beacon includes Nailwal and a number of well-known names from the industry such as Uri Stav, former chief security officer of Digital Currency Group; Patreek Sharma, the former vice president of Sequoia Capital; and Kenzi Wang, the co-founder of Symbolic Capital.

“You often hear that building a Web2 startup is like ‘running a marathon’ and that Web3 founders need to be sprinters,” said Nailwal. “That’s the wrong way to think about it. Web3 founding is an altogether different sport. It’s not running, it’s like skiing.”

Web3, otherwise known as the decentralized web, focuses on peer-to-peer transactions using blockchain technology and the startups and companies that use it rely on specialized software that must connect to complex infrastructure that is still being built, innovated and created all around them. According to Nailwal, the “playbook” for Web3 is different from Web 2.0, and that sets Beacon apart from other accelerator programs.

“Through weekly sessions and hands-on mentoring, we’re teaching our founders how to ski – marketing is different, community building is different, launching a project is different,” said Nailwal. “Founding in Web3 is a different animal and we’re helping our founders navigate this new landscape.”

In order to make Beacon the best possible accelerator for Web3 startups, it already has its own custom-built platform for investors to review different projects, watch video pitches from founders and read up on their backgrounds.

The objective will be to mentor projects through their initial stages and give them everything they need to survive in the blockchain, Web3 and crypto industry using a twelve-week program with access to mentors and builders in the space. The program began in October with an initial cohort of 15 companies and more than founders, with resources remotely accessible from more than 12 cities. The names of the companies will be revealed in January.

“Our ultimate goal is to build the greatest network of Web3 founders in the world,” said Nailwal.

Applications to become part of the next cohort are being accepted by Beacon currently and are due by January 31, 2023.

Image: Nepool