3 important aspects of Wells Fargo's startup accelerator
William Volz, Wayne State University professor of business law and ethics, commented about the Wells Fargo startup accelerator. Volz also is an executive director of the Blackstone LaunchPad, a team of entrepreneurs, inventors and business professionals that encourages WSU students to create startups in Detroit. He said that Wells Fargo is too big to care about starting accounts with small startups. "My sense is that on a macro vision that it's a way to try to breathe innovation and creativity into one of these gigantic enterprises," Volz said. "I think it’s generally a way to do it relatively cheaply.” More specifically, this is a way to replace traditional research and development departments. Volz said Wells Fargo gets the chance to cherry pick from the pitches of dozens of small companies and decide if the company might have use for any of the applications. "They’ll let these small operations be the innovators," he said. "And because these small innovators are always desperate for capital, this is a chance to zoom in where they want to."
