How to Apply to Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator (ERA) in 2026

How to apply to Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator: submit the form at eranyc.com/apply before the open cohort closes. ERA's application page states that selected companies receive $150,000 on a 6% post-money SAFE, and lists a November 2, 2026 deadline with a January 11, 2027 program start for Winter 2027 (ERA).

ERA prints the whole offer on one page: $150,000 on a 6% post-money SAFE (ERA). One instrument, one percentage, nothing that prices itself later.

That is not how the two best-known programs quote. Y Combinator publishes $500,000 as $125,000 for a fixed 7% plus $375,000 on an uncapped MFN SAFE (Y Combinator). Techstars publishes $220,000 as $20,000 for 5% common equity plus $200,000 on an uncapped MFN post-money SAFE, making total equity at least 5% plus whatever the SAFE eventually converts into (Techstars).

ERA runs two four-month programs each year, beginning in January and June (ERA), and appears on TIME and Statista's 2026 ranking of 80 U.S. incubators and accelerators as a seed-stage program (TIME).

How to apply to Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator in 2026: the seven steps

1. Open eranyc.com/apply and confirm the live cohort. The page currently identifies Winter 2027, with a November 2, 2026 deadline and a January 11, 2027 start (ERA). Dates move between cohorts, so read the page, not a blog post about the page.
2. Check your entity before you write a word. A non-U.S. entity has to flip to a U.S. C corporation before ERA invests (ERA). Brief your counsel now. A flip discovered after an offer is a four-figure scramble.
3. Pick the window against your runway. Two four-month programs run each year, starting January and June (ERA). If your cash ends before Q3, the January cohort is the only one that arrives in time.
4. Write the progress section around a shipped product. ERA says it has no specific startup-stage requirement, although most companies have assembled a team and developed an initial product, and early customers and revenue are common but not mandatory (ERA).
5. Make the New York case explicitly. ERA positions its main advantage as NYC-specific access to investors, technologists, operators, customers, partners, and more than 1,000 expert mentors and alumni (ERA). Name the customers and partners you would go after in that network.
6. Model the 6% against your next round before you submit. Median seed-stage dilution was 20% in Q4 2024, down from 21.1% in Q4 2022 (Carta). Know what the accelerator slice does to your cap table on top of that.
7. Submit through the ERA website. ERA directs applicants to apply through its site (ERA), and plan for in-person participation with some remote-friendly programming (ERA).

Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator terms: what the ERA accelerator 150k cheque actually costs

The 6% is your accelerator cost, not your total dilution. A post-money SAFE gives founders a clearer view of ownership dilution upfront, but future priced rounds and additional SAFEs can still dilute the founders and change the eventual ownership outcome (Carta).

YC describes the same mechanics on its own paper: the fixed-percentage SAFE and the MFN SAFE convert before new money in the priced round, and then the priced round and option-pool changes dilute the converted interests (Y Combinator).

So run the sequence, not the headline. Six points at conversion, plus a seed round taking a median 20% (Carta), plus an option pool refresh, is a different founder ownership number than "we gave up 6%".

ERA vs YC vs Techstars: the dilution table

ERA buys the least cash and the most certainty. Here is what each program publishes.

ERA's figures are from its application page, YC's from the Y Combinator standard deal, and Techstars' from its investment terms update.

Priced per point of fixed equity, ERA's $150,000 for 6% works out to $25,000 a point, against roughly $17,900 a point for YC's $125,000 fixed tranche (ERA, Y Combinator). ERA is the more expensive equity and the only one of the three where the number on the term sheet is the number you can model.

Do not read that as ERA winning. Read it as a trade: you are paying a premium per point in exchange for a cap table with one fewer unpriced instrument on it.

The ERA Winter 2027 cohort and how to time your application

Apply to the cohort that has a published deadline. For Winter 2027 that is November 2, 2026, with programming starting January 11, 2027 (ERA).

A deadline for the June 2027 program is not published on ERA's application or FAQ pages. The only fixed structure is the twice-yearly January and June cadence (ERA), so treat any Spring or Summer date you see elsewhere as unconfirmed until ERA posts it.

If ERA's apply page ever shows two consecutive cohorts at once, the decision rule is runway, not readiness:

• Under nine months of runway: take the nearer cohort. A four-month program plus the raise that follows it consumes more calendar than founders budget.
• Over twelve months of runway with a live product: take the later cohort and spend the gap on customers. You enter with better numbers, and the same 6% buys a bigger company.
• Never: apply to the later one because the nearer deadline feels tight. A rushed application to an open cohort beats a polished one to a cohort with no published date.

What this NYC startup accelerator screens for

The ERA NYC accelerator application does not filter on stage, so stage is not your excuse. ERA states no specific startup-stage requirement, while noting that most companies have assembled a team and developed an initial product, with early customers and revenue common but not required (ERA).

Read that as a preference, not an open door. Do not apply with a deck and no product when the stated norm in the room is a team plus a shipped v1.

✅ Good: "Shipped [PRODUCT] in [N] weeks. [N] paying customers in New York, [N] more in the pipeline." Verifiable, local, and it answers the stage question before it is asked.

❌ Bad: "We are pre-launch and plan to onboard our first design partners after the accelerator." Puts the burden of your progress on the program.

The NYC framing matters because that is what ERA sells: access to investors, technologists, operators, customers, partners, and more than 1,000 expert mentors and alumni in New York (ERA). An application that could have been sent to any accelerator in the country wastes the strongest thing you can say to this one.

When this matters for your raise

The 6% is small next to what happens next: seed startups on Carta raised $1.8 billion across 507 rounds in Q4 2024, with capital down 18% year over year and round count down 26% (Carta). An accelerator cheque buys you four months and a network, not a seed round, and a demo day audience is not a pipeline. Compare the terms against how to apply to Techstars, sanity-check the odds with accelerator acceptance rates, and put ERA's 6% next to the rest of the market in the accelerator terms and dilution table. Run your investor outreach in parallel with the application, not after the decision; if that list is getting long, tools like Causo keep it moving while admissions take their time.

FAQ

How much does ERA invest? $150,000, per ERA's application page (ERA). It is a single published instrument, a post-money SAFE for 6%, rather than a fixed tranche plus a second uncapped note. Confirm the figure on the apply page before you model it, since accelerator terms change between cohorts.

What equity does ERA take? 6%, on a post-money SAFE for the $150,000 investment (ERA). A post-money SAFE gives a clearer view of dilution upfront, but later priced rounds and additional SAFEs still dilute founders (Carta). Treat 6% as your accelerator cost, not your total dilution.

When are ERA applications due? ERA's application page lists a November 2, 2026 deadline for the Winter 2027 cohort, with the program starting January 11, 2027 (ERA). ERA runs two four-month programs a year, beginning in January and June (ERA). A deadline for the June 2027 cohort is not published on ERA's application or FAQ pages, so check the apply page directly.

Is ERA a good accelerator for NYC startups? It is built for them specifically. ERA positions its main advantage as New York access to investors, technologists, operators, customers, partners, and more than 1,000 expert mentors and alumni (ERA), and it appears on TIME and Statista's 2026 ranking of 80 U.S. incubators and accelerators as a seed-stage program (TIME). If your customers and hires are not in New York, most of that advantage does not transfer.

Can international startups apply to Entrepreneurs Roundtable Accelerator? Yes. ERA says it welcomes applications from anywhere in the world, and it operates in person with some remote-friendly programming (ERA). A non-U.S. entity has to flip to a U.S. C corporation before ERA invests, so start that conversation with counsel while you apply rather than after an offer.