With applications to our third Breakthrough cohort opening soon, now is the perfect time to start preparing. Applying to an accelerator takes time, coordination, and reflection, but some advance preparation can make the process much smoother and help you submit an application that truly reflects your work.
If you’re thinking about applying but still have questions after reading this blog, our office hours are a great place to start. We love meeting prospective applicants and are excited to learn more about your solutions for adolescent health and well-being. Every year, we’re inspired by the ideas and energy that applicants bring to this space, and we’re ready to welcome the next cohort of innovators!
1. Attend office hours.
If you do one thing to prepare, attend our office hours. We’ll hold four office hours throughout the application period. Register for an office hour to attend.
Office hours are a great opportunity to get to know us, ask questions about the program, and get a better sense of whether Breakthrough feels like the right fit for your team. Two members of the Breakthrough team host each session, starting with a brief overview of the accelerator before transitioning to an open Q&A session to answer questions from prospective applicants. Teams selected for Breakthrough consistently tell us that office hours helped answer their questions and get a sense of who we are before applying.
2. Carefully review application eligibility and program expectations.
Take time to review the eligibility criteria closely to make sure you meet them. It’s also worth looking at our program expectations to make sure you have the time and capacity to commit to our 11-month accelerator program. Reflecting on these pieces ahead of time can help you decide whether this is the right time to apply.
You might consider asking yourselves: Are we, as innovators, at the right stage to join an accelerator? Do we have a team of three people with the time and capacity to engage in all Breakthrough activities? If you’re unsure, our office hours can be a helpful space to talk through these questions.
3. Involve your full team in preparing your application.
Strong applications should reflect input from the full team. Starting early gives you time to align around your innovation description, refine your responses, and make sure all three team members understand the commitments and expectations required of your team if selected for Breakthrough’s next cohort. Early involvement also helps prevent last-minute scrambling and ensures that your application genuinely reflects your team’s collective thinking and the strength of your work.
4. Prepare to clearly describe your innovation in practice.
As part of the application, we ask you to walk us through what a user would experience when engaging with your innovation. This can be a tricky question, but we have a little guidance for you.
Instead of describing your innovation at a high level or what you hope it will become in the future, focus on what currently exists and how it works in practice. We want to understand the stage your innovation is in now—whether you have a minimum viable product, a rough prototype, or are still at the idea stage with early concepts. What does an end user see, do, or interact with? What happens step-by-step as they engage with your innovation as it exists today?
The goal is clarity: We want to understand what you’ve built so far, how developed it is, and how it functions in the real world. Being concrete and specific will help us better understand both your innovation and its current stage of development.
If your team is selected for an interview, you’ll also have an opportunity to demo your innovation and share more about how it works in practice.
5. Use the application documents and templates.
While applications are submitted through our online portal, we provide downloadable versions of the application questions, along with budget instructions and templates, to help your team draft responses outside the application system. These materials makes it easier for teams to collaborate, review responses together, and ensure that their application clearly reflects their work before submitting. We encourage you to use these materials to collaborate with your team, then copy your finalized responses directly into our online platform when you’re ready to submit.
For the budget specifically, be sure to read the instructions carefully and use the templates provided. This helps us review applications more efficiently and ensures that you include all the information we need.
Suggested citation: Kim, L. (2026). How to prepare for Breakthrough’s upcoming recruitment cycle. Breakthrough Accelerator. https://breakthrough.fund/how-to-prepare-for-breakthroughs-upcoming-recruitment-cycle