Plug and Play
How to get into Plug and Play according to the founders who pulled it off
Our take
Best if you want intros to corporate buyers and proof-of-concept pilots, and have an MVP ready to demo. A weak trade if you need a check, hands-on coaching, or can't work the network yourself.
Acceptance
~5%
Equity
0%
Funding
$50K
Duration
3 months
Stage
Seed to Series A
HQ
Sunnyvale, CA
We asked the founders how Plug and Play really went.
Every interview behind this page is one we ran ourselves. The numbers and quotes come straight from founders who went through Plug and Play, in their own words.
Who Plug and Play is for, and who should skip it.
Best for
- You want introductions to large corporate buyers and proof-of-concept pilots, not a check
- Your MVP is ready to demo the moment a corporate partner asks
- You will show up, triage the sessions, and chase the mentor and partner intros yourself
- You want the network and the credibility without giving up any equity
Skip it if
- You need direct funding from the program, because money is rarely part of the deal
- You are very early and want hands-on coaching to reach product-market fit
- You are remote from the program's hub and cannot travel for the in-person events
- You expect the accelerator to drive growth on its own while you sit back
What it's actually like at Plug and Play
Plug and Play does not run like a typical bootcamp. There is no daily schedule you clock into. Founders describe a program built around one thing. It gets startups in a room with the corporate partners who might run a pilot with them. The model is matchmaking. Plug and Play connects large companies that have a problem with startups that might solve it, and the rest of the program orbits that.
The week has structure without being heavy. There are mentor sessions, workshops, and reverse pitches where a corporate walks through the problem it is trying to solve so startups can shape a proposal around it. Most of it is optional, and the founders who got value treated that as a feature rather than a gap. Eliott Jabes ran Stockly through Lafayette Plug and Play in Paris.
The sessions were optional, which was actually the right call. It let us pick what was relevant and skip what wasn't.
The real engine is the corporate introductions. For a small company, landing a meeting with a brand like Galeries Lafayette, Sabre, or a major automaker on your own is brutal. Plug and Play is the door. Cynthia Hollen built MAVI.io around the connected car and used the program to reach automakers.
Corporate partners want to see what's new in the batch and figure out which startups they can run a proof of concept with.
That access is why founders kept repeating the same warning. You get out what you put in. Nobody hands you the outcomes. Marc-Henri Spiess took TwicPics through the Paris program while it was a small, unknown startup, and he was blunt about where the value came from.
The weekly one-hour mentor sessions were genuinely useful, but the corporate introductions were the real lever.
The flip side shows up for founders who could not get into the room. The program leans heavily on in-person events, and several founders based outside the United States said the remote experience leaked value. The structure rewards founders who triage hard, ask for specific intros, and show up prepared. The ones who waited for the program to come to them came away underwhelmed.
What you give, what you get, and the catch on funding
The deal is unusual, and it is the first thing to understand. Plug and Play takes 0% equity and charges no program fee. The headline investment figure is $50K, but founders are clear that a check is not the point and often not part of the package at all. What you give is time. What you get is access.
Because there is no equity, the downside of joining is mostly your calendar. Tomas Turner, who runs Cultivated Biosciences, put it plainly.
The mentor connections alone delivered substantial value, and the program is equity-free, which means startups have very little to lose by participating.
Just as important is what you do not get. Most companies do not walk away with money. Several founders confirmed that funding is decoupled from acceptance, and any investment conversation runs separately through Plug and Play's venture arm. Cynthia Hollen of MAVI.io was direct about it.
most companies accepted into Plug and Play don't get funding as part of the initial acceptance. That's a real difference from accelerators like Y Combinator.
What the program is actually built to sell is the proof-of-concept pilot. You get introduced to a corporate partner, you run a POC, and if it works there is a path to a real contract. Nishant Tomar built DigsFact's whole strategy around that mechanic.
You get the corporate introduction, you run a POC, and if you hit the KPIs there's a real path to a full enterprise contract. Most accelerators can't put you in that room.
So the trade is concrete. You give three months and real effort, you keep all of your equity, and you probably leave without a check. In return you get introductions and pilot opportunities with companies you could not otherwise reach. For founders with a product ready to demo, that has turned into Series A rounds and signed enterprise deals. For founders who needed cash or early-stage coaching, it has not.
How founders actually got in
Plug and Play's acceptance rate sits around 5%, and many founders never filled out a cold application at all. The program scouts. Founders got pulled in through corporate partners who wanted a pilot, through warm introductions from existing investors, and through events like TechCrunch and Web Summit. Roy Golden of Travelin.ai engineered his way in on purpose.
I went to LinkedIn, identified the person running the Plug and Play program, then worked my network to find a mutual connection with enough weight to introduce me.
Selection is a joint call between Plug and Play and its corporate partners, who effectively vote on which startups address the problems they are working on right now. The path usually runs from a written form to a short video and pitch deck, then a live pitch in front of roughly 30 corporate partners. It is competitive, but founders did not describe it as a fortress.
It's competitive, but it's not a closed door. With a relevant solution and real commitment, you can get in.
What the founders said actually wins a spot, in their own words.
- Lead with traction. Founders who pitched real revenue and customer case studies stood out from those pitching an idea
- Shape the pitch for a corporate audience, not a VC one. The value to their business, the impact, and the cost
- Find a warm introduction through an investor, a partner, or your own network instead of applying cold
- Pick the vertical where the corporate partners line up with your market, even if the cohort is on another continent
- Bring passion and a clear story; a product people want to look at beats a slick deck
One warning came up more than any other, and it maps straight onto the corporate-pilot logic of the program. Nishant Tomar of DigsFact put it bluntly.
Have your MVP ready. That's the big one. If a corporate partner gets interested and asks for a demo, and you can't show up, the moment is gone and the momentum with it.
The founders we talked to.
Alumni include Dropbox, PayPal, LendingClub, SoundHound, Honey.
Want the mentorship without the accelerator?
An accelerator's real value is the people who have done it before. GrowthMentor gives you that on its own. Unlimited 1:1 calls with founders and operators, from $50 a month, no equity, no three-month program to join.
RecommendedFormat
Live 1:1 calls, on demand- Plug and Play
- 3-month corporate-matchmaking program
Cost
$50-150/mo, no equity- Plug and Play
- $50K investment, no equity
Time to value
Same day- Plug and Play
- 3 months
Commitment
None, cancel anytime- Plug and Play
- Hybrid cohort, in-person events to attend
Selectivity
Open to every member- Plug and Play
- ~5% accepted
The network
750+ vetted operators- Plug and Play
- 500+ corporate partners
What you get
The right person for each problem- Plug and Play
- Corporate pilots and POC intros
From $50 a month · no equity.
Questions founders ask about Plug and Play.
Around 5%, and it is even steeper at the pitch stage; one founder noted that roughly one in a thousand applicants gets invited to present. Selection is a joint decision between Plug and Play and its corporate partners, who pick the startups that match the problems they are trying to solve.
None. Plug and Play takes 0% equity and charges no program fee. Any investment happens separately through its venture arm, and most companies are accepted without a check attached, which founders flagged as a real difference from programs like Y Combinator.
It is a corporate matchmaking program. Over about three months, Plug and Play introduces your startup to corporate partners looking for solutions, runs reverse pitches where those companies share their challenges, and sets up proof-of-concept pilots. Hit the targets in a pilot and there is a path to a full enterprise contract.
About three months. The sessions are largely optional and the engagement is often hybrid or remote, so it is manageable alongside running your company, though founders who could attend the in-person events consistently got more out of it.
It depends on what you need. If you want introductions to large corporate buyers and POC pilots, and you have an MVP ready, founders consistently said yes, especially since there is no equity to lose. If you need direct funding or hands-on early-stage coaching, several founders came away underwhelmed.
