11 things founders keep saying about Decelera
April 2026 · 6 min read | Written by the Decelera team
After each edition of Decelera, founders post about the experience on LinkedIn. Not because we ask them to. Most of the time we find out when the notifications start arriving.
We've collected 40 of those posts across the last two years of editions in Menorca and Mexico. This is what comes up when you read all of them in one sitting.
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Table of contents
- Slow down to speed up
- The team is the difference
- Founder-centric, felt not claimed
- Reconnection with purpose
- "Hard to put into words"
- Community that feels like family
- Mental health as non-negotiable
- Vulnerability as strength
- Real conversations, no pitch decks
- Experience Makers who give without expecting
- Transformation beyond the company
- What this tells us
- Frequently asked questions
1. Slow down to speed up
The phrase-anchor of the program. In at least 10 of the 40 posts it appears literally, in different variants, "decelerate to accelerate", "frenar para acelerar", "slowing down to speed up", "a veces desacelerar es la mejor forma de acelerar más rápido".
"Sometimes the best way to move forward is to slow down."Founder, IKI Health Group
What's interesting is that nobody introduces it as a motto. They arrive at it on their own, often halfway through their post, as if they just discovered the thought.
2. The team is the difference
Across ~80% of the posts, the Decelera team is named by hand. Marcos, Olga, Lorenzo, Andrea, Raquel, Valentina, and the rest. Nobody writes about the program without mentioning the people who run it.
"What we lived together left a mark, and we're already turning that into impact. Grateful to the entire Decelera team."Founder, IKI Health Group
"The team supera edition after edition. We're not just a working group: we're a puzzle where each piece is unique and essential."Decelera team member
This one matters operationally. Founders remember faces, not slogans. If the team isn't present, the program evaporates.
3. Founder-centric, felt not claimed
Every accelerator says it's founder-centric. The founders who've been through other programs and then Decelera draw the distinction without prompting.
"I've been to many accelerators, national and international, all focused on growing fast, metrics, investment, traction. But few stop to look at what matters most: the founder's wellbeing."Founder, BondUP
"Decelera thank you for being founder centric and being real people."Alumni founder
The phrase "real people" comes up in six different posts. Usually it's a founder's shorthand for "they didn't treat me like a deal."
4. Reconnection with purpose
The single most common stated takeaway. Not networking. Not funding. Purpose.
"A deep reconnection with my purpose and that of my company."Founder, Figuro
"Back to why we started."Founder, Cromodata
Posts written weeks after the program still reference this. It sticks longer than anything else.
5. "Hard to put into words"
In seven separate posts, founders explicitly warn that their post can't capture what they experienced.
"There are things that are really hard to explain, this is one of them."Alumni founder
"Some experiences are too layered, too emotional, too deep to process on the spot."Alumni founder
We read this as a signal that the program is doing something their usual operating vocabulary doesn't have words for. Which is both good and a communication problem. We know we haven't fully solved how to explain Decelera to someone who hasn't done it.
6. Community that feels like family
The word "community" keeps getting upgraded to "family" in these posts. Not as metaphor. As felt description.
"At Decelera the word 'community' isn't a slogan. It's culture. You live it, you feel it."Alumni founder
"A community of founders I know will be there for me when I need them."Founder, BondUP
The test is simple: six months after the program, are founders still texting each other? The answer, based on what they write, is yes.
7. Mental health as non-negotiable
The wellbeing dimension (yoga, meditation, journaling, breath work) runs through the program. Several founders single it out as the takeaway that changed them most.
"Mental health is not a 'nice to have.' It's a basic necessity. You can't lead a company if you can't lead yourself."Experience Maker
"You can't build the future you want from a place of exhaustion. You can't make clear decisions from anxiety."Experience Maker
This is the least-marketable piece of the program and, based on what founders write, the one most responsible for the long-term shift they describe.
8. Vulnerability as strength
Founders describe being allowed, and expected, to show up without armor. This gets named as a turning point in seven posts.
"Thank you for being open to listening, for practicing with me every morning, and for letting yourselves be vulnerable. That's your greatest strength."Experience Maker
"Maybe we could all give ourselves permission to say 'I don't know,' to listen more than we speak, to drop the superior, knowing smile."Alumni founder
This is the opposite of the startup-conference posture. Most of our founders notice the difference within 48 hours of arriving.
9. Real conversations, no pitch decks
The format matters. No pitching, no demo day energy on repeat. Founders comment on how refreshing it is to talk without slides.
"No pitch decks. No back-to-back calls. Just space to step back, reflect, and reconnect."Founder, Cromodata
"Talking about VC in bare feet and sandals should be the new standard."Investor, Valor
The sandals comment is ours now. We're keeping it.
10. Experience Makers who give without expecting
Mentors at Decelera are called Experience Makers. Founders describe them using a consistent vocabulary: generous, honest, non-transactional.
"Stories with more humanity than show-off. Lessons from the scar, not from the ego."Alumni founder
"People who don't speculate with their time or their advice, who listen without judging, and who give without expecting anything in return."Alumni founder
The Experience Makers set the tone. If they came in with a "here's my wisdom" energy, the program would break. They come in ready to be changed too.
11. Transformation beyond the company
The deepest pattern. Founders describe the change as personal first, company second.
"Decelera hasn't just been an inflection point for Figuro, but for my team and, above all, for me as a founder."Founder, Figuro
"This week changed not only how we're solving problems at Ternadia, but how I'm facing my own life as a founder."Founder, Ternadia
"I am not the same."Alumni founder
If the program only improved companies we'd have an accelerator. Because it changes how founders relate to their own work, it's doing something different.
What this tells us
Reading 40 posts in a row, the pattern is clear: founders come in with specific asks, feedback, funding, network, and leave with something they didn't know they needed.
A pause. A community. Permission to be honest about what's hard. A reminder of why they started.
We don't market the program that way. We market the 7 days in Menorca, the founders per cohort, the check size, the Experience Makers. Those are the reasons founders apply.
The 11 patterns above are what they actually take home.
We're writing this down because it matters to us to get the marketing closer to the experience. When we describe Decelera to a founder who hasn't been through it, the specifics the alumni keep naming, the team, the purpose reconnection, the permission to be vulnerable, are the ones we should be leading with.
Frequently asked questions
How did you select the 40 posts?
We read public LinkedIn posts written by founders, Experience Makers, and investors after participating in a Decelera edition between 2024 and 2026. No filtering by sentiment. We included every post we could find, positive or critical.
Are any of these quotes anonymous?
Every quote in this article is from a public LinkedIn post. We've attributed where the author's role is clearly relevant and left the attribution light where the person's identity isn't load-bearing to the point. We link to the author's profile where possible.
Why focus on what founders say instead of what Decelera says?
Because founders are the only honest source on whether a founder program works. Everything we could write about ourselves is filtered through our own incentive to sound useful. The posts above weren't written for us.
What would you change about the program based on this?
Two things. One: lead our own communication with the dimensions that alumni name, not the ones that read well in a brochure. Two: invest more in the part of the program that produces the "hard to put into words" response, because that's the part that's still invisible to first-time applicants.
How can I apply to Decelera?
Applications for the next edition are open at decelera.ventures/apply. Before you apply, you can also run your deck through our public AI tool at deceleraamericas.ventures/pitch-deck-analysis.