Are accelerators still worth it today?

Was having a debate with a fellow founder yesterday about whether joining a top program still carries the same weight it did a few years back.

On one side, getting access to that tier of founder network and investor introductions can easily cut months off your timeline. But on the flip side, giving up a chunk of equity right out of the gate makes a lot of people pause, especially when tools today make shipping products so much faster.

To anyone who’s gone through one recently or intentionally avoided them: did it actually move the needle for your growth, or would you rather bootstrap in 2026?