Target Jumps On The Tech Accelerator Bandwagon

Apparently, anyone who is anyone these days has their own tech accelerator.

And now Target, with an assist from Techstars, is joining the accelerator party and founding its own. West Stringfellow, former chief product officer at Rosetta Stone and Bigcommerce, will be heading up the joint, though the search for a managing director continues.

The goal, unsurprisingly, is to “accelerate our own innovation at Target,” according to Stringfellow, who first pitched the accelerator program when he signed on with Target’s entrepreneur-in-residence program.

“We intend to make Minneapolis and the Twin Cities the epicenter of the Silicon Prairie and the epicenter of retail innovation,” he said, according to TechCrunch.

Techstars are, well, tech stars and have built accelerators before for high-profile players — Disney and Barclays are two notable examples with two very different feels (one focused on media, the other on financial services tech).

Target’s retail accelerator will select 10 firms to work out of the Target offices for three months, during which time they will enjoy mentoring from executives, entrepreneurs and business leaders.

“We’re going to be very broad in terms of the categories of companies we’re accepting,” Stringfellow noted. He further encouraged any firm to apply that sees “where Target can add value to their company or they can add value to Target.”

Interested entrepreneurs can apply for the Techstars Retail accelerator here.

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