Sustainability-focused start-ups are vital in addressing today’s social and environmental challenges. Sustainability-oriented accelerators play a key role in supporting these ventures, helping them design, test, and scale business models that deliver both financial returns and meaningful impact. Increasingly, traditional accelerators are also shifting towards sustainability, driven by corporate responsibility or recognition of emerging market opportunities. However, little is known about how accelerators can successfully transform toward sustainability or the challenges they face. This study examines a traditional accelerator navigating this transformation. It identifies critical obstacles, including incremental changes to its business model, a rigid organizational structure, and leadership mindsets misaligned with sustainability goals. These factors collectively hinder the organization’s progress, leaving it “stuck in transition”. The findings offer important implications for stakeholders, such as entrepreneurs, investors, and policymakers, emphasizing the need for systemic change rather than piecemeal adjustments. The study also contributes to theoretical discussions, offering insights into the organizational and strategic challenges accelerators encounter when embedding sustainability into their core operations.
