Being part of Pioneer until now has been a great experience! We are in early stages of building https://www.kaapi.team/ (easy performance management for remote teams) and running in the Pioneer leaderboard was a huge factor of us being able to "ship" things like https://timewise.how/
1. Leaderboards can be gamified, yes, and I am sure some participants try to do so. But that froth gets cleared in final evaluation by experts. And you can fool a small percentage by showcasing vanity metrics, but I always climbed higher in the tournament when we got actual customers and product growth.
2. If you are not from the valley, getting access to a strong network of peers who help keep you accountable is great
3. Also, you get back what you put in. I feel as if I am yet to get the maximum "juice" from Pioneer, but that is on me. I haven't yet asked for enough intros and personal mentorship help from the Pioneer team. But since winning the tournament, and joining the camp, we have talked to 20 potential customers, and have beta customers lined up.
4. Personally for me, this is a refreshing way of going from idea to business. It's 2020 - geographical constraints of being in the valley shouldn't be a barrier!
5. I think it definitely has some kinks it needs to iron out in the tournament (e.g. advisors never replied, and the feature is now scraped). And also in the camp itself - but I love the fact that the Pioneer team is actively working on iterating itself like a startup!
PS Yes, I know you don't always need accelerators or funding or mentorship to build a business. There is no one way of getting it right, and this is just one of them.
Your mileage may vary.