How long does it normally take investors to make a decision?

Every group is totally different, with it's own review process, and it's own timelines. In general though, you shouldn't expect to hear back for at least a few weeks. It can be months before an investor group responds.

The reason for this is that some groups work in cycles, where they'll only do a limited number of deals at a time. Finalizing an investment in a company takes a ton of diligence so if the group already has an active cycle going, they may not look at new deals until the cycle is over. By that time, it could be that you're not looking for investment anymore...

How do I know which groups will take longer to get back to me?

As a platform provider, Gust doesn't expose information about how long groups take to respond or invest, but groups do have the opportunity to write about themselves on their profiles. Take the time to read a group's description before applying to them to get a sense of what their process is like.

Do accelerator programs also operate this way?

No, they don't. Accelerators use a different version of Gust that allows them to make a unique application for each cohort, and we always organize accelerators by upcoming deadlines. In general an accelerator will give you feedback much more quickly than an angel group. If you see that one is active on our profile it's because they have an open application.