Hot answers tagged incubators
9
Andrew Rollins, of TechStars alumnus Localytics wrote a great series of tips recently.
Andrew Hyde, TechStars' community director, covers many of the basics in his post. The one startup he specifically mentions, Foodzie, wrote their own post of advice, which to me really highlights how they stood out.
And Healy Jones, a TechStars adviser from this summer, ...
7
I'm assuming that you're looking for a professional website, not something that a nontechnical person could easily slap together on a site like Weebly.
If that is indeed the case, then I think the main problem that you are going to encounter is just the lack of real-world experience when hiring interns.
Most interns need mentoring. The goal of an ...
7
My best advice to you, try to meet other people who are on the same path. When I went down the entrepreneurial path, it was hard to keep moving forward and stay motivated. I quickly found that when I hung out with other people going through the same thing, I would receive a bump in motivation and drive. Entrepreneurs and innovators feed off of each other.
...
6
Do not apply if you have the following:
You have an unlimited amount of money (or an already profitable, scalable and growing company)
You are connected with several experienced angels and VCs
You have an idea that is perfected and needs no iteration
Otherwise, in 99.9% of the cases you should apply and it will be well worth it.
5
Another thing to think about is showing a "path of capability". Lots of people have neat ideas, but can't get the ball rolling. Thomas Edison was dead-on when he said that genius was 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration.
Make progress happen on your idea. If you're a coder, code! If you're not a coder, sketch and design. Talk to real live prospective ...
5
Another tip I'd give you is to reach out to past TechStars founders. They're generally super helpful in providing ideas. They've also been known to provide a "heads up, these guys seem really smart" when they run into an interesting team. And don't over-focus on the application itself. you've got to have good stuff to go along with it, like continued ...
4
I am a mentor in Capital Factory, an accelerator in Austin. Here's how we pick the companies that we accept into our program.
It starts with an online application. We also require that our applicants record a little video so that we can get a sense of their personality and communication skills.
We get hundreds of applications each year, and a handful of ...
4
This is Joe (Co-Founder CEO nReduce). I would say that our model is pretty significantly different from that of a traditional incubator. I outlined the difference here.
In regards to making the decision as to which type of support is best for your startup, only you can decide that. If you would like to chat more about nReduce please send me an email: ...
3
Your idea could have a lot of competition, or it might be in a niche domain. From the fact you are asking this, it seems, you are playing with a more or less common idea/product with slight modifications/value additions like a lot of other ideas in the market. And in such cases, time to market for your product can become crucial to its success.
If doing ...
3
Looks like it's just PR for the time being. Talking about entrepreneurship is one thing - learning how to create a market-worthy product or service is another. Right now the site is simply a bunch of links embedded in links embedded in links. There are no step-by-step instructions as to how to get started nor how to use the "resources provided". At the very ...
3
Here's how our program (of which I was a startup participating - I didn't run the incubator) worked:
They had us set up an option pool (we did 10%) and we gave up 6% in common stock to the incubator. I'm sure they had us set up the option pool up front because they knew we would have to set one up to take money in the future and they wanted to avoid the ...
3
To me, incubators are like Angels investing in the seed stage of a venture. You really don't want to set a value before your Series A since that's hard to do (you have not really built anything yet) and the evaluations will be artificially low (since you have not built anything yet).
The typical deal I have seen is that these investments are bridge loans ...
3
I don't think it ALWAYS makes sense to use an incubator. It depends entirely on what your goals are. For instance, do you want to get VC finance eventually? Do you want to grow rapidly? Do you need access to resources or people you don't yet have? Do you want to run your business part-time while studying or working elsewhere?
The answers to these types of ...
3
Varun,
You talk about "joining YCombinator" as if you just show up and get taken on - remember that you have to make a great pitch with a great idea (or something along those lines) to be considered for their program, and even then you're not guaranteed to be offered a place. It's also worth knowing that your chances of success are greatly magnified if ...
3
The most recent list I've seen also provides the application deadlines for different startup incubators: http://kaljundi.com/2010/02/19/upcoming-startup-incubator-deadlines/
And Robert Shedd has tried to round up all that he can find at:
http://blog.shedd.us/321987608/ - His commenters have contributed even more.
For the benefit of those not led to ...
3
Yes there are, many of them and around the globe:
CapitalFactory Austin, TX
YCombinator Mountain View, CS
TechStars Boulder, CO / Boston, MA / Seattle, WA
Founder's Co-op Seattle, WA
If you are in an area other than the areas mentioned above, check here for a list of startup accelerators around the globe.
3
First, incubators vary a lot. That applies to how they select teams, what they're offering and what they take in return. So look at each one that interests you, and as, if and when you apply, show you understand and value their proposition.
Second, talent, energy, commitment and teamwork are high up in the list of what pretty much every general incubator ...
3
Dropping in unannounced is something that people will do, but it isn't the greatest idea ever.
For most (technology focused) incubators, just sending a tweet to them with a comment like "Hey, i'll be in town on Tuesday, mind if I drop by?" should suffice. Otherwise, a email or a phone call will work.
3
I found the best way to motivate myself is the burning desire to succeed. The sense of "there is NO future if I don't get this thing successful" is the best motivator.
I think sometimes, people get lazy due to a good job they have. That's why you don't see a lot of IT professionals get off their ass and startup a company. Most often, it is not because they ...
3
It's better not to say that; it can come across as a lack of enthusiasm for their program or an arrogance-tinged expectation that they should be competing for you (and these programs almost always have more qualified applicants than they can admit).
Anyone applying for any incubator should research and consider several. It's fine to ask questions about how ...
2
if you google "incubator southern california" you will have some good links
Business Technology Center(http://www.labtc.org/) Altadena
CALSTART Project Hatchery, Pasadena Incubator (http://www.calstart.org/) Pasadena
EC2 at USC (http://www.ec2.edu/) Los Angeles
ECompanies (http://www.ecompanies.com/)Santa Monica
idealab! (http://www.idealab.com/)Pasadena
...
2
Traditionally, the company would own the IP and the developers would be working for equity. It's just cleaner that way when you want to go raise more money.
You kinda are writing a pre-nup. All of this legal and contract stuff is for when things go wrong. If everything goes right and people are reasonable, then none of this is necessary. Unfortunately, that ...
2
Your situation is unclear: is it your company (you are the majority shareholder in a C Corp)? Then what does the employee relationship between your co-founder and the incubator matter? There are some legal agreements that you need to read again and tell us about.
You've heard of vesting, right? I hope you put that in place when you started.
I don't ...
2
@Scott and @JayNeely - I'm glad that my post was added as a link to this question. I see that you both think there's a need for something more as far as listing/cataloguing accelerator programs around the world. Would love to get your thoughts as far as what could be added or how the current list could be extended. Feel free to reach out with any ideas. ...
2
I strongly recommend that you watch this video from the Founder Conference. What better to find out than ask entrepreneurs who have been through various incubators to share their experience?
2
Did you try googling? I got this result.
HackFwd, Hamburg.
Hasso Plattner Ventures, Potsdam
Acton Capital Partners, Munich
New Commercial Room, Hamburg
2
Although you can't guarantee it I seriously doubt an incubator is going to steal your idea. They are there with the purpose of investing in people, products, and markets that have growth potential, in an investment / mentorship capacity.
Besides, it's bad karma and there's a lot of Karma components to the entrepeneurial community.
2
in 95% of cases when people are accepted in startup incubator programs such as Y-combinator and TechStars, you get in because of the team, not the idea. They are there to help you evolve or change the idea and by the time most companies get out of the program, they are working on something completely different than what you submitted as the initial idea.
...
2
Hello fellow Austinite. I would also suggest Tech Ranch Austin as a good group to add to your list and would recommend them highly. I met with Kevin and Jonas and got wonderful feedback on my ideas. I ended up not following up on it, but a colleague is currently working with them (on Zehicle) and has nothing but good things to say about the community they ...
2
AmplifyLA (http://amplify.la/)
IdeaLab (http://www.idealab.com/)
LaunchpadLA (http://www.launchpad.la/)
MuckerLab (http://www.muckerlab.com/)
Originate (http://originate.com/)
Science (http://science-inc.com/)
StartEngineLA (http://www.startengine.com/)
UpstartLA (http://upstart.la/)
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