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Y Combinator Clone in Vienna, Austria launches

beta.yeurope.net

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Re: Y Combinator Clone in Vienna, Austria launches

#31

Post by BitGeek »

enki wrote: post #3

not a joke - tried to contact pg a few weeks ago already - emailed them again - but running out of time - if we don't get applications now, we can't launch. if pg says anything in that direction, we'll immediately take it down, and ask people to resubmit new forms because we can't use them. the questions pg asks are great, it just didn't feel sensical to try to reformulate them. our differenciation is in how we imple…

enki-

You need to set up a forum for prospective YEurope startups to communicate about the idea. I don't think this discussion is going to happen on this thread.

Re: Y Combinator Clone in Vienna, Austria launches

#32

Post by enki »

BitGeek wrote: post #31
enki wrote: post #3

not a joke - tried to contact pg a few weeks ago already - emailed them again - but running out of time - if we don't get applications now, we can't launch. if pg says anything in that direction, we'll immediately take it down, and ask people to resubmit new forms because we can't use them. the questions pg asks are great, it just didn't feel sensical to try to reformulate them. our differenciation is in how we imple…

enki- You need to set up a forum for prospective YEurope startups to communicate about the idea. I don't think this discussion is going to happen on this thread.

great idea!

i've set up a google group (both forum and mailinglist) at http://groups.google.com/group/yeurope/

i'll link this from the main yeurope page too, after getting some well deserved (i hope) rest.

i'm not sure if ggroups is the perfect communication medium - better ideas welcome! if you want to insta-chat with us, we're big fans of jabber. my jid is enki@jabber.metalab.at. lets hope feedback stays on a sane volume so i can directly stay in touch with all of you.

paul

Re: Y Combinator Clone in Vienna, Austria launches

#33

Post by enki »

enki wrote: post #18
whacked_new wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I second rms... but again, you shouldn't skimp on your website and your app, in any way; it's your public face. If you want to tailor the program to local apps, then it needs more thought. "We're looking for great people. We don't care that much whether your idea is the best thing since sliced bread." How in the world are you going to measure "great"? It's definitely not going to come through via just the 28 YC quest…

well, these are tough questions. the answers to these questions heavily involve european culture, so i'm having a really hard time accurately portrying the situation. but i'll try my best to answer. europe probably has just about as much cash, and as much education as the US. but according to the aho group report ( http://ec.europa.eu/invest-in-research/action/2006_ahogroup_en.htm), named after the former finnish pri…

btw. this is an awesome quote from the aho report:

"Apart from more resources for R&D and innovation, a paradigm change that would preserve European values in a new social structure is needed for the achievement of the goal of an Innovative Europe." - Aho Group Report "Creating an Innovative Europe" (January 2006)

Re: Y Combinator Clone in Vienna, Austria launches

#34

Post by markovich »

Hello Paul,

Your idea is interesting, but frankly, I don't get it. Your resume and your website do not hint at your having the money to sponsor the groups. You do not tell us how giving up a percentage of our companies is going to benefit us. The money is small - I could work on the side and make that money every month.

What is not clear is this:

1. Do you have the money for this? If so, from where? If a piece of software needed additional funding after 6 months, would you be able to do this (like pg put 50.000 in justin.tv)

2. Do you have the marketing reach? Will affiliating myself with you give me greater marketing strength?

3. Do you have access to legal information and advice? Can you offer this to your startups?

4. Do you have any connections to Venture Capital? Do you _know_ about venture capital, such as to give good or bad advice?

Re: Y Combinator Clone in Vienna, Austria launches

#35

Post by Benja »

enki wrote: post #28
Benja wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A general question and a specific one: Who are you? Metalab has an extensive website, but who's behind YEurope? You know that the funding is only a small part of what YC provides -- you won't be able to live up to pg, rtm et al, which is expected, but right now you don't say anything about yourself, so why should a prospective applicant value your connections and advice? And: One of the things YC does is that it sets…

hello benja, i'm paul and i'm the one who mainly started this. your reservations are absolutely justified. who am i to think i can do this? i haven't had any huge successes to show yet, and i really didn't want to launch like this. i had big plans of launching with my own money, and then i'd have prepared some nice texts telling my success story. as things went, we are launching early. i'm certainly in a different le…

Thanks for the answers! :-)

Re: Y Combinator Clone in Vienna, Austria launches

#36

Post by Goladus »

wordsthatendinq wrote: post #16
rms wrote: post #2

Cool. They stole the application too, but I guess they can because doing so didn't hurt Techstars at all. They stole it so badly that I wonder if it's a joke. "If one wanted to buy you three months in (March 2007), what's the lowest offer you'd take?" I wonder how long it will be before we see a clone in India/East Asia.

I think it's kind of funny that everyone uses the same app. One of these days someone will start a Princeton Review-like startup that submits the answers to all organizations with one click. btw, I don't know if it's just me but I don't know why people are so worked up over these copycats. When the second university in the world was founded, maybe people accused them of copying the first university, but in the long r…

People steal the Y Combinator app is because it's so good. You can't just google and plug in the "right" answers.

Interpreting the responses is the skill that matters.

Re: Y Combinator Clone in Vienna, Austria launches

#38

Post by pg »

BitGeek wrote: post #29

Man, I'm amazed at the bitching here... Someone's trying to help foster startups in europe! The horror! There's no way it can be decent, right? Jesus..... Its not like the idea of doing early stage funding is that new, nor is the idea of havign an application form new. Ok, so the questions may not be original-- but that's flattery, its not like the YC form is a trade secret! Getting startups together for a fixed peri…

Possibly people were offended more by the plagiarism than the desire to fund startups in Europe. It is a bit much calling the thing Y Europe, for example. Seed funding doesn't require your name begin with Y.

Re: Y Combinator Clone in Vienna, Austria launches

#39

Post by Sam_Odio »

pg wrote: post #38
BitGeek wrote: post #29

Man, I'm amazed at the bitching here... Someone's trying to help foster startups in europe! The horror! There's no way it can be decent, right? Jesus..... Its not like the idea of doing early stage funding is that new, nor is the idea of havign an application form new. Ok, so the questions may not be original-- but that's flattery, its not like the YC form is a trade secret! Getting startups together for a fixed peri…

Possibly people were offended more by the plagiarism than the desire to fund startups in Europe. It is a bit much calling the thing Y Europe, for example. Seed funding doesn't require your name begin with Y.

It also implies a collaboration with YC, which doesn't exist.

Regardless, I think it will be hard to fully replicate the YC model, because it's unlikely these firms will generate the following YC has. This following equates to attention, press, prestige and connections for all the new YC companies.

Without all that, all you have is an angel investor. And there's nothing new about that.

Really, when it comes down to it, this is just an enormous validation for what's happening here. After all, "imitation is the best form of flattery."

Re: Y Combinator Clone in Vienna, Austria launches

#40

Post by jey »

Sam_Odio wrote: post #39
pg wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Possibly people were offended more by the plagiarism than the desire to fund startups in Europe. It is a bit much calling the thing Y Europe, for example. Seed funding doesn't require your name begin with Y.

It also implies a collaboration with YC, which doesn't exist. Regardless, I think it will be hard to fully replicate the YC model, because it's unlikely these firms will generate the following YC has. This following equates to attention, press, prestige and connections for all the new YC companies. Without all that, all you have is an angel investor. And there's nothing new about that. Really, when it comes down to i…

"Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery."

Really, these guys aren't claiming to be YCombinator II. They're just validating the model and wanting to do something similar in Europe. They clearly state on their page "This site is inspired by, but not affiliated with YCombinator."

The YCombinators should be flattered, and everyone who participates in YC can give themselves a pat on the back for being funded by the original YC-style firm. [Hm, that has a nice ring: "YC funding" vs "VC funding". I wonder if that was intentional.]

Edit: Oh, now I see that they only added the disclaimer after a post in this thread called them out on it...

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