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A horrifying startup accelerator story

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Re: A horrifying startup accelerator story

#71

Post by mgkimsal »

auctiontheory wrote: post #66

Startups looking for accelerators remind me of authors looking for agents and publishers - we don't realize how much power we have in the relationship, and also how much we can do for ourselves without someone to "help" us for a chunk of our equity. Of course the right accelerator/VC/agent/publisher, at the right time, can help. It works best if you see them as a piece of YOUR plan, rather than see yourself as a supp…

Amen

I've been approached by a few startup-ish projects in the past few years, all wanting to 'partner' up and 'join an accelerator' or 'apply for startup program XYZ'.

I proceed to ask "what are you going to do with the $50k you'd get if you get in?"

There's typically a blank stare.

Now, I get that you get more than just money; hopefully you're getting connections and introductions and press you couldn't get on your own. But not always.

But I'm still shocked that typically there's no answer at the top of their minds. And they're asking me to invest the next 6 months or more of my life with them to 'do a startup'. As a tech/dev, I am an investor, investing my time, knowledge, energy and passion in to something. If they can't convince me to invest, they're not going to convince an accelerator.

Re: A horrifying startup accelerator story

#72

Post by jedc »

caycep wrote: post #60

maybe a noob question but usually, the agreement to do an accelerator program is usually overseen by an attorney? or is it just a handshake between accelerator and acceleratees?

The 'agreement' between them is meaningless (in a legal/financial sense) until they both sign the docs to officially transfer money for an equity stake.

Re: A horrifying startup accelerator story

#73

Post by jedc »

philzdelish wrote: post #30

Nothing as bad, but heard of bad experience by teams at Microsoft + Techstars accelerator in Seattle where both sides lost interest in the class in the middle of the program. Not sure how good/bad the fundraising was across the board.

Details are here: http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/view?acceleratorid=95003

Re: A horrifying startup accelerator story

#74

Post by jedc »

I'd just like to say that the reason I created Seed-DB (http://www.seed-db.com) is because the world of seed accelerators should be more transparent. I've currently got a list of 170+ accelerators around the world, and the list makes it pretty clear which ones get results and which don't. (Or don't care enough about publicizing results).

If you have any feedback for me as to what would be useful to you when choosing between accelerators, please let me know. Email is in profile.

Re: A horrifying startup accelerator story

#75

Post by tomphoolery »

brandnewlow wrote: post #9

This story is really frustrating and sad to hear, but I have to say, in the three years I've been working on my startup, never once has anything good happened from paying for access to any type of person (investors or customers), using any currency (equity or cash). We did YCombinator, which could be described as an "access" play, but apart from that, every time someone has offered us access to something in return fo…

The most frustrating part about it is I can't read it. Fix yer damn code!! ;)

Re: A horrifying startup accelerator story

#78

Post by brandnewlow »

arn wrote: post #59
brandnewlow wrote: post #9

This story is really frustrating and sad to hear, but I have to say, in the three years I've been working on my startup, never once has anything good happened from paying for access to any type of person (investors or customers), using any currency (equity or cash). We did YCombinator, which could be described as an "access" play, but apart from that, every time someone has offered us access to something in return fo…

I find this viewpoint very confusing, assuming you see YC as a good experience... unless you are trying to tactfully say that YC was a bad experience and I'm just being dense. "never once has anything good happened from paying for access" ... "We did YCombinator" YC is the prototypical model for this.

My point was to say that while we've done things to get access, like YC, which was wonderful and a massive exception to this rule, just about every other time we've explored an access opportunity, it's been a big miss.

Re: A horrifying startup accelerator story

#79

Post by brandnewlow »

sillysaurus2 wrote: post #55
brandnewlow wrote: post #9

This story is really frustrating and sad to hear, but I have to say, in the three years I've been working on my startup, never once has anything good happened from paying for access to any type of person (investors or customers), using any currency (equity or cash). We did YCombinator, which could be described as an "access" play, but apart from that, every time someone has offered us access to something in return fo…

What made you feel differently about YCombinator than everyone else? Or rather, how did YC get their foot in your door?

PG's essays. Years of participating on HN. People I knew who had done YC. The litany of neat companies with products I liked that had come out of YC. The way they had been amazingly accomodating and flexible in smart ways during our application process. Lots more.

Re: A horrifying startup accelerator story

#80

Post by throwaway98766 »

throwaway98765 wrote: post #21
kumarski wrote: post #3

Have fun figuring out which one it is: http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators

https://angel.co/socraticlabs seems to fit the bill. Of course, keep in mind that this could very well not be the accelerator.

Perhaps https://angel.co/unbound-concepts or https://angel.co/learnmetrics who both went through accelerators previously?
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