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Bethnal Green Ventures: a UK accelerator programme for stuff that matters

bethnalgreenventures.com

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Re: Bethnal Green Ventures: a UK accelerator programme for stuff that matters

#31

Post by willvarfar »

rellimluap wrote: post #19
DanBC wrote: post #14

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I wish you the best of luck if it's a real programme and not just grant & subsidy milking. That sounds really offensive, but it's not meant to be. Do any of the alumni have a web-presence? Perhaps you could either link to their websites; or you could host small "about" pages for them? You're going to get people thinking that this is just another quango product - something created to use a budget from some government…

I've popped links into our alumni page but with the caveat that the first test run was very different. I guess I understand the concern that I'm just a quango/think tank guy but most of the useful stuff I've learned was as co-founder and CEO of School of Everything (www.schoolofeverything.com). We built a product, were finalists in the first round of Seedcamp, raised seed investment from angels including Esther Dyson…

(just hoping you'll take a look at my very-new website which, I hope, will be a great way of getting programmers to help your efforts: http://giving.github.com )

Re: Bethnal Green Ventures: a UK accelerator programme for stuff that matters

#32

Post by justincormack »

rellimluap wrote: post #10
justincormack wrote: post #5

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes my thoughts exactly. They are not selling themselves at all. Anyone here been through the programme?

This is actually the first time we've run the programme properly. We did a test run about 12 months ago but at that stage didn't have the money to invest. Even so the teams got a lot out of it I hope. Good Gym (www.goodgym.org) has probably progressed the most but it was a different set up then - they're a not-for-profit. The value for teams will definitely come from our network which we're still adding to the site t…

Could you run some sort of open day before applications close to talk about the scheme and meet the people involved?

Re: Bethnal Green Ventures: a UK accelerator programme for stuff that matters

#33

Post by rellimluap »

justincormack wrote: post #32
rellimluap wrote: post #10

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is actually the first time we've run the programme properly. We did a test run about 12 months ago but at that stage didn't have the money to invest. Even so the teams got a lot out of it I hope. Good Gym (www.goodgym.org) has probably progressed the most but it was a different set up then - they're a not-for-profit. The value for teams will definitely come from our network which we're still adding to the site t…

Could you run some sort of open day before applications close to talk about the scheme and meet the people involved?

Yes, definitely planning that for April. We're happy to meet teams individually or just talk on the phone if that helps too.

Re: Bethnal Green Ventures: a UK accelerator programme for stuff that matters

#34

Post by petenixey »

YC states fairly openly that it's looking for the outliers and that it makes its real money from the Dropboxes, AirBnBs etc. If the top incubators only make their money from the top companies in them then it makes me wonder whether if a market has already been tapped (London by Seedcamp, SF and further by YC etc) anyone else can make the returns they need.

Multiple VCs and Angels can exist in the same segment because funding at that stage is polygamous. You get funding from multiple angels or VCs so a number can compete. The ecosystem may not support many but it can support more than one.

If an incubator can only make its money from the top companies though and there is another incubator that already has the top companies in a particular market then do the economics actually work?

YC, Seedcamp, TechStars etc all arguably cover overlapping but different markets but I wonder whether the economics literally stop you dead from doing another incubator in SF or in London.

It strikes me that the only entrance is either to go above or below the incubator or go to a completely different market.

Re: Bethnal Green Ventures: a UK accelerator programme for stuff that matters

#36

Post by AkThhhpppt »

buro9 wrote: post #25

6% for £12.5k isn't going to be enticing enough for what they're offering. 6% if you're YCombinator is one thing, there's track record, location, address book, mentors, who you get to pitch to, etc... and you can easily come to the conclusion that you've had value-for-equity. But I read BGV's site carefully as I would consider my startup to be exactly what they are looking for, and I meet all of their requirements (w…

This is a Young Foundation initiative, who started the Open University, Which? Magazine, the National Consumer Council... They're dipping their toe into the IT space for the first time, but they've been doing social innovation acceleration in other ways for decades.

Re: Bethnal Green Ventures: a UK accelerator programme for stuff that matters

#37

Post by ig1 »

petenixey wrote: post #34

YC states fairly openly that it's looking for the outliers and that it makes its real money from the Dropboxes, AirBnBs etc. If the top incubators only make their money from the top companies in them then it makes me wonder whether if a market has already been tapped (London by Seedcamp, SF and further by YC etc) anyone else can make the returns they need. Multiple VCs and Angels can exist in the same segment because…

Well what's the bottle-neck ?

It's not as if there's a finite pool of disruptable markets or a limit on innovation (or at least one that we're anywhere close to).

The limit seems to essentially be on the talent side and PG has commented before that the best startups they've funded were often the last ones they decided to fund in a round which suggests that's plenty of talent that YC isn't getting.

Re: Bethnal Green Ventures: a UK accelerator programme for stuff that matters

#38

Post by tomblomfield »

The proliferation of cookie-cutter incubators isn't a good thing for London or any other city.

The value of Y Combinator is a combination of its brand, connections and the huge experience of the partners there. Compare the experience of the various YC partners[1] with those of any other incubator, and it's quickly apparent there's no competition. UK incubators seemed to be staffed by accountants, bankers and lawyers who emphasise teaching applications how to "write a business plan" rather than "make something people want"

1 - pg - Viaweb, pb - friendfeed & gmail, Garry - Posterous & Palantir, Geoff - RocketMail & Lala, Sam Altman - Loopt, Harj - Auctomatic. Etc.

Re: Bethnal Green Ventures: a UK accelerator programme for stuff that matters

#39

Post by rokhayakebe »

I probably would apply to this programme because the founders seem to want to tackle real lasting problems: insurance, loneliness, health care prevention, etc... as opposed to an inbox optimizer. I wish YC had a branch dedicated solely to startups that have truly ambitious goals and want to actually improve the world.

Re: Bethnal Green Ventures: a UK accelerator programme for stuff that matters

#40

Post by ivoivoivo »

BGV is tackling an interesting niche- its the time when social start-ups shift from becoming a hobbby project to a serious full-time undertaking and the way I see it is that that 15k would be the start of someone going full-time on their venture. In terms of knowledge of social needs, and of social ventures, the team at BGV and the Young Foundation are doing some of the most interesting work in the UK. This programme could have a big impact on a small social venture, and a working relationship and ongoing support from them would be well worth the 6% in many cases.
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