Hey Matt, nice to see you chiming in. Appreciate the thoughts.
Ah more MN Nice.
You say "You are left funding founders not dedicated enough to their startups to move and give their startups the best chance." Interpreted another way: everyone not smart enough or driven enough to move to the Valley we'll be stuck with. Second raters.
No interpretation needed. I said dedicated enough. You stated they weren't smart enough or driven enough.
But you're missing the point: Is this pool still good enough? In the pool of 5,000 rejected YC and TS applicants per year are there any winners? We think so. We think there are a lot. Chicago is a far cry from SV or NYC yet a full half of Accelerate Labs' last class went on to raise an impressive angel round. 50% follow on funding is nothing to sneeze at no matter how you measure it. Most accelerator programs cross their fingers for that.*
Geography does not dictate success. If so, Phoenix would have more successful incubators than Boulder.
You say "Thanks to Angel List you don't have to pay an accelerator for access". You just made raising a round leveraging AL sound really easy. You've found success with it -- is it really that easy? But even so, how do you think companies that are a tad too early for that going to maximize their chances of getting to that point? A Pedal Brain c. 2009?
It is that easy. If you can't get to the point of a prototype, you shouldn't be funded. If you can't convince someone to work for equity/options to get you to a prototype, you shouldn't be funded.
You bring up good points, and I think that they lead to the fact we appear to be "just another YC". Stay tuned. This is just our first class (what we call a cycle). In 2012 and beyond we'll be focusing much more on niche cycles. Ones that are absolutely perfect for this ecosystem. See this year merely as our test drive, but we know we're not perfect. Factor that in before you short us into the ground. =)
Do the startups applying this year and giving you 6% of their founder shares understand it's just a test drive this year?
You ask: "Do the startups applying this year and giving you 6% of their founder shares understand it's just a test drive this year?"
We're not going anywhere, nor will our support, nor will our mentors. We may change the focus of our classes (although we haven't decided yet) but nothing changes for our startups this August. They still receive massive value from us and will continue to long after they leave the nest.
Ah more MN Nice.
You say "You are left funding founders not dedicated enough to their startups to move and give their startups the best chance." Interpreted another way: everyone not smart enough or driven enough to move to the Valley we'll be stuck with. Second raters.
No interpretation needed. I said dedicated enough. You stated they weren't smart enough or driven enough.
But you're missing the point: Is this pool still good enough? In the pool of 5,000 rejected YC and TS applicants per year are there any winners? We think so. We think there are a lot. Chicago is a far cry from SV or NYC yet a full half of Accelerate Labs' last class went on to raise an impressive angel round. 50% follow on funding is nothing to sneeze at no matter how you measure it. Most accelerator programs cross their fingers for that.*
Geography does not dictate success. If so, Phoenix would have more successful incubators than Boulder.
You say "Thanks to Angel List you don't have to pay an accelerator for access". You just made raising a round leveraging AL sound really easy. You've found success with it -- is it really that easy? But even so, how do you think companies that are a tad too early for that going to maximize their chances of getting to that point? A Pedal Brain c. 2009?
It is that easy. If you can't get to the point of a prototype, you shouldn't be funded. If you can't convince someone to work for equity/options to get you to a prototype, you shouldn't be funded.
You bring up good points, and I think that they lead to the fact we appear to be "just another YC". Stay tuned. This is just our first class (what we call a cycle). In 2012 and beyond we'll be focusing much more on niche cycles. Ones that are absolutely perfect for this ecosystem. See this year merely as our test drive, but we know we're not perfect. Factor that in before you short us into the ground. =)
Do the startups applying this year and giving you 6% of their founder shares understand it's just a test drive this year?