4 ms·

Heh, I feel like this is a direct shot at 500: (Fairly so. They seem to offer a blurry line on what they consider "portfolio" sometimes, not going out of their

Heh, I feel like this is a direct shot at 500: (Fairly so. They seem to offer a blurry line on what they consider "portfolio" sometimes, not going out of their way to differentiate accelerator vs later stage investments) >>(it’s important to distinguish between companies that went through the accelerator and cases where the investment firm made a small late-stage investment in the company)

_sentient 11y ago
Also a shot at Techstars, who have been known to lump in late-stage fund investments with their accelerator returns. Writing a tiny check into Uber's B-round has nothing to do with their accelerator program, for example, and it's disingenuous when they conflate the two. I should mention that they have been doing a better job distinguishing this lately.
- jedc 11y ago
  Actually, David Cohen wrote a check in Uber's angel round - http://davidgcohen.com/2014/07/14/the-ponys-lucky-horseshoe/ http://davidgcohen.com/2014/07/14/the-ponys-lucky-horseshoe/ And the list of Techstars companies shows only the stats of companies that went through a Techstars accelerator - http://www.techstars.com/companies/ http://www.techstars.com/companies/ Non-accelerator company investments (Uber, Twilio, etc) only appear on the Techstars fund page - http://www.techstars.com/venture-capital-fund/ http://www.techstars.com/venture-capital-fund/ Disclosure - I work for Techstars
  - nikcub 11y ago
    For those following along at home, that $50k is likely worth around $250M today. Early Uber investors are sitting on one of the largest ever venture returns.
    - jedc 11y ago
      And the first Techstars Ventures fund was a $5million fund that invested in angel rounds of Uber, Twilio, SendGrid, GroupMe, and more - http://www.feld.com/archives/2015/01/raise-150-million-vc-fund.html http://www.feld.com/archives/2015/01/raise-150-million-vc-fu... As Brad writes, that fund is "one of the best performing funds I’ve ever invested in". :)
  - _sentient 11y ago
    Ah, thanks for clarifying what round that was, and kudos to David! Like I said, you guys have been doing a better job distinguishing between your accelerator and venture portfolio, although that hasn't always been the case. In a similar vein, what are your thoughts on Techstars calling themselves "the #1 startup accelerator in the world" and claiming "the best results" for their program? Given that YC's performance is roughly ~12X yours, this does seem to be somewhat of a misstatement. That is, unless you're claiming to be #1 for some arbitrary metric that isn't actually the benchmark for your industry (which to be clear, is the market cap of the companies you fund). I think Techstars is clearly a great program, but stuff like that just strikes me as disingenuous. :)
    - jedc 11y ago
      I personally (speaking for myself) never cared for "the #1 startup accelerator" wording, and now that Techstars has built a small marketing team you'll have noticed that we talk about Techstars a lot differently - http://www.techstars.com/ http://www.techstars.com/ :) BTW, the #1 thing came from the first ranking of accelerators back in 2011 - http://tech.co/top-15-us-startup-accelerators-ranked-2011-05 http://tech.co/top-15-us-startup-accelerators-ranked-2011-05 (I believe they used a mixture of financial results and founder ratings, but I'm not sure.) Yep, YC companies have raised a lot more money and have a higher total valuation, but YC also has a two-year head start! Based on any reasonable metric, Techstars has better results than any other accelerator - http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators PS - my favorite story about how Techstars directly helped to change the course of one company is here - http://www.wired.com/2015/12/how-bb-8a-rolling-robot-in-a-galaxy-far-far-awaychanged-everything-for-sphero/ http://www.wired.com/2015/12/how-bb-8a-rolling-robot-in-a-ga...
jedc 11y ago
If you want to see the companies that went through the 500startups accelerator, just go here: http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/view?acceleratorid=2001 http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/view?acceleratorid=2001 (500startups does mix the two on their portfolio page; Seed-DB only shows accelerator companies)

_sentient 11y ago

Also a shot at Techstars, who have been known to lump in late-stage fund investments with their accelerator returns. Writing a tiny check into Uber's B-round has nothing to do with their accelerator program, for example, and it's disingenuous when they conflate the two. I should mention that they have been doing a better job distinguishing this lately.

jedc 11y ago
Actually, David Cohen wrote a check in Uber's angel round - http://davidgcohen.com/2014/07/14/the-ponys-lucky-horseshoe/ http://davidgcohen.com/2014/07/14/the-ponys-lucky-horseshoe/ And the list of Techstars companies shows only the stats of companies that went through a Techstars accelerator - http://www.techstars.com/companies/ http://www.techstars.com/companies/ Non-accelerator company investments (Uber, Twilio, etc) only appear on the Techstars fund page - http://www.techstars.com/venture-capital-fund/ http://www.techstars.com/venture-capital-fund/ Disclosure - I work for Techstars
- nikcub 11y ago
  For those following along at home, that $50k is likely worth around $250M today. Early Uber investors are sitting on one of the largest ever venture returns.
  - jedc 11y ago
    And the first Techstars Ventures fund was a $5million fund that invested in angel rounds of Uber, Twilio, SendGrid, GroupMe, and more - http://www.feld.com/archives/2015/01/raise-150-million-vc-fund.html http://www.feld.com/archives/2015/01/raise-150-million-vc-fu... As Brad writes, that fund is "one of the best performing funds I’ve ever invested in". :)
- _sentient 11y ago
  Ah, thanks for clarifying what round that was, and kudos to David! Like I said, you guys have been doing a better job distinguishing between your accelerator and venture portfolio, although that hasn't always been the case. In a similar vein, what are your thoughts on Techstars calling themselves "the #1 startup accelerator in the world" and claiming "the best results" for their program? Given that YC's performance is roughly ~12X yours, this does seem to be somewhat of a misstatement. That is, unless you're claiming to be #1 for some arbitrary metric that isn't actually the benchmark for your industry (which to be clear, is the market cap of the companies you fund). I think Techstars is clearly a great program, but stuff like that just strikes me as disingenuous. :)
  - jedc 11y ago
    I personally (speaking for myself) never cared for "the #1 startup accelerator" wording, and now that Techstars has built a small marketing team you'll have noticed that we talk about Techstars a lot differently - http://www.techstars.com/ http://www.techstars.com/ :) BTW, the #1 thing came from the first ranking of accelerators back in 2011 - http://tech.co/top-15-us-startup-accelerators-ranked-2011-05 http://tech.co/top-15-us-startup-accelerators-ranked-2011-05 (I believe they used a mixture of financial results and founder ratings, but I'm not sure.) Yep, YC companies have raised a lot more money and have a higher total valuation, but YC also has a two-year head start! Based on any reasonable metric, Techstars has better results than any other accelerator - http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators PS - my favorite story about how Techstars directly helped to change the course of one company is here - http://www.wired.com/2015/12/how-bb-8a-rolling-robot-in-a-galaxy-far-far-awaychanged-everything-for-sphero/ http://www.wired.com/2015/12/how-bb-8a-rolling-robot-in-a-ga...

jedc 11y ago

If you want to see the companies that went through the 500startups accelerator, just go here: http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/view?acceleratorid=2001 http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators/view?acceleratorid=2001 (500startups does mix the two on their portfolio page; Seed-DB only shows accelerator companies)