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I think it would make sense at some point to do this for financial services / fintech. I think there is infrastructure that is very specific to fintech that som

I think it would make sense at some point to do this for financial services / fintech. I think there is infrastructure that is very specific to fintech that some accelerator out there will nail at some point and it will help them become the default go-to for aspiring fintech companies. Making commercial relationships with banks (money transfer, payments, account opening, lending balance sheet, etc), institutional compliance knowledge, etc would actually "accelerate" an aspiring fintech company in a way nobody really has. I think YC has the pull to actually do it.

mikeleeorg 11y ago
I agree. I was a part of IK12 and there is a lot of industry-specific knowledge, activities, and connections that a vertical can offer that a general accelerator cannot. For instance, IK12 has a "Teacher Day" that's similar to Demo Day, except startup founders present to a room full of teachers and school administrators instead of investors, with the intent of getting advisors, feedback, and even pilot customers. It also doubles as good practice for Demo Day, though the pitch is very different. I could see similar industry-specific verticals playing out well in YC too, especially as it continues to grow.
- timv 11y ago
  I previous worked for an EdTech startup that didn't go through an accelerator (but did have some great advisors) While it won't necessarily be the right fit for every company, I definitely see the value in having an education specialists within an accelerator, and merging IK12 into YC allows founders to pick an accelerator that is simultaneously strong across the whole startup space as well as the edtech niche. The alternative is that you feel like you might need to made a trade off on education-focus vs general expertise/ecosystem. My experience was that succeeding in EdTech requires so many of the same things that other startups need, but it has quite niche requirements around how to build a business in that sector. Dealing with school boards can be hard, getting busy administrators to notice you, and take the time understand the your value you bring. Understanding how the school year needs to fit into your sales cycle, etc. Now, all of that is true of other sectors. Fintech is different to Medtech. Software is different to hardware. B2B is different to B2C. But it means that there is immense value in getting advice that is specific to your particular sector, without thinking that your sector necessarily plays by totally different rules. In the end if you're aiming for VC money then the pitch guidelines are much the same. The issues and questions around term sheets, hiring, infrastructure, UX, culture, etc aren't so different that you need (or want) to be in an isolated accelerator, just that you want to know that your accelerator has good skills and experience in your space.

mikeleeorg 11y ago

I agree. I was a part of IK12 and there is a lot of industry-specific knowledge, activities, and connections that a vertical can offer that a general accelerator cannot. For instance, IK12 has a "Teacher Day" that's similar to Demo Day, except startup founders present to a room full of teachers and school administrators instead of investors, with the intent of getting advisors, feedback, and even pilot customers. It also doubles as good practice for Demo Day, though the pitch is very different. I could see similar industry-specific verticals playing out well in YC too, especially as it continues to grow.

timv 11y ago
I previous worked for an EdTech startup that didn't go through an accelerator (but did have some great advisors) While it won't necessarily be the right fit for every company, I definitely see the value in having an education specialists within an accelerator, and merging IK12 into YC allows founders to pick an accelerator that is simultaneously strong across the whole startup space as well as the edtech niche. The alternative is that you feel like you might need to made a trade off on education-focus vs general expertise/ecosystem. My experience was that succeeding in EdTech requires so many of the same things that other startups need, but it has quite niche requirements around how to build a business in that sector. Dealing with school boards can be hard, getting busy administrators to notice you, and take the time understand the your value you bring. Understanding how the school year needs to fit into your sales cycle, etc. Now, all of that is true of other sectors. Fintech is different to Medtech. Software is different to hardware. B2B is different to B2C. But it means that there is immense value in getting advice that is specific to your particular sector, without thinking that your sector necessarily plays by totally different rules. In the end if you're aiming for VC money then the pitch guidelines are much the same. The issues and questions around term sheets, hiring, infrastructure, UX, culture, etc aren't so different that you need (or want) to be in an isolated accelerator, just that you want to know that your accelerator has good skills and experience in your space.