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"each startup receives $40.000 USD subsidy (no equity). This is a huge deal for me as you usually have to give a lot of equity in seed rounds for relative small

by smoody 15y ago

"each startup receives $40.000 USD subsidy (no equity). This is a huge deal for me as you usually have to give a lot of equity in seed rounds for relative small amounts of capital. With this program you don't give away any equity, which should make most founders happy ;-)" it's not a bad deal but you're completely missing the point of taking money from american or european 'bootstrap' companies: it's about the connections, the press, bonding with a group of entrepreneurs who will eventually become captains of industry, etc. i would argue that companies that launch via YCombinator are also getting their money for free because, on launch day, their valuations go up more than the percentage paul et al. takes. as for living in Chile for a while... i'm all for that!

alabut 15y ago
"it's not a bad deal but you're completely missing the point of taking money from american or european 'bootstrap' companies" Maybe. But they're not mutually exclusive and maybe the Chilean fund even helps with the startup incubators, because you can apply to something like YC or Techstars afterwards if you still have 100% equity to give away. Plus the good programs have gotten so competitive that it's harder to get in with just an idea, it's better to show traction and customer validation first. As someone that interviewed for YC this week and didn't make it in, I can say that going to the Chilean program appeals to me for exactly those reasons, since I'd be able to reapply to YC after having worked on my project (stacyplease.com) full-time rather than continuing to burn nights and weekends.
bugsy 15y ago
The ineffable value of "connections" is always brought up in conjunction with selling your equity for a pittance, or with paying $250,000 for an MBA from a brand name school. If you need connections with people that have nothing to do with your domain to succeed, revisit your business model. We have plenty of connections that we have developed. Not phoney connections to business parasites that want a cut in return for magic beans.

by smoody 15y ago

alabut 15y ago

"it's not a bad deal but you're completely missing the point of taking money from american or european 'bootstrap' companies" Maybe. But they're not mutually exclusive and maybe the Chilean fund even helps with the startup incubators, because you can apply to something like YC or Techstars afterwards if you still have 100% equity to give away. Plus the good programs have gotten so competitive that it's harder to get in with just an idea, it's better to show traction and customer validation first. As someone that interviewed for YC this week and didn't make it in, I can say that going to the Chilean program appeals to me for exactly those reasons, since I'd be able to reapply to YC after having worked on my project (stacyplease.com) full-time rather than continuing to burn nights and weekends.

bugsy 15y ago

The ineffable value of "connections" is always brought up in conjunction with selling your equity for a pittance, or with paying $250,000 for an MBA from a brand name school. If you need connections with people that have nothing to do with your domain to succeed, revisit your business model. We have plenty of connections that we have developed. Not phoney connections to business parasites that want a cut in return for magic beans.