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Not really. TechStars is a franchise model, Cohen built a replicable model for seed accelerators while YC is largely driven by Paul Graham personally. You could
by ig1 15y ago
Not really. TechStars is a franchise model, Cohen built a replicable model for seed accelerators while YC is largely driven by Paul Graham personally. You could remove Cohen from TechStars and TechStars would be the same, you couldn't remove PG from YC without changing it's nature substantially.
TechStars was obviously derived from YC, but it's no more a clone than McDonalds was a clone of existing Burger bars.
- staunch 15y agoThey copied everything about YC as it originally existed down to the application form. If that doesn't count as a clone nothing does. TechStars has only recently started trying to replicate their model on a wide scale. They're very far from proving that they can. The fact that TS would be just as good without the founder isn't necessarily a positive sign.
- davidw 15y ago> The fact that TS would be just as good without the founder isn't necessarily a positive sign. If they have 'productized' the process so that they get, rather than one charismatic, super smart guy like PG, a series of founder types who go in and talk and mentor their startups, perhaps it can be made to "scale" to some degree, rather than be a program based exclusively on the brilliance of one individual. Although, to be fair, YC seems to be taking on new people as well.