8 ms·

Atlanta Gets Its Own Y Combinator In Shotput Ventures

28 points by vaksel 18y ago

jwilliams 18y ago
See pg's comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=528924 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=528924 "The root of the problem is that people think seed funding is regional. They think they're starting the YC of St. Louis, or wherever. Then after they get started they realize that in fact the seed firms are all drawing on the same national applicant pool, and that the default fate of the nth seed firm is not to be the YC of St. Louis, as they'd expected, but to be the YC of the nth quality bucket." Not that I know anything about this venture yet, but the regional-centric commentary immediately made me think of this comment. Edit: Seems Michael Arrington concurs: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/25/atlanta-gets-its-own-y-combinator-in-shotput-ventures/#comment-2670076 http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/25/atlanta-gets-its-own-y-...
- rjurney 18y ago
  I think Shotput is happy to draw entrepreneurs from all over the US, and this is good for our region. In general, Shotput is important because there is almost 'no such thing' as seed funding in the southeast. A typical comment at an entrepreneur's round table here would be, "get to $1 million revenue, then someone will fund you." So this is important for the growing startup ecosystem in our region.
  - jwilliams 18y ago
    I wouldn't venture to disagree - comment was mostly based on the spin of the article.
    - rjurney 18y ago
      It is disappointing to see Michael Arrington in the comments dumping on the article and the program.
- lanceweatherby 18y ago
  In what may be heresy here on HN I am going to partially disagree with PG. Regional YCs may indeed be of the nth quality bucket, but that does not necessarily doom them to failure anymore then not attending Stanford or MIT dooms a hacker to failure. The proof as they say is in the pudding. TechStars seems to be doing just fine so far. Let's see what Shotput's births before we call their babies ugly.
  - tbrooks 18y ago
    YC ignores a lot of good ideas because it's really focused on BIG ideas. YC wants to build Paypal, not 37signals. They lean toward ambitious infrastructure ideas which also have a higher failure rate. But there is a huge number of great ideas with lower risk/reward ratios that will still make stellar companies. I say bring it on... it's a great time to be in the HTML writing business. :)
    - pg 18y ago
      We'd be happy to have funded 37 Signals. We funded Wufoo, which is very much like 37 Signals, and we'd be delighted to fund more companies like that.
      - unalone 18y ago
        But Wufoo still deals with a Big Idea: namely, something that's creating a large infrastructure on the Internet. 37signals is a private, internal service: they make things that appeal to closed niches. On the other hand, Wufoo is something that's more public, in a sense. Maybe it's just a matter of what YC companies get named more than others, but the ones that immediately come to mind are big-problem companies. Reddit for finding news online. Disqus for comments. Scribd for document indexing. Wufoo for forms. There aren't as many niche sites (versus something like TechStars, which had a cooking site) - or am I just missing lots of niche YC sites?
        pclark 18y ago
        even the smallest niche can be huge.
- dbul 18y ago
  There may be truth to this, however, I think the roles of the seed funding companies remains to be seen. The Philly venture for example seems to be different in that it pairs roles to create companies. I don't think this makes sense for our team, but the Philly venture may be right for someone. It would be hugely beneficial to have a website where people sign up and indicate when and where they've applied (after the fact), maybe even indicate their beta site if it is available. Not only would we be able to see the breadth of applicants but also the history and results.
- transburgh 18y ago
  Why is the assumption that these funds get the talent based on the order in which they were launched?
  - rjurney 18y ago
    Its not that so much as valley elitism - the idea that if you aren't there, then you're not serious and are unlikely to succeed. But I agree with you. Also, don't investors back companies they understand? Doesn't this mean a variety of seed-stage programs will back different startups? Isn't this a good thing? Considering the philosophy behind YCombinator, I really don't get all the hating on the clones that happens here every time one comes up.
    - jwilliams 18y ago
      Why you reading this as hate? It's a very similar model to YC - why wouldn't there be references and comparison?
      - rjurney 18y ago
        I don't mean to say that your comment was particularly spiteful, but in every thread on a YC clone, and in the Techcrunch discussion in particular, there is much valley-hating. It gets old.
  - pg 18y ago
    They only do by default. If one were significantly different, it could do better or worse than that, depending. So far none has though.
    - ajju 18y ago
      Here's an idea for being different: -$5K to $10K goes much further in many other countries than it does in the valley and most entrepreneurs there don't have the option of moving to the valley because of visa restrictions. Potential investors there should consider this. This is one advantage some locations have over the valley.
coglethorpe 18y ago
Does Shotput Ventures use the "exploding term sheet" we were warned about?
- ajju 18y ago
  They accept applications till April 10 [1], so the answer is no. [1] http://www.shotputventures.com/program-timeline-2 http://www.shotputventures.com/program-timeline-2
vaksel 18y ago
I view all these "regional" YC knock offs as just early stage angels.
- rjurney 18y ago
  I attended their open house, and I didn't get the impression they are just early stage angels, although if thats all they are that would still be great, because there are very few of those here. Many in the investment community in the southeast have been openly hostile towards the need for more early stage capital, let alone willing to fund seed stage companies. Anyway, my impression from talking with the Shotput guys was that there was a lot of value add they were providing. I would suggest actually contacting them if you are interested, as I think you'll be surprised and impressed. Most of these guys are active advocates for our region's startups and do everything they can to mentor and open doors.
rjurney 18y ago
Dear Paul Graham, Everyone but you sucks. Allow me to explain. I either live in the valley or want to live in the valley. I idolize you and love this site. You are the smartest guy on planet earth, and anyone that copies you is pathetic because they could never be as cool as you. Who do they think they are!? Now that I've impressed you with flattery and have defeated your enemies on your behalf, I'd like to tell you about Project Tomacco. With your help, we can caffeinate tomatoes and hook every college kid on a healthy alternative to coffee. Did you know tomatoes have antioxidants that fight cancer? Thats right, we're helping to prevent cancer. We're going to change the world, Paul, one tomato at a time. Is there a way to attach a spreadsheet to a comment on hacker news? Because my projections are going to blow you away. If we get one percent of the tomato market you're going to be a very rich(er) man, Paul. Signed, Valley Hater
- ajju 18y ago
  For those who may not be able to pierce @rjurney's smoky satire, this is indeed satire. I have to agree with the spirit of what he's trying to convey in this comment: news.yc would be a more interesting community if a majority of the people didn't default to PG's opinion on everything in general (this is my anecdotal observation and might be incorrect) and YC clones outside the valley being of nth quality bracket in particular (this is a pet peeve since I live outside the valleY) without giving it some thought for themselves. In fact PG himself seems to spend quite a bit of time thinking about how the valley can be recreated elsewhere seeing how he has written about it in more than one article and says: "How hard would it be to jumpstart a silicon valley? It's fascinating to think this prize might be within the reach of so many cities." Surely trying to recreate YC outside the valley can only help?
  - rjurney 18y ago
    I definitely mean no disrespect to PG, but I tire of these 'clone' programs being dumped on in every thread about them.
    - ajju 18y ago
      Here's an anecdote about skepticism towards YC that may be somewhat instructive: In 2005 after I attended Startup School and I learnt about YCombinator, I mentioned it to a well known and successful entrepreneur (who I know knows pg). The first thing he said: "Taking 5% for 5-10 grand is rape". He went on to clarify he didn't think pg is a bad guy but... Since then, startup after startup has shown how much value the YC program has provided in exchange for that 5% stake to the point where I bet a majority of young first time entrepreneurs today consider applying to YC. My point is the same as @lanceweatherby 's. Let's wait for the these new funds to get some results before we judge them.
wayt 18y ago
I'm one of the Shotput Ventures partners, and I'm looking forward to a great first "class" in Atlanta. We've got an interesting group of partners, with recent business hits in software and web svcs, complementary skills and backgrounds, and good networks. Check out our partners. I think we'll be excellent mentors for our hacker teams, primarily because we love what we're doing and want to help young hackers to build stuff people want and to dare greatly. We appreciate all that YC has done to innovate and evangelize the business model. I'm an especially huge fan of pg's inspirational writing and simple writing style. There are plenty of talented and determined hackers out there who need our mentoring and connections, and it's going to be a ton of fun working with them.
- unalone 18y ago
  A slight criticism, looking at your application: asking me to fill out a PDF resume for a founding team is irritating and time-consuming. Is there anything that a PDF form can give you that you don't get from having applicants fill out relevant information into a text box? Drafting a PDF means that now I've got to spend time making my typography look pretty, getting things organized in a nice way, and generally spending more time on presentation than I'm putting into just conveying information. One of the things I loved about the YC application was that it didn't require external files - excepting the Posterous video, which is a supersimple email-and-receive-link system.
quizbiz 18y ago
Got accepted into Georgia Tech just the other day. And this news made my day today. Is that sad?
- unalone 18y ago
  Not at all! It's great to have new, interesting people flooding to your location.
- wayt 18y ago
  Congrats. GaTech is a great school with really smart students. But what's most important is what YOU do at GT. I hope you will take full advantage of this great opportunity, enjoy learning, and keep an open mind and an open heart. Don't worry about whether or not others think you are "cool." Have the confidence to love yourself and to be a beacon of loving-kindness toward others. Congrats!
  - quizbiz 18y ago
    are you kidding me? I have to be cool. :P

28 points by vaksel 18y ago

See pg's comment: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=528924 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=528924 "The root of the problem is that people think seed funding is regional. They think they're starting the YC of St. Louis, or wherever. Then after they get started they realize that in fact the seed firms are all drawing on the same national applicant pool, and that the default fate of the nth seed firm is not to be the YC of St. Louis, as they'd expected, but to be the YC of the nth quality bucket." Not that I know anything about this venture yet, but the regional-centric commentary immediately made me think of this comment. Edit: Seems Michael Arrington concurs: http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/25/atlanta-gets-its-own-y-combinator-in-shotput-ventures/#comment-2670076 http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/03/25/atlanta-gets-its-own-y-...

rjurney 18y ago
I think Shotput is happy to draw entrepreneurs from all over the US, and this is good for our region. In general, Shotput is important because there is almost 'no such thing' as seed funding in the southeast. A typical comment at an entrepreneur's round table here would be, "get to $1 million revenue, then someone will fund you." So this is important for the growing startup ecosystem in our region.
- jwilliams 18y ago
  I wouldn't venture to disagree - comment was mostly based on the spin of the article.
  - rjurney 18y ago
    It is disappointing to see Michael Arrington in the comments dumping on the article and the program.
lanceweatherby 18y ago
In what may be heresy here on HN I am going to partially disagree with PG. Regional YCs may indeed be of the nth quality bucket, but that does not necessarily doom them to failure anymore then not attending Stanford or MIT dooms a hacker to failure. The proof as they say is in the pudding. TechStars seems to be doing just fine so far. Let's see what Shotput's births before we call their babies ugly.
- tbrooks 18y ago
  YC ignores a lot of good ideas because it's really focused on BIG ideas. YC wants to build Paypal, not 37signals. They lean toward ambitious infrastructure ideas which also have a higher failure rate. But there is a huge number of great ideas with lower risk/reward ratios that will still make stellar companies. I say bring it on... it's a great time to be in the HTML writing business. :)
  - pg 18y ago
    We'd be happy to have funded 37 Signals. We funded Wufoo, which is very much like 37 Signals, and we'd be delighted to fund more companies like that.
    - unalone 18y ago
      But Wufoo still deals with a Big Idea: namely, something that's creating a large infrastructure on the Internet. 37signals is a private, internal service: they make things that appeal to closed niches. On the other hand, Wufoo is something that's more public, in a sense. Maybe it's just a matter of what YC companies get named more than others, but the ones that immediately come to mind are big-problem companies. Reddit for finding news online. Disqus for comments. Scribd for document indexing. Wufoo for forms. There aren't as many niche sites (versus something like TechStars, which had a cooking site) - or am I just missing lots of niche YC sites?
      - pclark 18y ago
        even the smallest niche can be huge.
dbul 18y ago
There may be truth to this, however, I think the roles of the seed funding companies remains to be seen. The Philly venture for example seems to be different in that it pairs roles to create companies. I don't think this makes sense for our team, but the Philly venture may be right for someone. It would be hugely beneficial to have a website where people sign up and indicate when and where they've applied (after the fact), maybe even indicate their beta site if it is available. Not only would we be able to see the breadth of applicants but also the history and results.
transburgh 18y ago
Why is the assumption that these funds get the talent based on the order in which they were launched?
- rjurney 18y ago
  Its not that so much as valley elitism - the idea that if you aren't there, then you're not serious and are unlikely to succeed. But I agree with you. Also, don't investors back companies they understand? Doesn't this mean a variety of seed-stage programs will back different startups? Isn't this a good thing? Considering the philosophy behind YCombinator, I really don't get all the hating on the clones that happens here every time one comes up.
  - jwilliams 18y ago
    Why you reading this as hate? It's a very similar model to YC - why wouldn't there be references and comparison?
    - rjurney 18y ago
      I don't mean to say that your comment was particularly spiteful, but in every thread on a YC clone, and in the Techcrunch discussion in particular, there is much valley-hating. It gets old.
- pg 18y ago
  They only do by default. If one were significantly different, it could do better or worse than that, depending. So far none has though.
  - ajju 18y ago
    Here's an idea for being different: -$5K to $10K goes much further in many other countries than it does in the valley and most entrepreneurs there don't have the option of moving to the valley because of visa restrictions. Potential investors there should consider this. This is one advantage some locations have over the valley.

coglethorpe 18y ago

Does Shotput Ventures use the "exploding term sheet" we were warned about?

ajju 18y ago
They accept applications till April 10 [1], so the answer is no. [1] http://www.shotputventures.com/program-timeline-2 http://www.shotputventures.com/program-timeline-2

vaksel 18y ago

I view all these "regional" YC knock offs as just early stage angels.

rjurney 18y ago
I attended their open house, and I didn't get the impression they are just early stage angels, although if thats all they are that would still be great, because there are very few of those here. Many in the investment community in the southeast have been openly hostile towards the need for more early stage capital, let alone willing to fund seed stage companies. Anyway, my impression from talking with the Shotput guys was that there was a lot of value add they were providing. I would suggest actually contacting them if you are interested, as I think you'll be surprised and impressed. Most of these guys are active advocates for our region's startups and do everything they can to mentor and open doors.

rjurney 18y ago

Dear Paul Graham, Everyone but you sucks. Allow me to explain. I either live in the valley or want to live in the valley. I idolize you and love this site. You are the smartest guy on planet earth, and anyone that copies you is pathetic because they could never be as cool as you. Who do they think they are!? Now that I've impressed you with flattery and have defeated your enemies on your behalf, I'd like to tell you about Project Tomacco. With your help, we can caffeinate tomatoes and hook every college kid on a healthy alternative to coffee. Did you know tomatoes have antioxidants that fight cancer? Thats right, we're helping to prevent cancer. We're going to change the world, Paul, one tomato at a time. Is there a way to attach a spreadsheet to a comment on hacker news? Because my projections are going to blow you away. If we get one percent of the tomato market you're going to be a very rich(er) man, Paul. Signed, Valley Hater

ajju 18y ago
For those who may not be able to pierce @rjurney's smoky satire, this is indeed satire. I have to agree with the spirit of what he's trying to convey in this comment: news.yc would be a more interesting community if a majority of the people didn't default to PG's opinion on everything in general (this is my anecdotal observation and might be incorrect) and YC clones outside the valley being of nth quality bracket in particular (this is a pet peeve since I live outside the valleY) without giving it some thought for themselves. In fact PG himself seems to spend quite a bit of time thinking about how the valley can be recreated elsewhere seeing how he has written about it in more than one article and says: "How hard would it be to jumpstart a silicon valley? It's fascinating to think this prize might be within the reach of so many cities." Surely trying to recreate YC outside the valley can only help?
- rjurney 18y ago
  I definitely mean no disrespect to PG, but I tire of these 'clone' programs being dumped on in every thread about them.
  - ajju 18y ago
    Here's an anecdote about skepticism towards YC that may be somewhat instructive: In 2005 after I attended Startup School and I learnt about YCombinator, I mentioned it to a well known and successful entrepreneur (who I know knows pg). The first thing he said: "Taking 5% for 5-10 grand is rape". He went on to clarify he didn't think pg is a bad guy but... Since then, startup after startup has shown how much value the YC program has provided in exchange for that 5% stake to the point where I bet a majority of young first time entrepreneurs today consider applying to YC. My point is the same as @lanceweatherby 's. Let's wait for the these new funds to get some results before we judge them.

wayt 18y ago

I'm one of the Shotput Ventures partners, and I'm looking forward to a great first "class" in Atlanta. We've got an interesting group of partners, with recent business hits in software and web svcs, complementary skills and backgrounds, and good networks. Check out our partners. I think we'll be excellent mentors for our hacker teams, primarily because we love what we're doing and want to help young hackers to build stuff people want and to dare greatly. We appreciate all that YC has done to innovate and evangelize the business model. I'm an especially huge fan of pg's inspirational writing and simple writing style. There are plenty of talented and determined hackers out there who need our mentoring and connections, and it's going to be a ton of fun working with them.

unalone 18y ago
A slight criticism, looking at your application: asking me to fill out a PDF resume for a founding team is irritating and time-consuming. Is there anything that a PDF form can give you that you don't get from having applicants fill out relevant information into a text box? Drafting a PDF means that now I've got to spend time making my typography look pretty, getting things organized in a nice way, and generally spending more time on presentation than I'm putting into just conveying information. One of the things I loved about the YC application was that it didn't require external files - excepting the Posterous video, which is a supersimple email-and-receive-link system.

quizbiz 18y ago

Got accepted into Georgia Tech just the other day. And this news made my day today. Is that sad?

unalone 18y ago
Not at all! It's great to have new, interesting people flooding to your location.
wayt 18y ago
Congrats. GaTech is a great school with really smart students. But what's most important is what YOU do at GT. I hope you will take full advantage of this great opportunity, enjoy learning, and keep an open mind and an open heart. Don't worry about whether or not others think you are "cool." Have the confidence to love yourself and to be a beacon of loving-kindness toward others. Congrats!
- quizbiz 18y ago
  are you kidding me? I have to be cool. :P