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Why do young founders participate in these accelerators? Aside from the (arguably small) amount of money, I think that participation gives them the feeling of "

by lpsz 13y ago

Why do young founders participate in these accelerators? Aside from the (arguably small) amount of money, I think that participation gives them the feeling of "permission" to actually create the business they want. I wonder how many realize that they could build the same business just as well on their own (assuming proper willpower, and all.)

salman89 13y ago
Are you saying that these accelerators are not increasing the founders' chance of success?
- ucacian 13y ago
  He is simply saying that nobody can stop you from starting a business.
6cxs2hd6 13y ago
Although not a quick read, the go-to analysis of this is "Entrepreneurs Are the New Labor" [^1]. On this theory, the balance of power has shifted to investors, who prefer founders from an institution. And perhaps a certain generation of young adults welcomes this sort of structure more than others might. Which isn't to say that incubators don't have great value for many people. They do. But they're not the only way to go about starting many businesses, you're correct. [^1]: http://www.forbes.com/sites/venkateshrao/2012/09/03/entrepreneurs-are-the-new-labor-part-i/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/venkateshrao/2012/09/03/entrepre...
- robin2 13y ago
  TL;DR? See http://www.slideshare.net/vgururao/usc-annenberg http://www.slideshare.net/vgururao/usc-annenberg (slide 7 in particular) On a related point, am I the only one who notices the language coming out of the Silicon Valley ecosystem (the war for talent, the need to identify star performers) and is reminded of Malcolm Gladwell's assessment of Enron's corporate culture (http://gladwell.com/the-talent-myth/ http://gladwell.com/the-talent-myth/)?
petenixey 13y ago
Being around other high quality founders. Having done YC I would say that that is by far the best takeaway from it and I think every other alum would say the same. Good quality founders give you access to experience and perspective that you simply cannot find elsewhere and a value that no amount of blog reading can substitute. An incubator is definitively only as good as the founders in it (which presents an obvious catch 22) and EF has managed to attract some incredibly high quality applicants. The EF program is too young for a large number of those applicants to yet have become experienced founders per-se but in terms of quality of people and focus on engineering, EF is streets ahead of anything else I've seen in London. FWIW it's also far, far harder to build a quality business solo than it is if you surround yourself with other people who are also doing well and pushing you to do better. You are as they say the average of your five closest friends.

by lpsz 13y ago

salman89 13y ago

Are you saying that these accelerators are not increasing the founders' chance of success?

ucacian 13y ago
He is simply saying that nobody can stop you from starting a business.

6cxs2hd6 13y ago

Although not a quick read, the go-to analysis of this is "Entrepreneurs Are the New Labor" [^1]. On this theory, the balance of power has shifted to investors, who prefer founders from an institution. And perhaps a certain generation of young adults welcomes this sort of structure more than others might. Which isn't to say that incubators don't have great value for many people. They do. But they're not the only way to go about starting many businesses, you're correct. [^1]: http://www.forbes.com/sites/venkateshrao/2012/09/03/entrepreneurs-are-the-new-labor-part-i/ http://www.forbes.com/sites/venkateshrao/2012/09/03/entrepre...

robin2 13y ago
TL;DR? See http://www.slideshare.net/vgururao/usc-annenberg http://www.slideshare.net/vgururao/usc-annenberg (slide 7 in particular) On a related point, am I the only one who notices the language coming out of the Silicon Valley ecosystem (the war for talent, the need to identify star performers) and is reminded of Malcolm Gladwell's assessment of Enron's corporate culture (http://gladwell.com/the-talent-myth/ http://gladwell.com/the-talent-myth/)?

petenixey 13y ago

Being around other high quality founders. Having done YC I would say that that is by far the best takeaway from it and I think every other alum would say the same. Good quality founders give you access to experience and perspective that you simply cannot find elsewhere and a value that no amount of blog reading can substitute. An incubator is definitively only as good as the founders in it (which presents an obvious catch 22) and EF has managed to attract some incredibly high quality applicants. The EF program is too young for a large number of those applicants to yet have become experienced founders per-se but in terms of quality of people and focus on engineering, EF is streets ahead of anything else I've seen in London. FWIW it's also far, far harder to build a quality business solo than it is if you surround yourself with other people who are also doing well and pushing you to do better. You are as they say the average of your five closest friends.