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this kind of thing was why i moved from the UK to SV. the british culture is closed, there's a constant search for ways to exclude the majority for the benefit
by Harj 17y ago
this kind of thing was why i moved from the UK to SV. the british culture is closed, there's a constant search for ways to exclude the majority for the benefit of an 'elite' minority. i found SV had no concept of the elite. could you ever imagine this kind of scene happening at YC?
there have been huge strides in the Uk scene since I left in '07 and it saddens me to see something like this happen.
- daleharvey 17y agothis is exactly what happens at YC, I dont think anyone has demanded that they be allowed to sit in the yc interviews and participate in choosing the yc teams. I think the confusion is over what the last seedcamp day is about, it isnt demo day, it is the interview process, seedcamp have just made the interview process more transparent and open to help others and not just the teams that get funded, which has obviously introduced some confusion. Seedcamp holds 2 more open demo days along the same lines of YC, one at the middle and one at the end of the cycle
- Harj 17y agothis is exactly what happens at YC, I dont think anyone has demanded that they be allowed to sit in the yc interviews and participate in choosing the yc teams. so you're saying that there's no selection process before the companies stand up and pitch on this day? so then, in theory, anyone who wants to do a startup could turn up and pitch? unless that's the case, then the comparison to yc doesn't stand up.
- daleharvey 17y agoyes there is an extra screening stage in the process, but again the final day is not a demo day, it is when seedcamp decides what teams to invest in. I dont see how any can demand to be a part of seedcamps (or ycs) selection process.
- wavesplash 17y agoFrom what I understand, that's not the YC model at all. YC takes a bet on the team w/ zero prior coaching and the company can turn down YC - no obligation. If the company says yes, then dinners, coaching, etc. commence. Clean, simple, no misalignment. It seems that Seedcamp is goofy by front loading the deliverables but won't commit to the investment. That's awkward for the mentors and the companies that are accepted/obliged to take whatever deal is given to them. That feels like a poor place to negotiate vaulation from, and a major misalignment for the non-investing mentors.
- c3o 17y agoSaul Klein: "Y Combinator, by virtue of being in the valley, has a built-in network, a built-in infrastructure. In Europe, we got none of that ... We have a real problem of fragmentation, so Seedcamp was really trying to solve for that issue as much as anything else, bringing people together in a cohesive network." http://tr.im/zLzH http://tr.im/zLzH That's why there are lots of networking and mentoring events (local Mini-Seedcamps, Seedcamp week) up front that many dozens of teams profit from, even though only 5-7 receive an investment. I'm sure the selected teams aren't actually legally obliged to take whatever deal is offered, at least it wasn't at all that way for us last year.
- plinkplonk 17y ago"I'm sure the selected teams aren't actually legally obliged to take whatever deal is offered, at least it wasn't at all that way for us last year." Can someone confirm this? It seems as if this is a recent change.
- alain94040 17y agoI'm pretty sure that you can't sign away such rights. It's very simple: as CEO, don't sign any more papers. What is SeedCamp going to do? Force a financing on you? I don't think so. It's ok for them to strongly warn you that you shouldn't approach them if you are not interested in taking their money. Why waste their time? On the other hand, cold feet is always acceptable. It's called a covenant of good faith.