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Congratulations. Today you figured out that startup accelerators, incubators, hubs, conferences and hackathons are just businesses trying to make money out of y

by mrcold 12y ago

Congratulations. Today you figured out that startup accelerators, incubators, hubs, conferences and hackathons are just businesses trying to make money out of your enthusiasm and efforts. They don't do it out of the goodness of their hearts. They do it to turn a profit. To answer your question, some of them take equity and others take cash. Either way, you're getting screwed. Unless, of course, you just keep finding investors to pour money into it. If that's your objective, the price is usually worth it.

cj 12y ago
I started 2 companies through YC and Techstars and strongly disagree with this. Both were incredibly valuable and well worth the equity for us. Edit: I didn't mean to say that all accelerators are worth it, but I disagree with the sweeping generalization that all accelerators are screwing their companies.
- ilghiro 12y ago
  Looks like you're based in the US. In the UK making sure you don't fritter away SEIS money is enormously important. Effectively you have an £150k allocation up to which investors can claim 50% relief in the form of income tax deductions (plus many other great things). Whatever reason the accelerator is doing it for (whether good or bad for them) is bad for the company if it's losing some of it's allocation without seeing the money. A lot of early stage investors won't touch a non-SEIS deal. Edit: Also for every YC/Techstars/500 there's a 100 "incubators" that overcharge and underdeliver.
- solve 12y ago
  Don't do that. It's spreading the myth that these lower-tier accelerators are trying to do things the same way as the top-tier accelerators. That is extremely not the case, too often. Many times it's the equivalent of used car salesman / real estate broker type sales people - who are good at selling themselves to people with money and love to squeeze the most out of negotiations just for fun, with no clue or regard for the tech startups. Wish I was exaggerating.
- pskittle 12y ago
  could you talk about your experiences with each and how different or similar they are?

by mrcold 12y ago

cj 12y ago

I started 2 companies through YC and Techstars and strongly disagree with this. Both were incredibly valuable and well worth the equity for us. Edit: I didn't mean to say that all accelerators are worth it, but I disagree with the sweeping generalization that all accelerators are screwing their companies.

ilghiro 12y ago
Looks like you're based in the US. In the UK making sure you don't fritter away SEIS money is enormously important. Effectively you have an £150k allocation up to which investors can claim 50% relief in the form of income tax deductions (plus many other great things). Whatever reason the accelerator is doing it for (whether good or bad for them) is bad for the company if it's losing some of it's allocation without seeing the money. A lot of early stage investors won't touch a non-SEIS deal. Edit: Also for every YC/Techstars/500 there's a 100 "incubators" that overcharge and underdeliver.
solve 12y ago
Don't do that. It's spreading the myth that these lower-tier accelerators are trying to do things the same way as the top-tier accelerators. That is extremely not the case, too often. Many times it's the equivalent of used car salesman / real estate broker type sales people - who are good at selling themselves to people with money and love to squeeze the most out of negotiations just for fun, with no clue or regard for the tech startups. Wish I was exaggerating.
pskittle 12y ago
could you talk about your experiences with each and how different or similar they are?