Come on, this is HN. Cut the bullshit marketing crap and tell us what's cool about this, what's different, etc. Don't post a standard marketroid press release...
As a fellow Londoner I felt compelled to poke around the site a bit.
* It's officially related to TechStars in some way
* They're accepting 10 teams, 4 times per year, in different cities
* It's a 3 month, on-site program, with office space
* 4k euros per founder for 8% equity
It seems like the "first in europe" positioning is based entirely against Seedcamp while ignoring others like HackFwd and Springboard (and all those outside the UK), but that may not be entirely unreasonable given their relative visibility.
I think they've got a good mentor list put together, with a lot of practicing entrepreneurs. My biggest concern is that the first month is dedicated to "shaping" where you spend 2-4 hours a day meeting with and listening to mentors. I would find that highly distracting compared to YCs once-a-week plus meetings as needed. Unless all the companies are at exactly the same stage of development, it's only useful to a subset and damages the rest.
I find it interesting that out of all these mentors I only recognised one and his company (Tim Yang, MYC4). I am no hard-core follower of European startups (even though I live and run a startup here) but if I only recognise one company out of more than a hundred listed, I think that says a lot about the EU startup climate.
Not to brag about the program or disqualify your view European startup climate but I have to disagree strongly with this statement. Among the mentors you have people like Arican Wegter, founder of LOVEFiLM who just sold 58% of his company to Amazon for 312 million euros, Tanveer Sharif, founder of succesful VOiP solutions company Vopium, or Tommy Ahlers, CEO of Podio. Plus, in the upcoming weeks we will be announcing the mentors from the Spanish Chapter. Stay tuned for more updates regarding SBC
One of the basic things it's that's the first time an accelerator program operates in 4 cities across Europe with a cohesive proposal.
There are indeed other accelerators, non of them in Europe. Seedcamp isn't an accelerator, neither is HackFwd (they're and I quote: "pre-seed investment company designed to enable great people to launch great ideas").
The Difference Engine and Springboard in UK are accelerator programs but they only operate in UK (and Jon is a great friend of ours).
There is no accelerator that currently operates across Europe and that's a fact. No bragging, no marketing stunt, no PR. That's the reason we do it, because it's needed and it doesn't exists.
Because it's a way to bridge different cultures and problems of each European area. Some startups can't move around, but would love to tap into what other startups are doing around Europe. The same is specially true for investors who normally only work locally. A structure where they can tap into startups all around Europe and chat with other investors, mentors, etc. is extremely valuable.
Plus, by operating in different countries we can leverage and scale certain things that help us help more startups. :)
Comments
First true european startup accelerator?
Come on, this is HN. Cut the bullshit marketing crap and tell us what's cool about this, what's different, etc. Don't post a standard marketroid press release...
As a fellow Londoner I felt compelled to poke around the site a bit.
It seems like the "first in europe" positioning is based entirely against Seedcamp while ignoring others like HackFwd and Springboard (and all those outside the UK), but that may not be entirely unreasonable given their relative visibility.I think they've got a good mentor list put together, with a lot of practicing entrepreneurs. My biggest concern is that the first month is dedicated to "shaping" where you spend 2-4 hours a day meeting with and listening to mentors. I would find that highly distracting compared to YCs once-a-week plus meetings as needed. Unless all the companies are at exactly the same stage of development, it's only useful to a subset and damages the rest.
I find it interesting that out of all these mentors I only recognised one and his company (Tim Yang, MYC4). I am no hard-core follower of European startups (even though I live and run a startup here) but if I only recognise one company out of more than a hundred listed, I think that says a lot about the EU startup climate.
Not to brag about the program or disqualify your view European startup climate but I have to disagree strongly with this statement. Among the mentors you have people like Arican Wegter, founder of LOVEFiLM who just sold 58% of his company to Amazon for 312 million euros, Tanveer Sharif, founder of succesful VOiP solutions company Vopium, or Tommy Ahlers, CEO of Podio. Plus, in the upcoming weeks we will be announcing the mentors from the Spanish Chapter. Stay tuned for more updates regarding SBC
I still didn't recognize any of them, but it probably says more about me than the programme or the entrepreneurs. Good luck!
One of the basic things it's that's the first time an accelerator program operates in 4 cities across Europe with a cohesive proposal.
There are indeed other accelerators, non of them in Europe. Seedcamp isn't an accelerator, neither is HackFwd (they're and I quote: "pre-seed investment company designed to enable great people to launch great ideas").
The Difference Engine and Springboard in UK are accelerator programs but they only operate in UK (and Jon is a great friend of ours).
There is no accelerator that currently operates across Europe and that's a fact. No bragging, no marketing stunt, no PR. That's the reason we do it, because it's needed and it doesn't exists.
Why do we need an accelerator which operates across Europe?
Because it's a way to bridge different cultures and problems of each European area. Some startups can't move around, but would love to tap into what other startups are doing around Europe. The same is specially true for investors who normally only work locally. A structure where they can tap into startups all around Europe and chat with other investors, mentors, etc. is extremely valuable.
Plus, by operating in different countries we can leverage and scale certain things that help us help more startups. :)