9. The cost of capital of starting a business is
dropping asymptotically (to founder
salaries)
$50k today does what $5m did 10 years ago
9
• Open Source Stacks
• Infrastructure / Hosting as a
Service (Amazon)
• Customer Acquisition through
Social Networks (Facebook,
Instagram, Pinterest)
• Mobile Appstores (Android,
Apple)
2002: Short Levers,
Heavy Force / Cash
2012: Long Levers,
Little Force / Cash
• Proprietary Software
Licenses
• Private Server
Operations
• Marketing Spend
• Business Development /
Sales Teams
10. At the same time, the revenue ramp of
winners is steepening
Revenue Ramp is 4x steeper today than a Decade ago
10
12. Over 25 Accelerator Programs in the Bay
Area, with wide diversity of offerings
12
1MX1M Virtual Virtual
500startupsLink Product / Consumer focused Silicon Valley, CA
Alchemist AcceleratorLink Enterprise Silicon Valley, CA
AngelPadLink Generalist Silicon Valley, CA
Boost VCLink Bitcoin Silicon Valley, CA
Citrix Startup Accelerator Corporate, for enterprise Silicon Valley, CA
Code for America AcceleratorLink Civic-Focused / Public Service San Francisco, CA
Heavybit Developer-focused San Francisco, CA
Highway1Link Consumer Products Silicon Valley, CA
Hub VenturesLink Social Impact San Francisco, CA
i/o venturesLink Product focused Silicon Valley, CA
Imagine K12Link Education Silicon Valley, CA
InnoSpringLink US-China Santa Clara, CA
Matter.Link Media / Social Impact San Francisco, CA
MindTheBridgeLink Mediterranean-US based Silicon Valley, CA
Orange FabLink Corporate accelerator for mobile San Francisco, CA
Plug and Play Startup CampLink General Silicon Valley, CA
RockHealthLink Health San Francisco, CA
Singularity University Disruptive Technologies Silicon Valley, CA
SkyDeck UC Berkeley Berkeley, CA
StartX Stanford Silicon Valley, CA
TandemLink Mobile Industry Silicon Valley, CA
Upwest LabsLink US-Israeli Silicon Valley, CA
Y CombinatorLink Product focused Silicon Valley, CA
20. Tips with Accelerators
20
• Talk to Founders who have graduated from the program
• Get Multiple Offers to Negotiate.
• To Stall:
• Legal Review
• Diligence with other Founders
• Blame Others (Co-Founders)
• To Accelerate:
• Let an accelerator know you have other offers
• Questions to Ask:
• Fundraising: Can you give me the statistics for your last
class – ideally by company, on how much money each
company raised?
• Mentors: How invovled are they and what’s the process
for me meeting with them? Are they compensated by you
or volunteers?
22. Mentors
22
• True Mentors are Chemistry Matches
• Look for common experiences (Work, Projects,
Etc.) that are mutually valuable, not mentorship
• Join Trade Associations or Start Networking
Groups
• Unpaid but hugely valuable
• Show your appreciation
• Be authentic and Provide updates on how you
are doing
