A partial look at how to compare various startup platforms.

1. Accelerators, Incubators, etc.
Get out of the Garage…
This presentation is made possible by the support of the American People through the United States Agency
for International Development (USAID). The contents of this presentation are the sole responsibility of Rick
Rasmussen and do not necessarily reflect the views of USAID or the United States Government.

2. Classic startup
• You’re on your own
• Little help
• Figuring it out…
Apple’s Garage
HP Garage
Google’s first office

3. Now: Lots of help
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Accelerators
Incubators
Startup Camps
Bootcamps
Hackathons
Pitching contests
Seed funds
Weekends
Conferences…
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Meetups
University Programs
Geek trips
Trade missions
Ex-pat organizations
Diaspora
Angel Groups
Mentors
Government programs

4. Working through market cycles

5. Individual business timeline

6. History: Incubators
• An idea  Hire a team  Build and grow
• Prototype: Idealab, Bill Gross, Pasadena CA, 1996.
– Come up with business ideas then recruit outsiders to bring
it to life.
– “Those ideas can gestate for much longer periods of time
and the incubator takes a much larger amount of equity”.

7. IdeaLabs
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AirWave Wireless
Answers.com
Blastoff.com
CarsDirect
Citysearch
Commission Junction
eSolar
eToys.com
eVoice
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GoTo.com
Intranets.com
NetZero
Picasa
PerfectMarket.com
PetSmart.com
Punchcard.com
Swap.com
Tickets.com
Triptrotting
Ubermedia.com
Utility.com

8. Communities built to help startups
• Ad hoc resources
– Meetups, conferences, …
• Structural assistance
– Universities, governments
• Venture-based models
– Funds
– Accelerators

9. Physical locations
• Venture-based models
– Accelerators and funds
• For-profit models
– Incubators, Ecobators..

10. Government-funded accelerators
• Overall goal: Develop a startup economy in a
country, region, city or neighborhood
– Government funded, typically under resourced
– May have a top-down sector focus
– May have a relationship with a local university
• Typically don’t take equity, may have a “pay-back
accounting system
• Generally ineffective as government and entrepreneurs
have different agendas and different levels of energy.

11. Government motivation
• A means of meeting a variety of economic and
socioeconomic policy needs:
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Creating jobs and wealth
Fostering a community's entrepreneurial climate
Technology commercialization
Diversifying local economies
Building or accelerating growth of local industry clusters
Business creation and retention
Encouraging women or minority entrepreneurship
Identifying potential spin-in or spin-out business opportunities
Community revitalization

12. Canadian Model
• Identified need, sponsored by DFAIT
• Bootcamps
– Silicon Valley goes to Canada
– Education and judging
• Short-term programs
– 48 Hours in the Valley
• Canadian Technology Accelerators (CTA)
– Soft Landing for 3-6 months

13. Canadian model results
• 120 companies over 3 years
• No companies moved
• Over 20% set up local development offices
• Survey after 2 years
– Average employment increased by 3x
– Average revenue increased by 10x

14. Local Diaspora
• Diaspora support
– C100

15. Seed Accelerators
• A venture model
• Formal process to review, fund and assist chosen
startups with a fixed program.
• See accelerators support the startups with
funding, training, mentoring and events for a specific
period (typically 3 months) in exchange for equity

16. History
• Early seed accelerator include
– Y Combinator, Silicon Valley 2005
– TechStars, Boulder CO, 2006
– Seedcamp, London, 2007
• Over 250 seed accelerators in
US, Europe, Asia, Latin America

17. Fund-based Accelerators
• The business model is based on generating venture-style
returns, not on rent or fees for services.
• Seed accelerators do not necessarily need to include a
physical space, but many do.
• The process that startups go through in the accelerator
can be separated into five distinct phases:
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awareness,
application,
program,
demo day,
post demo day.

18. Accelerator process - Application
• Startups accepted in cohort batches.
– Recognition of being chosen to be part of the accelerator.
– Peer support and feedback that the classes provide is an
important advantage.
– Mentoring, connections
• Highly competitive.
– Y Combinator and TechStars have application acceptance
rates of 1% to 3%
• Awareness
• Application

19. Accelerator Process - Implementation
• Program
– A seed investment in the startups is usually made in
exchange for equity. Typical investment is $25,000.
– During this time, they receive intensive mentoring and
training, and they are expected to iterate rapidly.
• Demo Day
– Startups "graduate”, typically after 3 months.
– the startups present to investors
• Post Demo Day

20. Notable Accelerators
Bay Area:
Y Combinator
AngelPad
Kicklabs
500 Startups
Mountain View
San Francisco
San Francisco
Mountain View
Elsewhere:
TechStars
DreamIt Ventures
Launchpad LA
Excelerate Labs
TechNexus
Tech Wildcatters
Boulder, plus six other
Philadelphia, New York, Israel
Los Angeles
Chicago
Chicago
Dallas

21. Local Accelerators
• San Francisco:
– AngelPad, Greenstar , Pivotal Labs, Kicklabs, i/o
Ventures, The Alchemist
Accelerator, PARISOMA, Matter, Runway, Digital
Garage, Sandbox Suites
• Silicon Valley
– Y Combinator, Upwest Labs, Founder’s
Institute, Innospring, Vodafone Xone, 500 Startups, Startup
Weekend
• East Bay
– Techliminal, Hackerspaces

22. Business Incubators
• Support the development of research and technology
parks in their dedication to startup and early-stage
companies.
• Research and technology parks, on the other hand, tend
to be large-scale projects that house everything from
corporate, government or university labs to very small
companies.
• Most research and technology parks do not offer business
assistance services, which are the hallmark of a business
incubation program. However, many research and
technology parks house incubation programs.

23. Most common incubator services:
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Help with business basics
Networking activities
Marketing assistance
High-speed Internet access
Help with accounting/financial management
Access to bank loans, loan funds and guarantee programs
Help with presentation skills
Links to higher education resources
Links to strategic partners
Access to angel investors or venture capital
Comprehensive business training programs
Advisory boards and mentors
Management team identification
Help with business etiquette
Technology commercialization assistance
Help with regulatory compliance
Intellectual property management

24. Co-working spaces

25. Business accelerators
• For-profit models with investment upside
• Rely on various sources of income
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Rental
Sponsorships
Value-added services
Events
• Support startups as long as is practical or viable

26. Philosophy
• I'm a bit anti-mentoring as that usually connotes one
person that is assigned to the company and enforces their
personal views and imposes opinions on what is needed sometimes right, often wrong.
• I'm more of the opinion that it takes a community to raise a
company (it takes a village to raise a child). We have that
community here and execute these beliefs on a daily
basis. Initial interview, education, open
resources, individual, peer and group mentorship, strong
connections, events… .