A presentation of our bachelor thesis conducted at Chalmers University of Technology on the subject of accelerators. Learn more at acceleratorstudy.com.
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Accelerating Success: A Study of Seed Accelerators
1. Accelerating Success
A Study of Seed Accelerators and
Their Defining Characteristics
May 15th, 2012 - Gothenburg, Sweden
Accelerating Success - Intro - acceleratorstudy.com
2. Dropbox - an Accelerated Success
• Participated in Y Combinator in 2007
• Now valued at over $5 billion
Accelerating Success - Intro - acceleratorstudy.com
3. Outline of Presentation
• Background to thesis and accelerators
• Research question
• Method and research design
• Case studies of accelerators
• Findings from research
– Stakeholder Perspective
– Organization Perspective
– Process Perspective
• Conclusion
Accelerating Success - Intro - acceleratorstudy.com
4. Why Study Accelerators?
• Explore a new phenomena – little has been
written about accelerators
• Chalmers Innovation, our stakeholder,
interested in the accelerator model
Accelerating Success - Background - acceleratorstudy.com
5. Chalmers Innovation
• A business incubator and seed fund in
Gothenburg, started in 1999
• Picking up new trends from Silicon Valley,
Lean Startup and accelerators
• Startup Spring Camp 2012
• Interest in further developing their activities
related to early-stage software startups
Accelerating Success - Background - acceleratorstudy.com
6. Software Startups in the Past
• Boo.com – an internet clothing retailer
• Burnt over $125 million of venture capital
in 18 months
• 8 offices and over 400 employees
• Launched in 18 countries simultaneously
in November 1999, bankrupt in May 2000
Accelerating Success - Background - acceleratorstudy.com
7. Incubators
– the Predecessor of Accelerators
• First incubator established in 1959
• Provides basic necessities for operating,
such as office space and administrative aid
• In some cases also provides access to
advisors and investors
Accelerating Success - Background - acceleratorstudy.com
8. New Methodologies
Customer Development Lean Startup
Accelerating Success - Background - acceleratorstudy.com
9. Decreasing Costs for Starting New
Ventures
• Cloud services enable instant scalability
• Open source software provides cheap
ready-made solutions
• The huge venture capital investments not
necessary at the early stage anymore
Accelerating Success - Background - acceleratorstudy.com
10. The First Accelerator: Y Combinator
• Founded in 2005 in Silicon Valley
• Today over 200 different accelerators world-
wide
Accelerating Success - Background - acceleratorstudy.com
11. Characteristics of an Accelerator from
Startup Factories
• An application process that is open yet highly
competitive.
• Provision of pre-seed investment, usually in
exchange for equity.
• A focus on small teams not individuals.
• Time-limited support comprising programmed
events and intensive mentoring.
• Startups supported in cohort batches or
‘classes’.
Accelerating Success - Background - acceleratorstudy.com
12. Research Question
What defines a seed accelerator and which
aspects are useful for Chalmers Innovation?
Accelerating Success - Research Question - acceleratorstudy.com
13. Method Used for Thesis
• Roadmap created using secondary
information from articles and blogs
• Built theory from case studies on
accelerators in Europe and the US
• Collected material was used to form the
analysis consisting of three perspectives
Accelerating Success - Method - acceleratorstudy.com
15. Case Studies of Accelerators
• American: Y Combinator and TechStars, data
collected from secondary sources
• European: The German Silicon Valley
Accelerator, Springboard, Startupbootcamp,
Nordic Startups, betaFACTORY and Startup
Sauna, data collected from interviews
Accelerating Success - Case Studies - acceleratorstudy.com
16. Y Combinator and TechStars
• Two of the first accelerators, now defining the
standard of an accelerator
Founded in 2005 Founded in 2007
Mountain View, California (Silicon Boulder, Colorado
Valley) 6% equity
2-10% equity 6 000-18 000 USD funding
11 000 – 20 000 USD funding 9-12 teams in each batch
65 teams in last batch
Accelerating Success - Case Studies - acceleratorstudy.com
17. European Accelerators
Founded in 2012 Founded in 2009 Founded in 2010
Berlin, Germany Cambridge, UK Copenhagen, Denmark
No equity 6% equity 8% equity
No seed funding £5 000 - £15 000 funding 15 000 € funding
6 teams in each batch 10 teams in each batch 10 teams in each batch
Founded in 2011 Founded in 2011 Founded in 2010
Stockholm, Sweden Oslo, Norway Helsinki, Finland
Not operational 6-8% equity No equity
5000 – 15 000 € funding 1500 € funding
5 teams in first batch 15 teams in each batch
Accelerating Success - Case Studies - acceleratorstudy.com
18. Analysis of Accelerators
• The collected data was analyzed and common
themes in the accelerators was triangulated
• These were summed up in three perspectives
– Stakeholder
– Organizational
– Process
Accelerating Success - Analysis - acceleratorstudy.com
19. Stakeholder Perspective
• Startups: contact with mentors and investors, quality
assurance
• Investors: due diligence, deal flow
• Mentors: pay-it-forward, keeping up-to-date, meet
with interesting people
• Society: innovative environment, job creation
Accelerating Success - Analysis - acceleratorstudy.com
21. Organizational Perspective
• Few employees in the organization
• Mentors work for free
• Business model differs, often equity-based
with private investors but sometimes
government or universities
Accelerating Success - Analysis - acceleratorstudy.com
23. Conclusion Reached in Thesis
• An accelerator act as a hub, connecting the three main
stakeholders: mentors, investors and startups.
• The accelerator organization consists of a few employees that run
the day-to-day operations and facilitate the interaction between
the stakeholders. Mentors do not receive monetary compensation
from the accelerator.
• The processes in an accelerator can be divided into five distinct
phases; awareness, application, program, Demo day and post
Demo day.
• The accelerator accept teams based on the composition of the
teams rather than their idea.
• The teams in an accelerator are small consisting of two or three
people and the team is at an early stage that require intensive
mentoring and iteration of their idea.
• An accelerator can be seen as a service provided to investors
Accelerating Success - Conclusion - acceleratorstudy.com
24. Thank you!
Download a copy at
www.acceleratorstudy.com
Accelerating Success - The End - acceleratorstudy.com
Notes de l'éditeur
Hej hej Kort om acceleratorer: nytt sätt att investera I och utveckla IT-startups
Exempel på ett företag som gått igenom en accelerator Deltog I Y Combinator 2007 Pratas om värderingar på runt 5 miljarder dollar
Såhär ser vår presentation ut idag Jag ska prata lite om bakgrunden till acceleratorer och varför vi gör detta arbete – vilket leder fram till vår frågeställning Alexander ska berätta mer om vår metod och hur vi gick tillväga för att komma in på själva studien av ett antal acceleratorer Lisa tar vår analys och vilka slutsatser vi har kommit fram till
Men varför ska vi då studera acceleratorer? Först och främst är det ett nytt fenomen, väldigt lite akademiskt skrivet om dem. Vi bidrar åtminstone med 30 tusen ord och förhoppningsvis en gnutta insikter Vi har också vår externa intressent, Chalmers Innovation – KLICK -
De är alltså en inkubator kopplade till Chalmers, startades 1999 – sysslar framförallt med längre forskningsbaserade projekt Plockar upp nya trender från Silicon Valley – de nya sätten att bygga IT-startups på Pilotprojekt – Startup Spring Camp 2012 – Mini accelerator Intresserade av att fortsätta utveckla dessa – och möjligen starta en egen accelerator – därav detta kandidatarbete
Men för förstå vad det handlar om så tar vi ett steg tillbaka till IT-bubblan I slutet av 90-talet Boo.com försökte bygga en innovativ e-handel för kläder De lyckades bränna över 125 miljoner dollar av riskkapital på 18 månader För detta fick dom bland annat 8 stycken kontor och 400 anställda. Och detta var innan de sålt en enda produkt De lanserade sajten I 18 länder samtidigt I November 1999 och I Maj 2000 gick bolaget I konkurs Det som hände var att sajten dels inte fungerade för hälften av besökarna och dels var alldeles för krånglig,
En accelerator är en typ av en inkubator En vanlig inkubator tillhandahåller kontorsutrymme, telefon, och skrivare.
Olika trender – en trend är nya metodiker … Iterativa processer som bygger på att hitta kunder innan man bygger sin produkt och sedan lära utav det man bygger. Tvärt emot vad boo.com gjorde alltså.
En annan trend är de minskande utvecklingskostnader – skala upp – cloud – open source – summa summarum – jätte investeringar krävs inte längre I den inledande fasen
Dessa trender är vad som ledde fram till Y Combinator Tar in 65 startups på en och samma gång