500 Startups Announces First Class Of New Incubator Program

techcrunch.com

10 points·ssclafani··6 comments

I have a feeling this is going to be a battle of clout - whose name will carry further. Not to mention 500 startups offers more money (upwards of the Yuri-esque $100k investments) for only 5% stake, which is less than YCs, and you can stay anywhere from 3-6 months, depending on the help you need. More help, less stake...this is going to make the game interesting!

The mentorship and talks so far have been AMAZINGLY valuable. The 500Startups team has explicitly asked founders in the program to be vocal and outgoing about the program. So ask me anything :D

For example, a common question is... how does one apply. There are some misleading answers on the internet right now but the official answer is you don't. It is a lot like typical angel/VCs, you have to network and come in via some mutual connection.

That seems a bit backwards to me, though it explains the higher investment at lower stake.

One of the attractive parts of YC is the mentorship in exactly this category[1] that comes with the program. Between that and the pay-us-for-space incubator model, it's something of an apples-to-oranges comparison to YC, anyway.

[1] Or at least how to approach getting funding, if not networking in general.

Yeah, not really a good comparison. There are a good number of YC companies in the 500Startups portfolio/mafia.

What I liked about the current process is that networking and pitching became a way to practice and learn more about that process - which will be extremely useful in later rounds.

Can't wait for 500S demo day.

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