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Comment by vaksel | Hacker News Reader

To me YC is more of a first stringer compared to Techstars. They've proven their stuff. They've had plenty of exits. You know they can get stuff done.

Take techcrunch for example, a ton of YC startups get their own stories. Meanwhile Techstars just gets a single big "here are some techstar companies" with a list of their top 5 companies.

Given the choice, go for YC.

Think of Techstars as your safety school. It's a great school, but deep down you know that the only reason you are going there is because you got rejected by the school of your dreams.

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I disagree. In terms of exits I don't think either have a really distinct advantage-- it's just too early to tell. They are both great programs that will get you plugged in with mentors and investors and you're not going to regret it either way. If you fail it won't have anything to do with the program you chose.

That said, I think TS has done a better job of driving the community side of things. I can't really speak to the Boston/Seattle programs since they are so new, but you'll be hard pressed to find a better community than Boulder. Go to the valley to get rich, go to Boulder to get a life. :)

I love YC, but this is false.

TechStars, actually, has a better track record of exits when compared to YC. YC has some bigger companies that are still growing, but the TechStars scorecard right now is looking pretty good.

Are you going by percentage of companies to exit? What data are you using?

Here's a data point: YC took some investment money, which could be indicative of a lot of things. How is TechStars funded? Has that changed lately?

Not much of a data point, for sure, but to really know anything, you'd have to talk to the people involved and get them to reveal information they may well not want to reveal.

It's worth examining if a TechCrunch article is more likely to be indicative of success or failure. A lot of the products and services they write about can be somewhat braindead from a consumer or client perspective, but I'm sure that the hype and buzz as a result of being featured could lead a company further astray from solving any actual problems or filling any real needs.

That's a pretty big claim to be implying - that TS has less exits than YC and are second string. Do you have the numbers in front of you, or was it a guess? I've heard otherwise, so wonder where you get your information from.

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