StartupBootcamp, the First true Europen Startup Accelerator is out | Hacker News Reader

StartupBootcamp, the First true Europen Startup Accelerator is out

blog.tetuanvalley.com

26 pointsabarrera24 comments

First true european startup accelerator?

Come on, this is HN. Cut the bullshit marketing crap and tell us what's cool about this, what's different, etc. Don't post a standard marketroid press release...

As a fellow Londoner I felt compelled to poke around the site a bit.

  * It's officially related to TechStars in some way
  * They're accepting 10 teams, 4 times per year, in different cities
  * It's a 3 month, on-site program, with office space
  * 4k euros per founder for 8% equity

It seems like the "first in europe" positioning is based entirely against Seedcamp while ignoring others like HackFwd and Springboard (and all those outside the UK), but that may not be entirely unreasonable given their relative visibility.

I think they've got a good mentor list put together, with a lot of practicing entrepreneurs. My biggest concern is that the first month is dedicated to "shaping" where you spend 2-4 hours a day meeting with and listening to mentors. I would find that highly distracting compared to YCs once-a-week plus meetings as needed. Unless all the companies are at exactly the same stage of development, it's only useful to a subset and damages the rest.

I find it interesting that out of all these mentors I only recognised one and his company (Tim Yang, MYC4). I am no hard-core follower of European startups (even though I live and run a startup here) but if I only recognise one company out of more than a hundred listed, I think that says a lot about the EU startup climate.

Not to brag about the program or disqualify your view European startup climate but I have to disagree strongly with this statement. Among the mentors you have people like Arican Wegter, founder of LOVEFiLM who just sold 58% of his company to Amazon for 312 million euros, Tanveer Sharif, founder of succesful VOiP solutions company Vopium, or Tommy Ahlers, CEO of Podio. Plus, in the upcoming weeks we will be announcing the mentors from the Spanish Chapter. Stay tuned for more updates regarding SBC

I still didn't recognize any of them, but it probably says more about me than the programme or the entrepreneurs. Good luck!

One of the basic things it's that's the first time an accelerator program operates in 4 cities across Europe with a cohesive proposal.

There are indeed other accelerators, non of them in Europe. Seedcamp isn't an accelerator, neither is HackFwd (they're and I quote: "pre-seed investment company designed to enable great people to launch great ideas").

The Difference Engine and Springboard in UK are accelerator programs but they only operate in UK (and Jon is a great friend of ours).

There is no accelerator that currently operates across Europe and that's a fact. No bragging, no marketing stunt, no PR. That's the reason we do it, because it's needed and it doesn't exists.

Why do we need an accelerator which operates across Europe?

Because it's a way to bridge different cultures and problems of each European area. Some startups can't move around, but would love to tap into what other startups are doing around Europe. The same is specially true for investors who normally only work locally. A structure where they can tap into startups all around Europe and chat with other investors, mentors, etc. is extremely valuable.

Plus, by operating in different countries we can leverage and scale certain things that help us help more startups. :)

I have nothing but respect for Alex's work. However, as a coach at the Aalto Venture Garage and the upcoming Springboard in the UK, I think calling it the first true accelerator is borderline insulting.

Need I remind you that The Difference Engine had foreign teams? Geogoer is Lithuanian.

The startup programs at the Aalto Venture Garage have had teams from Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia.

I'm not too familiar with HackFWD but I believe they're been international as well.

I think StartupBootcamp is awesome. And there's great ambition there. But I think calling each others programs better or worse (or truly european or whatever) is counter productive.

@Ramine we're not talking about being the first European in terms of the first program in Europe, but in terms of being the first ones that operate on a PanEuropean scale with the same program in 4 different countries. Sorry for the misconception, didn't want to infuriate people or to think it was a PR stunt.

No problem :) I think it's great that you guys are building up the brand and network. We were talking with Alex Farcet this summer about doing a cooperation with AaltoVG. I think this kinda stuff is needed, especially in terms of collaboration.

Did you follow what we did with Garage48?

Thanks man! Highly appreciated! Yeah, we've been keeping an eye on Garage48 and Alex has been keeping us up to date :D This is my own opinion but it would be really cool :) The more the merrier! :D

There is also http://hackfwd.com/

Hackfwd doesn't take 8% equity but 27%! This is very expensive...

and they fund you for 1 year, not 3 months.

The text is rather vague but the sentiment is the most interesting part. They hint at something similar to YCombinator which if they can pull it off could change the way a lot of people think about startups and perhaps open up new opportunities for developers around Europe to take the plunge.

I believe non-english speaking countries are hard for startups. I would personally not choose a country other than UK or U.S. How do I handle company accounts in Spanish? How do I deal with government? In UK government is easy to deal with, you can file everything online.

As a side note, all startups will be incorporated in the UK, no matter what city they apply to. Does that answers your question? :)

Except for the ones mentioned in other comments there's also Le Camp in France.

That makes it:

- Le Camp (France)

- The Difference Engine (UK)

- Seedcamp (London, Europe)

- Aalto Garage (Finland)

- HackFwd (UK)

- Springboard (Cambridge, UK)

Great to see all these initiatives. Europe certainly needs some startup mojo. Looking forward to see some successful companies emerge from these accelerators.

What about The Difference Engine and Springboard?

They only work on the UK :)

I first read it as "Start up (your Mac with) Bootcamp" :)

i would love to see something done in Portugal, everything seems to washup in Spain.

finally! an accelerator that is friendly to graduating students...

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