Launchbox Startups | Hacker News Reader

Launchbox Startups

techcrunch.com

35 pointsvaksel32 comments

I think the Koofers one is the one I see being a huge success

These are pretty impressive. Definitely closer to a YC batch than a TechStars one.

I could see myself using quite a few of these, especially JamLegend (I hope they'll allow compatibility with a Rock Band drumset).

Im one of the JamLegend guys, glad you are excited about it. We definitely want to get the Rock Band drums working, although we honestly haven't tried hooking them up yet. We got the Wii Guitar Hero controller working in no time using bluetooth.

Awesome! I'm on the waiting list, but I won't get upset if you bump me up the queue.

Same here :)

These startups are awful -- especially that Heekya. ;)

There are a bunch of LB founders hovering on HN (MyGameMug, JamLegend, ShareMeme, Koofers, Buzzhub, and Heekya that I know of).

Heekya (my startup) is actually in private alpha testing -- shoot me an email david at heekya and I'll let you in.

Would love to get the HN community feedback when we're ready -- everyone here has been a great inspiration. Best advice ever: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=95857

First step on a hopefully long journey.

"Based in Washington, D.C., LaunchBox is the Y Combinator of the East. "

Wait, I'm no geography professor, but where is Boston? I thought Y Combinator was the Y Combinator of the East.

Yeah, yeah Matt... YC is the YC of the East, West, Earth, and Universe. I think it's hard for the press to describe this new model because it's not an incubator and it's not venture capital, and "seed stage mentorship with little capital" is hard to describe.

So since YC helped create it, they're the easiest approximation. In fact, it's flattering.

It's flattering, but displays an even weaker grasp of basic geography than my own, which says a lot.

maybe because they YC does it in Silicon Valley too? for us in Europe you are all in the West...

My geography grades were never that great, but it does look like Launchbox could really give Y Combinator some competition for that title seeing as it's already leading the race to be the furthest east.

A bit surprised seeing Luc Castera on that list (with ShareMeme). I have to assume it's the same guy as luccastera, though?

edit: After some research, what I meant to say was, congrats luccastera for launching!

Luc Castera is quite possibly one of the best RoR hackers out there. I should know. We're co-founders :)

Same guy :-) Thanks man.

Congrats Luc!

Why are you surprised?

Didn't hear anything about anything until now.

Also, surprised to see you here... Long time no see.

Do you run into Luc at all?

Yeah, it's been a long time, Aston. If you can believe it, I'd lost my password . . . that's why I'd been away.

Since I left DC, I've not run into Luc much except for on Twitter and e-mail.

Since the Launchboxers appear to be watching this, can you share what you thought of the Launchbox experience? Are you moving to the valley (DC sounds like a weird place for a startup)?

The LaunchBox Digital program was excellent - the advisors are fantastic, the DC office space has a great "start-up feel" to it, and the whole summer was filled with fun (when we had time to take some breaks).

As one of the co-founders of Koofers.com, I think we would be staying in the Washington DC area. There is a large education based presence here in DC - including the Department of Education, Blackboard, Chronicle of Higher Education, Intelliworks, SmartThinking, etc....

Heekya is considering the move.

LB experience -- it's not over yet, we're just at the beginning of the real journey.

The DC startup and it's Social Media scene is extremely vibrant; recent events Scoble/Vaynerchuk, Mashable DC, TechCocktail

Summize, Odeo, Mixx and many others all hail from the DC area!

I am with MyGameMug and we are definitely moving out there. Can't be in the gaming industry without being near the big game publishers/developers!

I can see the Koofers one being the big success out of those. It has that Facebook explosion factor to it

Thanks for the post and comment. We've made some exciting progress at Virginia Tech, and we hope to continue to provide helpful services for students/teachers across the nation.

Great to see another Hokie in the startup world! Legal question: If a professor requests his/her test to be removed, I am assuming you will have to comply?

Congrats to sharememe

Zadby is a great idea; do they have any competitors?

Congrats to Razume

Deleted comment

Just because the LaunchBox advisors dont have public personas doesn't mean they are bad advisors. In fact they are all extremely sharp, well connected and have quite a lot of experience in the space.

You can see their bios here, although a short paragraph doesn't do them justice. http://www.launchboxdigital.com/about-us-new.html

I will agree that without the public personas its much harder to build a culture and community like HackerNews around the program. But I dont think thats the goal of LaunchBox. In fact I think all the LaunchBox companies hang out on HN because its the best community of its kind out there.

I wasn't suggesting that they would be bad advisors; and, maybe even public personas are non-essential. However, I am looking at their bios, and one thing stands out: none of them have any hacker cred. The have JDs, MBAs, they were CEOs, CTOs, government officials, advisors, partners in large corporations, etc, etc. Please do not interpret me as saying that somehow I consider these positions to be unimportant - that's not what I am trying to say. What I am trying to say is that they give off a qualitatively different impression than YC does.

I would wholeheartedly agree. None of the Launchbox advisors are/were hackers and they all tend towards business end of the spectrum. There are pro's and con's to each type of advisor. YC is lucky because PG is good on both sides. Only time will tell how the business side leaning will fair for LaunchBox.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com