Startups On TV: TechStars Teams Up With Bloomberg | Hacker News Reader

Startups On TV: TechStars Teams Up With Bloomberg

techcrunch.com

77 pointshassanhassan13 comments

Techstars has been doing this for a while: http://www.techstars.org/thefounders/

It just wasn't on TV.

The idea originally came from Hollywood, but they produced it all by themselves: http://www.feld.com/wp/archives/2009/06/the-techstars-story-...

I really enjoyed that series and thought it was very well done. I hope it's even better on Bloomberg.

5 years ago I told my wife how the startup world was drastically underrepresented in bookstores. I suggested that it would change fast. And the book world has in fact caught up. Now it would seem time for some TV action. The challenge will be making the hard work behind a startup entertaining enough for TV. Of course, the HN crowd would find it entertaining even if they were to scroll through code for an hour solid. :)

I've been waiting for this to happen for so long. Glad a dignified organization like Bloomberg picked this up, I wonder if there were any bids from MTV or Bravo for that matter.

I don't think I'd be too interested in watching this but I'd very much like to see a one off documentary on YC - maybe following a few of the companies through the 3 month cycle and including interviews with pg et al, some members of the alumni network and prominent valley investors who have worked with them.

Can you elaborate on what isn't interesting to you about this show? What you described is nearly the same thing, only following YC instead.

Yes, it was mostly that I would be more interested in watching a YC version than a techstars version. I think a single movie length documentary would be preferable to a series though that's more taste than anything else.

I also found this offputting::

What’s more, it should also be interesting to watch as Bloomberg TV’s board of judges, along with Cohen and Tisch, and many of the TechStars mentors dissect business models and offer startups and their founders pointed criticism and advice as they move through the program, reality-show style.

..especially the reference to the Bloomberg board of judges. I suppose I should give them the benefit of the doubt as they don't elaborate on what this board of judges will consist of.

A movie length documentary is actually something I am working on putting together. Delving into all that goes into being an entrepreneur. You can check out e-Dreams (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i-ELRug6fOM) or Startup.com (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZ27rbJH6hI)for examples of older documentaries that are models for what I'd like to produce.

Truly believe that having a full length documentary that outlines what can truly happen in a startup can help inspire people to get involved (as The Social Network seemed to do).

Have 2 video guys (one produces for MTV True Life) involved in helping out. If anyone has ideas let me know! frank at songsicle dot com

Seven of the eleven TechStars Winter Program startups have also gone on to raise funding, with a few more soon to close, Tisch and Cohen said.

This really surprises me. Hackers & Founders boot strapped an incubator, with BizSpark paying for our weekly dinners and space rental. Since then, all 6 of our graduating companies have gone on to raise money. http://hackersandfounders.tv. We were also happy to refer startups to other incubators.

But, 5 weeks since our last dinner, and the six companies have raised $1.4M in total. We referred two of them to 500 Startups, and their demo day is next week, so those numbers are only going to go up.

I wonder who will get the $5 million. The suspense is killing me!

http://www.betabeat.com/2011/06/03/onswipe-raises-5-m-series...

Sweet. When's the YC version coming out? :)

It's been out for a couple years: justin.tv

I wonder if YC was approached...would love to hear why they turned down...if they did.

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