Ask HN: Incubator offers $150,000 for 40% equity | Hacker News Reader

Ask HN: Incubator offers $150,000 for 40% equity

5 pointswebsirnik8 comments

There is a new incubator launching in Moscow, Russia. It is called Farminers (farminers.ru). It offers $150,000 for 40% equity, office space for 6 months, Macbook and iPad. After 6 months there is a Demoday. During 6-month you can get help from several mentors(11 guys), who are only known locally in Russia.

What do you think about this type of Incubator model? They are stating that $150,000 are for building the prototype. What kind of prototype you could built for $150,000??? I can't say anything of what kind of mentorship you could get there, but the mentor list is not looking very impressive at the moment. Biggest names are the guys from Mail.ru Group(IPOed in London in early 2011).

$150,000 sounds really sweet for the startups. The question is will this type of Incubator help to develop startup eco-system in Russia? ... It should, right?

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How many people do they expect you to employee? What pay would you typically get in Russia? How much would they let you pay yourself?

40% seems a bit steep, but if you are also getting an OK (below market, but not terrible) salary for working on the project, then it sounds great (unless there are some legal traps). If they want you to hire dozens of staff, and everyone lives off ramen and the hope that some VP will be interested in funding the next step (for a huge chunk of the remaining equity), then it's not so great.

Yesterday, at the NYC YC meetup, pg said that a big difference between them and all the other incubators was that they are a few people that advise startups 100% of their time. He has like 160 startups under his belt. A lot of experience. The others just use "advisors" who will spend an hour with a few startups here and there. That just may not be very valuable.

Apart from the money, what are the other terms? Board seats? Etc?

The option can sound enticing for startups that are grounded in Russia who don't have many more options. However, like another user said below... it's really just paying you to complete the product, like they're contracting you to build your own product. If they're investing in just you and not a multi-man team, may be worth considering?

Moscow is one of the most expensive cities and living there for 6 months will take out a hefty chunk. The mentors don't seem of the highest calibur, but are fine I guess.

I would agree - for Russian based startups, this might be a good option. Otherwise...no

Sounds similar to hackfwd, where the amount they give you is essentially to pay founder salaries while they build a prototype. They take a big chunk of the company but in exchange take away the risk for someone leaving a job to create a company.

I know very little about the russian startup scene but I thought Mail.ru was one of the most successful online companies there?

Your link to Farminers is wrong. Should be http://farminers.com

Moscow is one of, if not the most expensive cities in Europe.

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