Need for speed: Accelerators pick up where incubators left off | Hacker News Reader

Need for speed: Accelerators pick up where incubators left off

thedeal.com

13 pointsdrm2374 comments

"One common criticism is that the approach amounts to throwing a handful of ideas at the wall to see what sticks. More important, no top-tier startups on the order of a YouTube Inc. or Facebook have emerged from accelerators."

It might be true that no top tier startups have appeared from "accelerators" yet, but I have a couple points that I'd like to make really.

Don't count your chickens before they're hatched

I think it's only a matter of time until an event like this occurs. How many top-tier startups are there in comparison to total number on non-accelerator startups? I would dare to say that number is incredibly small (0.1% chance?).

Wouldn't it be more prudent to wait and see for a more definitive answer on if the model gives startups a better or worse off chance.

A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush

Does it really matter? I thought the model was designed for returning investments & making profit. I'm sure the guys at reddit & omnisio are crying themselves to sleep at night with their millions of dollars.

Good artists borrow, Great artists steal

If there are several groups mimicking YC now, I don't think it is necessarily because the idea is fundamentally unsound.

Given the average acquisition time for startups and how long YC (or any of them really, but I'm basing my thoughts off YC's start time) has been up and running, logic tells me to wait and see yet emotions tell me it is the right course of action.

PG: how do you feel about the term accelerator?

"One of many metaphors you could use for YC is a steam catapult on an aircraft carrier"

from http://www.paulgraham.com/ycombinator.html

Is that really a criticism? Isn't that pretty much the definition of VC.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com