NYCSeed's summer program: $10k for 5% for 10 groups | Hacker News Reader

NYCSeed's summer program: $10k for 5% for 10 groups

nycseed.com

38 pointsaditya26 comments

Are there absolutely no innovators out there among investors?

It seems that there are lots of incubators just riping off without really understanding why yc actually works. They don't even bother to try and reflect on their own situation and shape a program reflecting their individual strengths and weaknesses.

YC is heavily tech and somewhat hackers only. Presumably because at least three of the founders are nerds themselves. This gives an obvious bias that YC has leveraged brilliantly to attract great hackers.

Why the hell doesn't someone do the same in another industry? For instance, if someone with credilility in greentech started Greencombinator that did the same thing just geared towards Greentech and ecological startups they would be the hub and powerhouse of greentech within two years. Same probably goes for a lot of other industries.

Or why doesn't someone do Universitycombinator that would specialise in spinning university research into viable companies.

I mean seriously, there are so many possibilities, yet all we see are stupid clones.

</ end rant >

I assume it's because software is the only industry where a 1-3 person startup can create a viable product in a short timeframe that can be sold for large multiples.

Assumptions are the enemy of innovation.

Is it just me, or are these seed funding firms popping up everywhere? It looks like YCombinator is really starting to have an influence.

We will give up to 10 teams a small amount of funding, space, and mentorship in exchange for a small piece of equity in whatever they build.

I thought the cash was a little low, I mean, this is NYC, after all?

They are providing space (working space, that is, not an apt, I think), though, which makes it a little better - but I like YC's 5k*n idea a lot more.

They aren't even in Manhattan, they are based in Brooklyn. I dunno that kind takes a hit on their legitimacy to me.

They've been around a while, and are state-funded ($2MM fund, I believe) but they've only invested in 3 companies so far... I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people applying so I'm guessing they're being really selective/non-risky (which is usually the case with east coast tech investors compared to west coast ones).

Here's more:

http://blog.nextny.org/2008/09/03/nyc-seed-seed-funding-for-...

http://www.nyconvergence.com/2008/06/mayor-bloomberg.html

What is wrong with Brooklyn? If you start your company in Manhattan, you're just needlessly increasing your burn rate and reducing the amount of time you have.

The people who think this way are the ones that the rest of us are hoping the recession will push out of New York.

I know this is blasphemy (being on Y Combinator news, and all), but someone should compile a list of all these funding programs.

I think it'd be helpful for all of us.

I know this is blasphemy (being on Y Combinator news, and all)

It's not blasphemy, it's quite the opposite. AFAIK, YC is happy that it had set off this chain reaction that started all these Seed funds.

I'm pretty sure YC doesn't have anything to fear. They will likely get the cream of the crop (according to their standards) since the program is well-established, is in the startup capital, and is lead by someone who has provided a wealth of resources on startups. YC is like the Harvard of seed funding programs: few people would turn it down if accepted.

You mean something like this? http://www.firstascentventures.com/blog/?p=26

Excellent! But too bad it's a blog post and not a wiki. It's missing a few that I know of, including this NYCSeed.

Go to town: http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=pVbeXYbrC8s2PaPgHSFvp...

Thanks. YEurope was listed as being in Vienna, Italy -- and that just hurt to look at.

YC, Techstars (in Boulder and Boston), Launchbox, Seedcamp, Alphalab, Shotput, Dreamit, NYC Seed, Capital Factory, Awesome Inc, Bootup Labs, Lightspeed Summer Grants, Summer@Highland, Founders Co-Op, Flow Ventures, Gangplank HQ Incubator. Also iVentures10, but they come with a strong unrecommendation from an anonymous YC commenter.

I didn't include some of the funds at the periphery, like CRV Quickstart and fbFund. There's also the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, just about the only true tech incubator left in the Bay Area.

Also, Start@spark

And now my summer program: $10 for 5%

I will happily accept your $10 in exchange for 5% of same. :)

Why does this page say up to 200k? http://nycseed.com/apply.html

This $10k program is a special summer funding session.

NYCSeed is actually an established angel investment firm that does invest significant amounts.

I wonder if this is a growing trend in regions across the country. Last week there was a post about AlphaLab providing $25K, but it too is a subsidiary of InnovationWorks which offers $100K. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=550892

It makes a lot of sense. Imagine you have a fund that you need to invest into new, unproven companies at the early seed stage. You can find companies the traditional way by having meetings, getting referrals, soliciting applications, etc. By the end, you'll have had a total of a couple hours (at most) contact with the founders before you decide to invest.

On the other hand, you can start out by spending 200k on 20 companies for the summer while mentoring them. By the end of the funding cycle, you'd have a really good idea of which founders were hustling, which ones suck, and which ideas you believe in. Based on this unusually in-depth knowledge of the companies and founders, you can invest more in the ones you like. Presumably, this would improve the quality of your overall portfolio.

So I guess the thinking is tha 5% is worth the access to other VCs?

I ask because $10k seems ridiculously small: if I had 4 people saving in my team, we could get $10k together in a month or two.

Finally a seed fund in nyc. Anyone looking for a partner/team member?

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