Investment Thesis for a University Incubator

startupsunplugged.com

4 pointspaulorlando2 comments

What's the level of demand for spots in the incubator? It seems that a university-specific community would be small enough that optimizing for just one of the factors mentioned (teams, for instance) is enough to winnow the applicant pool to a reasonable size, if applied stringently enough. It's only when you get up to a YC level of demand where you need additional judgement criteria.

Or maybe the USC community is just huge?

The USC community is big, but of course smaller than what other non-university programs can take (the world). It's not really a problem of winnowing the applicant pool, it's more of a problem of creating something that makes sense for the participants. One piece of that is not only looking at tech businesses. While YC and other accelerators have to think of financial returns, a university program that is not taking equity can think of other benefits.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com