-5 karma · joined March 30, 2011
You have accomplished a great deal and have contributed enormously to the startup ecosystem. Techstars and other programs that take equity are also a great benefit to the community, and I would be remiss to leave a lasting impression on the community that I felt Y-Combinator or Techstars are anything short of remarkable.
MassChallenge is a unique model with huge promise. Clearly, there is room in the ecosystem for multiple models to coexist. We are proud to enable the type of community that Y-Combinator pioneered without taking any equity from startups, and we are excited about the opportunity to contribute to the mounting startup renaissance and to shift the broader economic discourse from one of value capture back to one of value creation.
Sorry everyone for the coarse commentary. As noted previously, you are all invited to visit us in Boston any time. Our deadline to enter this year is April 11, and we would be honored to help you win.
After year 1, we asked our finalists this survey question:
How likely are you on a scale of 0-10 to recommend MassChallenge to another startup?
79% answered either 9 or 10. (Just about 60% answered 10). One person answered 6 -- the lowest score.
For perspective, that means that our finalists are slightly more enthusiastic about MassChallenge than Apple customers are about Apple Computer ... see here for more details and other metrics:
http://www.masschallenge.org/2010_metrics
Again, please visit some time. I'm sure you will understand why we are so excited about MassChallenge if you do.
The public ratings system encourages teams to ask for a small favor from people in their community (i.e. visit a site and rate my pitch).
The endorsements system encourages teams to ask for a small favor from known experts and network hubs in the community.
These are both devices designed to encourage networking, connectivity, pitching and collaboration. Many many teams from last year have indicated that they made critical connections via these processes, especially via the endorsements process, including meeting future investors, customers, service providers and team members.
These are easy steps but that doesn't mean they aren't valuable. They are starting points.
Regarding driving traffic - sure, there is at least a minor "viral" impact from the system. Keep in mind, MassChallenge is a community. Driving traffic to our website helps the whole community, i.e. there are spillover benefits for other startups when one startup convinces their supporters to visit and browse the site. There's no profit at the center of the system -- so this isn't a selfish motive -- it's designed to benefit everyone.
We are still a relatively young startup ourselves and continue to refine our approach ... so there is definitely room for improvement in areas. On balance, though, we are confident that our processes work. We'll continue to refine and definitely appreciate the feedback.
Paul omits a discussion of opportunity cost. Sure, buying a coke for 50 cents is great ... but getting it for free is much better.
Remember that at 6.4% improvement, you end up even with ycombinator. At 6.4% improvement with MassChallenge, you end up 6.4% ahead.
But it really isn't that hard, and there is explicit logic in every step. If you are even remotely serious as an entrepreneur, you should be able to get 4 diamond endorsements with a handful of emails/phone calls - each of them with an expert in your industry who has an opportunity to publicly support you without spending a dime. That process encourages startups to network/pitch and is intended to create or strengthen bonds with helpful resources. These resources are not isolated to MA by the way.
Likewise, if you are even remotely serious about your startup, you should be able to get your friends/network to rate your company profile 5 stars very easily. This encourages you to promote your startup and seek support from your community. Easy stuff. No cost. Something you should be doing anyway.
Keep in mind, the endorsements and team ratings are worth only 10% of the judging score each. We had teams enter and win last year with zero endorsement points and zero ratings. (I don't recommend that as a strategy, but it's possible).
The application form itself is very basic: 10 questions, with short character limits. All standard stuff.
I have essentially poured my entire heart and soul into launching and running MassChallenge and I believe deeply in our mission and philosophy, so I took a little umbrage to the phrase "these people" -- they are, after all, my people and they are enabling something deeply important to me and many others.
I do believe that what we do is transformative and outstanding. But I also recognize that it isn't for everyone. Even if you don't end up entering, I encourage you all to come visit us at least once this Summer. I am sure you will find value in the experience and I promise to personally give you a tour and answer any questions you may have.
It runs from June 27 through Oct 1. Final judging takes place in the first two weeks of October, and the final ceremony is on Oct 20.
Founders do not need to be present for that whole period, but we do strongly recommend active participation -- surveys and data demonstrate pretty clearly that startups perform much more effectively if they engage in the accelerator rather than "dialing in".
There is zero obligation to stay in Boston following the accelerator.
To me that is molestation.
What makes you think you can't learn from these people?
Last year's finalists raised well over $30M in outside funding in the 7 months following day 1 of the accelerator program ... with 100+ startups on one floor, there is a lot of opportunity to learn (and teach).