Jed Christiansen's Blog - Latest Comments in Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

jedc — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:53:49 -0000

Hi, Julie.

The links above are the "living" data. As I hear about new YC (or other) companies launching I've been updating the files. I may have missed some, so if you know of any others please let me know!

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

Julie Moffitt — Fri, 04 Dec 2009 11:50:11 -0000

Jed, thank you for posting all of this information! I just came across it, and am wondering if you've gone ahead with a living version of the data separate from the numbers you used for your analysis. If so, where can we access / view that information?

Thank you!

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

Juan — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 21:09:11 -0000

Thanks Jed for your answer!

I've read it all, and I understand your point about focusing on a determined field, I'll need to research more on that.

Is difficult to understand how, in spite of globalization and the democratization of opportunities we are living, there are still things that depend on location, and that once someone takes the head, is difficult to catch them up.

Anyway, as I've said before, your work is a great source of information for me. Thanks for open it to everybody!

Juan

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

jedc — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 18:00:31 -0000

Yes, the accelerator's raw percentage ownership stake decreases, but the absolute value of their ownership stake in dollars still rises. (See the column in the same spreadsheet with the value assumptions.)

Even though the accelerator is getting diluted, the value of the company is rising faster than the decline in ownership stake. So a hit company does well for everyone. :)

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

Genny — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:43:16 -0000

It makes a lot of sense, thanks for clearing that up for me.

I though that, if the company's value increases, the accelarator's share decreases, which didn't make much sense :) But it's all clear now, thanks again.

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

jedc — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 17:36:01 -0000

Hi, Genny.

This is a good question, and has to do with general dilution of ownership stake.

Accelerators all invest in (typically) the very first round of funding for a particular ownership stake, generally about 5-10%. (YC's median is 6%) What's important is that they do no other funding of the company.

Successful companies generally go on to have more and more rounds of funding. Since accelerators don't put any additional money in, their ownership stake is reduced with each new funding round. I assumed that as a company becomes more successful they go through more rounds of funding (which isn't always the case), which means the accelerators have the lowest ownership stakes in the most successful companies.

I hope that makes sense!

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

Genny — Mon, 05 Oct 2009 13:59:31 -0000

Hi Jed,

Great work, a lot of useful info, but I have a question. I don't understand why, at the financial model part, the accelarator has a diminished shares: from 5%, to 0.5%, 2%, 4%... Why is that?

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

jedc — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:13:32 -0000

Chris, do you mean IdeaLab, the one founded by Bill Gross? If so, I didn't consider them.

If you read my paper, you'll see that I specifically addressed the seed accelerator model that Y Combinator pioneered. Y Combinator seeks out, funds, and supports new businesses from across the world, investing money and time for a stake of the business. If you look at IdeaLab's site, they specifically state: "Idealab is not accepting outside business proposals for review." As it's a completely different model, I didn't address it.

My personal thoughts on IdeaLab is that it is very difficult to get their model correct, and is largely dependent on the people involved. In fact, I'd say it's very rare that that model is consistently successful. But I might be a bit of a pessimist...

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

Chris — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 12:05:18 -0000

Hi Jed, well done. I wonder if you considered IdeaLabs in your study and even if not, what are your personal thoughts on their slightly different model. You may be interested to know that in Beijing, a new such programme (modelled mostly after IdeaLabs) is being started by Lee Kai-Fu, Google China's ex CEO.

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

jedc — Mon, 28 Sep 2009 07:54:43 -0000

Thanks, Marc.

Your Google map is a great resource. I used a slightly more restrictive "filter" as to what I considered a seed accelerator for the purposes of my paper, but it's good to see the wider variety of programs available.

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

marc1919 — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 07:53:55 -0000

Jed, I am very impressed with both your research and conclusions. Deep business experience, alignment of interests and a diversity of subject matter expertise have been key factors for the mentors coming together as a group to work with startups in a Seed Accelerator. As a member of http://www.capitalfactory.com and having just experienced our first Demo Day, I can tell you that the social aspects of becoming a mentor are equally, if not more important than any potential financial return. The concept of creating a vibrant startup ecosystem and helping young startups grow is a huge psychological benefit to the mentors that will likely translate to the companies that are being assisted.

I have put together a Google map of all the known 'Seed Combinators' that I'm happy to share with you for your continued research: http://maps.google.com/maps...

I am also hoping that my proposed SXSWi Panel on the same subject gets chosen for the conference in March: http://panelpicker.sxsw.com...

I look forward to learning more from you as I plan on watch this blog closely.

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

jedc — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 18:47:08 -0000

Well, I would read my paper for a more complete opinion.

If you're looking to copy Y Combinator in Argentina, you can certainly do it. But it's not terribly compelling if that's all it is. The best Argentina startups will look to go to Y Combinator or other program to maximize their chances of success, so you'll generally have a lower quality of startups. While it might be successful depending on your goals, it won't be as good as it could be.

Instead, focus on what you can provide that's interesting and unique. What people do you have as advisors? As potential mentors and investors? What can you focus on that would bring startups from all over the world to Argentina for your program? Perhaps there's something about technology usage in developing countries that can only be learned within one, so any company looking to expand will want to attend.

It's really a matter of what you want from starting southcombinator.

Again, I hope that helps. But I would read the full paper for more detailed advice. :)

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

Juan — Tue, 22 Sep 2009 00:01:57 -0000

Absolutely awesome! Right now I'm working on my thesis, studying the possibility of starting up an accelerator in a developing country, check it out: http://southcombinator.com , although the main info is on the blog: http://southcombinator.word... and it is mostly in spanish. :S

Anyway, Jed, I haven't read the whole work, but I would love to hear your opinion about focusing (as you said about FB Apps and B2B software) in a developing country like Argentina. What do you think?

Good job man! I promise to read all of it and give you a better feedback. :)

Juan

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

mauricebv — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 16:03:17 -0000

Hi Jed,

Plus cool, I will follow your blog to stay up to date. Let me know when you need an extra set of hands ;-)

Cheers,

Maurice

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

jedc — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:58:05 -0000

Hi, Maurice.

I do plan on keeping the list of seed accelerators and the list of the companies they've funded live. If I ever get too busy to keep them live I'll definitely ask for help. :)

Cheers,
Jed

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

mauricebv — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 15:29:24 -0000

Hi Jed,

great piece of work, thanks. Maybe interesting to make it a living document so every body can see the latest track record of the accelerators.

Happy to help out ;-)

Cheers,

Maurice

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

jedc — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 11:17:57 -0000

Interesting point.

I saw a line on Twitter today from someone at Seedcamp: "When I first set it up, I was stupid. Then, briefly, I was a genius. Finally, it had been obvious." The same assumptions seem to be in play... in hindsight, Y Combinator fills an obvious need.

But I understand PG has good relationships with the people at fbFund REV... even speaking to them during the program. I don't think that's the case with the others.

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

andrewparker — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 10:52:47 -0000

If you're going to copy YCombinator, then you should really give credit where credit is due: thank YCombinator. I went to the demo days for LaunchBox, TechStars, SeedCamp, fbFund REV and YCombinator in the past year. The only YC clone that even acknowledged that they were a YC clone and, furthermore, thanked YCombinator for their pioneering efforts was Dave McClure at fbFund REV. All the other programs never even mentioned YCombinator at the demo day.

Re: Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW

Sandy Mckinnon — Mon, 21 Sep 2009 05:54:57 -0000

This is an excellent piece of work - Copying Y Combinator – WHY and HOW - http://bit.ly/4D0UHy - just shows the effort vs progress slope for this kind of stuff!
BUT it is all goes around; comes around - Good luck #seedcamp -ers; See you Wednesday!