

StartupBootcamp, the First true Europen Startup Accelerator is out - abarrera
http://blog.tetuanvalley.com/2011/01/multi-city-accelerator-program-aims-to-finally-put-european-entrepreneurs-on-the-map.html

======
swombat
First true european startup accelerator?

Come on, this is HN. Cut the bullshit marketing crap and tell us what's cool
about this, what's different, etc. Don't post a standard marketroid press
release...

~~~
robfitz
As a fellow Londoner I felt compelled to poke around the site a bit.

    
    
      * It's officially related to TechStars in some way
      * They're accepting 10 teams, 4 times per year, in different cities
      * It's a 3 month, on-site program, with office space
      * 4k euros per founder for 8% equity
    

It seems like the "first in europe" positioning is based entirely against
Seedcamp while ignoring others like HackFwd and Springboard (and all those
outside the UK), but that may not be entirely unreasonable given their
relative visibility.

I think they've got a good mentor list put together, with a lot of practicing
entrepreneurs. My biggest concern is that the first month is dedicated to
"shaping" where you spend 2-4 hours a day meeting with and listening to
mentors. I would find that highly distracting compared to YCs once-a-week plus
meetings as needed. Unless all the companies are at exactly the same stage of
development, it's only useful to a subset and damages the rest.

~~~
bjelkeman-again
I find it interesting that out of all these mentors I only recognised one and
his company (Tim Yang, MYC4). I am no hard-core follower of European startups
(even though I live and run a startup here) but if I only recognise one
company out of more than a hundred listed, I think that says a lot about the
EU startup climate.

~~~
jmcobian
Not to brag about the program or disqualify your view European startup climate
but I have to disagree strongly with this statement. Among the mentors you
have people like Arican Wegter, founder of LOVEFiLM who just sold 58% of his
company to Amazon for 312 million euros, Tanveer Sharif, founder of succesful
VOiP solutions company Vopium, or Tommy Ahlers, CEO of Podio. Plus, in the
upcoming weeks we will be announcing the mentors from the Spanish Chapter.
Stay tuned for more updates regarding SBC

~~~
bjelkeman-again
I still didn't recognize any of them, but it probably says more about me than
the programme or the entrepreneurs. Good luck!

------
ramine
I have nothing but respect for Alex's work. However, as a coach at the Aalto
Venture Garage and the upcoming Springboard in the UK, I think calling it the
first true accelerator is _borderline_ insulting.

Need I remind you that The Difference Engine had foreign teams? Geogoer is
Lithuanian.

The startup programs at the Aalto Venture Garage have had teams from Sweden,
Finland, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania and Russia.

I'm not too familiar with HackFWD but I believe they're been international as
well.

I think StartupBootcamp is awesome. And there's great ambition there. But I
think calling each others programs better or worse (or truly european or
whatever) is counter productive.

~~~
abarrera
@Ramine we're not talking about being the first European in terms of the first
program in Europe, but in terms of being the first ones that operate on a
PanEuropean scale with the same program in 4 different countries. Sorry for
the misconception, didn't want to infuriate people or to think it was a PR
stunt.

~~~
ramine
No problem :) I think it's great that you guys are building up the brand and
network. We were talking with Alex Farcet this summer about doing a
cooperation with AaltoVG. I think this kinda stuff is needed, especially in
terms of collaboration.

Did you follow what we did with Garage48?

~~~
abarrera
Thanks man! Highly appreciated! Yeah, we've been keeping an eye on Garage48
and Alex has been keeping us up to date :D This is my own opinion but it would
be really cool :) The more the merrier! :D

------
erikstarck
Except for the ones mentioned in other comments there's also Le Camp in
France.

That makes it:

\- Le Camp (France)

\- The Difference Engine (UK)

\- Seedcamp (London, Europe)

\- Aalto Garage (Finland)

\- HackFwd (UK)

\- Springboard (Cambridge, UK)

Great to see all these initiatives. Europe certainly needs some startup mojo.
Looking forward to see some successful companies emerge from these
accelerators.

------
d0m
There is also <http://hackfwd.com/>

~~~
Straubiz
Hackfwd doesn't take 8% equity but 27%! This is very expensive...

~~~
coffeejunk
and they fund you for 1 year, not 3 months.

------
smackay
The text is rather vague but the sentiment is the most interesting part. They
hint at something similar to YCombinator which if they can pull it off could
change the way a lot of people think about startups and perhaps open up new
opportunities for developers around Europe to take the plunge.

------
Aegean
I believe non-english speaking countries are hard for startups. I would
personally not choose a country other than UK or U.S. How do I handle company
accounts in Spanish? How do I deal with government? In UK government is easy
to deal with, you can file everything online.

~~~
abarrera
As a side note, all startups will be incorporated in the UK, no matter what
city they apply to. Does that answers your question? :)

------
robbiehudson
What about The Difference Engine and Springboard?

~~~
abarrera
They only work on the UK :)

------
alexk7
I first read it as "Start up (your Mac with) Bootcamp" :)

------
zemanel
i would love to see something done in Portugal, everything seems to washup in
Spain.

------
noverloop
finally! an accelerator that is friendly to graduating students...

