

Shotput Ventures Open Up Apps - sanjayparekh
http://www.shotputventures.com/apply

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sanjayparekh
Okay, so we're 2 hours before our 3/6/09 opening of applications date. So sue
us. We're hyper-excited to launch this thing and hyper-excited to see a bunch
of companies get to work this summer in Atlanta. Want to be one of them? Go
apply!

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motoko
My gut impression is that this is a good program for recent graduates near
Atlanta, but I think that enrollment in this program is good in the same way
that attending a regional community college is good. It's real, but it's
obviously a compromise.

Also, "hyper-excited" tone and over-selling of basic web functionality (e.g.
strategic web content management == WCM?) makes me suspicious. Starting a
start up ---especially with little experience almost no capital--- seems
extremely stressful and demands an extreme focus on reality. This cheerleading
marketing may work well for corporate sales, but I fear that it will be a
toxic distraction to start ups interested in <$20,000 capital in Atlanta.

I predict a high throughput of web media and software consulting companies
from this fund...

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rms
I think you exaggerated your metaphor because of the negative association
community college has to classist people. If Y Combinator is Stanford, Shotput
is the University of Georgia.

~~~
ajju
To inject some UGA bashing into this discussion at the cost of sounding even
more classist, at the very least Shotput is Georgia Tech. UGA is considered
pejorative around here ;)

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zhyder
More the merrier!

I wish there were more YC-like outfits in Silicon Valley itself, since YC
won't accept us.

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rokhayakebe
Why would YC not accept?

~~~
zhyder
I'm sure they had good reasons. But we're marching on.

~~~
rms
There's an element of randomness to the process. Don't give up, I hope you are
applying again this time.

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auston
Props on the wufoo form.

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PStamatiou
should probably have some required fields. i hit submit on a completely empty
form and it went through.

~~~
sanjayparekh
that's an intelligence test. you failed. :-)

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andrwatso
This is going to be a great program! I just wish I didn't have a fulltime job
so I could do it! I plan to hover nearby and try to glom on to the luminaries
and bask in reflected glory!

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dbrush
But it isn't Y Combinator...

~~~
rjurney
No, but its the same thing! Y Combinator went viral, yo.

~~~
gruseom
No, it's not "the same thing". It's not equal-by-value, and it's certainly not
equal-by-reference, which is what the title implied, at least to me: I saw it
and thought "YC in Atlanta? But I thought they just decided to stick to the
Bay Area!"

sanjayparekh, I think you should be a good sport and change this to something
less misleading. It's great that you're launching a YC-inspired fund. The more
the merrier as far as founders are concerned. Why not announce it accurately?

~~~
rjurney
Not sure what you mean, where did he say it was Y Combinator? Did the title
already change?

~~~
gruseom
Yeah, they changed it. I won't quote the original here since it was probably
just overenthusiasm and these guys have every right to be excited.

~~~
sanjayparekh
yeah, you guys are right - I probably should have said "YC inspired" instead
of "YC in Atlanta". my bad.

~~~
gruseom
I'm sure it was well-intentioned. Separate question - why _didn't_ you say "YC
inspired", or something like that? Everybody who isn't dumb knows where the
model came from (and you don't want dumb applicants). So why not just be open
about the fact and celebrate it? It would increase my respect for you, and I'm
sure I'm not the only one. And if you've changed the model, why not say so
explicitly and talk about why? It would at a minimum make for an interesting
blog post.

This has puzzled me for a long time about the other YC clones, the ones who
insist on pretending that they sprang up _sui generis_ and take all these
pains to act original. Who do they think they're fooling? How can they not see
the incongruence of insulting founders' intelligence this way? All they're
achieving by acting so prissy about it is drawing attention to how inferior a
copy they really are, and what a culture gap there is between them and the
founders they're addressing.

~~~
sanjayparekh
So I guess there is a two part answer. I should have said that in the title of
this post but the wording I used was confusing and removed by the powers that
be - as it should be. I didn't change it to say "inspired by" because it's a
moot point.

We also didn't say it on the site because we didn't want people to think we
were approved or licensed in some way to be YC in Atlanta. We aren't and we
didn't ask for approval. In fact PG made a comment on a previous post that he
hadn't heard of us and couldn't keep up with the clones.

That said, we are taking the YC forms (thanks for open sourcing those!) and
using those as a base for us. There are likely some minor changes for Georgia
law but for this initial round we are innovating close to zero. We want to try
it first and see what happens. If we want to innovate after that, we will.

That said, I wouldn't say just "inspired by" I'd say "heavily inspired by".

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rjurney
Shotput is good.

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ajju
Go shotput!

