

Shotput Ventures 2010 summer application - sanjayparekh
http://www.shotputventures.com/shotput-ventures-2010-applications-open

======
idlewords
This seems like a particularly unappealing deal. In exchange for 5-10% of your
company, you get no office space and barely enough money to survive a hot
Atlanta summer ($6K per participant). According to the FAQ, you're supposed to
make the money stretch for six months.

That better be some triple-distilled, A++++ quality mentoring.

If I had to try my own hand at mentoring, I would say: don't be a sucker.

(you can mail me a 2% 'thank you' stake in your startup at your convenience)

[edit: fixed wrong percentage in original comment]

~~~
jaf12duke
Where do you get 10-20%?

From <http://www.shotputventures.com/faq>

"How much funding do you provide? We provide $6,000 per founder, min two, max
three founders. So, $12,000 - $18,000 per team in exchange for 5% - 10% of
equity on entrepreneur friendly terms."

From a pure capital to equity ration standpoint, that seems to be on par with
other similar programs.

~~~
sanjayparekh
We'll have some details on office space soon - that little bit is changing for
the better.

~~~
leocampbell
This a genuine question, I am interested.

Why should people go with you instead of YC? How are you better than YC? Why
have you decided to offer less money than YC?

~~~
mx2323
its about the same, when you consider standard of living costs.

~~~
leocampbell
Really, I guess I am worried that this might be a MBA cargo cult :). How could
I get some more information?

Are there any past companies I could talk to?

~~~
sanjayparekh
Past companies we've invested in are on the web site. They're around if you
are in Atlanta and a bunch of them are also on Twitter.

It's hard to say how we're different without direct experience of going
through the YC program. That said, all the partners of Shotput are successful
entrepreneurs who have or are running Internet/tech businesses. There's a wide
breadth of experience with the partners from the highly technical to the
highly sales/marketing based.

That said - best way to get to know us (if you don't already) is to come to
our office hours (one today and one on 3/24). Details on the site.

~~~
leocampbell
Thanks Sanjay. Please don't take personal offense at the comment about MBAs. I
worked as a 'creative' in a medical marketing firm through university. So I
made descent money from the creation of cargo cults, making something that
looks right but doesn't work, makes me :(.

Just out of interest, how many companies did you start with? How many are
earning revenue after 12 months?

I'd be in interested contacting them about their experiences.

Thanks

------
u238
$1,000 a month per person? Really?

~~~
sanjayparekh
No, not really. I'm so surprised at how little people read postings before
jumping to an analysis. It's $6k per founder for a 3 month summer program.
That works out to $2k per founder per month.

~~~
maxwin
But they say they expect you to last 6 months.So it is 1000 per month! I think
that's what r238 meant.

~~~
sanjayparekh
True but that's a recommendation, not a requirement. Honestly most of the
teams from last year had a bit of runway after the three month summer program.
Granted our funding was different last year but founders need to be focused on
capital conservation which is, I think, the point of the statement.

