

Another YC "Clone": Launchbox Opens Applications - edw519
http://www.launchboxdigital.com/apply-online.html

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davidw
Looks way more "MBA-oriented" than YC. Still, the more the merrier, as far as
I'm concerned.

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imsteve
Hell yeah the more the merrier. There's no way tiny yc can support the huge
number of capable people out there who's talents are going to waste. That's
becoming more obvious every cycle.

Edit: unless they really screw it up and scare away investors. Still, I am
impatient to see angel funding to less well-connected people expand at a
higher rate. Even risks considered, I welcome the yc clones.

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pg
That's not true so far. We've never rejected a group because we didn't have
room. If we keep getting more good applicants each cycle, we'll keep accepting
more, till something breaks. Then we'll fix that and keep going. (This m.o.
freaks out Jessica, but Rtm and Trevor and I keep assuring her that this is
how you scale systems.)

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davidw
There could be people who belong to the set "talents are going to waste" and
who might make a go of it that, however, don't belong to the set that you
consider "really good". At least logically it makes sense that, being human,
your judgment is not infallible and that some good ones might have slipped
between the cracks. Having some other places to go, even if they're not as
good as the original is good, and validates the original idea. I think the
only thing to worry about might be that if there were so many really bad ones
out there that it taints the whole lot by association, but that doesn't seem
highly likely to me.

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pg
I was replying specifically to "There's no way tiny yc can support the huge
number of capable people." I'm not saying there are no advantages to having
multiple sources of seed funding, just that our inability to scale isn't one
of them.

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gibsonf1
Washington DC!!!! I was reading along, a little worried by the judicial fire
power of the lead founder (they could have some strange fine-print that you
sign that gives away something you didn't realize at some future time.) and
then say that "you must move to Washington DC for 12 weeks! Wow.

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airhadoken
Ah, then the key to acceptance is to name your company "General" something.

It does bring up a key point, though. The contacts that you make there are
going to be generally government affiliated, which is fine if that's the kind
of interest you're going for. Personally, even though I left a lot of friends
behind around BWI, I have no desire to go back.

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dkokelley
One thing that YC has that no other's can get, Paul Graham. It only makes
sense that the seed funding companies are headed by people who've created
products in the same area that their potential applicants are in.

PG made a web application, which is why I think the majority of successful
companies out of YC (from what I've seen) are web application companies. The
leaders of YC know how to encourage the growth and profitability of web
applications.

This "YC Clone" has quite a bit of business big wigs, but only a few technical
types (AOL and Xfire come to mind). It seems like these would be the people
who recommend that you hire a "businessman" CEO asap, accept millions more
than you need in funding, and sell enterprise-oriented products only.

Really, who wants to make another AOL?

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jcwentz
Jeez, they copied the YC application questions just like Techstars did.

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gscott
TechStars: 14 Questions

YC: 30 Questions

LaunchBox: 42 Questions

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wumi
its been open for a while now

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edw519
On one hand, I can't help but think that these YC "clones" are lesser versions
of YC. Maybe I'm biased because of what I have learned here.

OTOH, so what if they're just as good (or almost as good)? If others find
success some other way, so much the better for everyone. As anyone who has
found success can tell you, there's plenty to go around.

