

How to Avoid Wasting Years of Your Life Due to a Startup Incubator (Part 1) - tonydiv
https://medium.com/@tonydiepenbrock/how-to-avoid-wasting-years-of-your-life-due-to-a-startup-incubator-part-1-445e6a816c34

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smegmalife
I have to respectfully disagree with some of this article, based on my
experience with an accelerator. The point isn't necesarily to raise money. For
us, we met lifelong connections and mentors who taught us stuff we knew
nothing about. For example, in a week we learned how to do inside sales
effectively, which would have otherwise taken us months.

And yes, it is easier to raise funds this way. But you don't have to raise
funds at the end. Most accelerators give you barely enough to live off of. If
you go through a prestigious accelerator, you will have a lot easier time
raising funds in the future from the connections you make.

Finally, interviewing customers works great for some. It works terribly for
others, since it can be misleading. If you're in a good accelerator, the
mentors will help guide you on delegation of time spent coding vs bus dev vs
talking to customers.

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tonydiv
A handful of recent surveys indicate that even VCs aren't very good mentors.
Would you disagree?

Speaking for myself, I've found that most people are willing to offer their
advice for free, whether or not I am in their incubator or portfolio.

Not disagreeing here, just curious about your outlook and experiences.

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smegmalife
The mentors I've found valuable aren't VCs, so I can't speak to that.

And the thing I've come to realize, is that most advice is bad, so you have to
sort through 100 potential mentors to get 2-3 that actually add value. The
type of value that you look back and think that was life changing.

Also, I've found that accelerator mentors are much more emotionally invested
in being helpful for the long term.

