

AlphaLab starts their own Office Hours - steveklabnik
http://alphalab.org/blog/?p=143

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jsb
I had written this for an HNer who had asked some questions about what went on
at the meeting, but looks like they deleted their comment. Thought it might be
useful for others to see what to expect:

The meeting is pretty informal. I didn't bring anything special with me and
haven't applied formally to AlphaLab yet.

You'll meet with 1 AlphaLab employee and they will stick close to the 20
minutes you have with them. I'm pretty familiar with the AlphaLab process, so
we skipped those details and instead talked about my idea. They asked about
the concept, business models, the market, what some of the competitors are up
to, things you would expect. At this stage, they weren't brainstorming too
much with me, more listening. Then they asked about my background a bit and
asked me where I was in terms of talking with potential customers. Then they
opened it up to any other questions.

I asked about when is best to apply, early, later, asap? - turns out they do
not look at any of the apps until after the deadline. So it does not hurt you
or help you really in any way to apply now or 1 minute before the deadline.
This was important for me since right now I'm a solo founder actively looking
for a technical co-founder (get in touch with me if you're a developer looking
for a new opportunity with interested customers!). I was advised to wait until
I did find someone before applying, or if the deadline approaches, include a
plan for how I would plan to outsource or find help to build the app.

The other aspect is even more informal networking with the current founders of
AlphLab and some of the other hopefuls who hang out before and after their
meeting times. This was helpful for some feedback on the pitch, brainstorming,
stuff like that. Plus interesting to hear what everyone is working on!

I don't have a good gauge on how the meeting went, but it seemed to go
smoothly and I left feeling even more pumped up about the opportunity. Good
luck!

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icey
In case you don't know what AlphaLab is, this is from their homepage:

AlphaLab provides funding, hands-on business assistance, access to a network
of entrepreneurs and expert advisors, and free office space as part of an
intensive program in Pittsburgh. AlphaLab helps companies rapidly develop
their technology, gain user feedback from early product releases, develop go-
to-market strategies, and move toward successful commercial launch.

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steveklabnik
Yeah, sorry. Since HN doesn't let you submit both a link and text, I made a
comment about it after submitting. But that comment is currently at the bottom
of the page.

~~~
icey
Doh, I'm sorry I missed that when I looked in the thread previously.

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jsb
I also went to the first Office Hours session - very useful, great opportunity
to meet with other Pittsburgh entrepreneurs (current, former and aspiring
AlphaLab members) and the AlphaLab staff. I was able to get some great
feedback and even got a new connection to a potential customer as a result!

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jordanmessina
I'm currently in this session of Alphalab and I wish this existed when I
applied. The people that were around to give advice are some of the most
brilliant in the area. After talking with a lot of the applicants it was quite
evident of how useful this was for them.

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steveklabnik
AlphaLab is the incubation program my startup went through here in Pittsburgh,
in the interest of full disclosure.

Does any other incubator program do something like this? The only thing like
this I'd heard of before is Jason Fried doing it for 37signals.

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JoelMcCracken
I went to this. It was awesome.

