

Startup Incubator TechStars Invades New York City - mrduncan
http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/techstars-new-york/

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bravura
Why don't any nyc incubators rent a shared live work space for all founders?
Hire a chef to cook and save founders time. All founders live under one roof.

This makes a lot of sense in new york when the rental market is so fierce.

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tibbon
Also, if the startups fail, you could have a pretty awesome reality TV show
out of it. I'm only halfway joking.

You do raise a good point- the worst part of living in NYC and doing a startup
is rent. If you could fix that part of the equation in some way, all sorts of
fun stuff starts happening and you can really keep costs/salaries down.

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samratjp
I suppose YC's answer would be Alexis :-)
[http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/reddit-cofounder-alexis-
oha...](http://techcrunch.com/2010/09/01/reddit-cofounder-alexis-ohanian-to-
join-y-combinator/)

~~~
DanielRibeiro
Guess this is the big announcement Harj and Jessica were twetting about:
<http://twitter.com/Harjeet/status/22654064109>

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samratjp
That's exactly what I wondering a few minutes ago :-) -
<http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1653191>

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raheemm
From the comments - _"Did I read that well, "6,000$ per founder"? What is that
for, for buying toilet paper ? And they take 6% of your company? Excuse me but
this is laughable."_ \- totally agree!

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danhak
Snarkiness aside, it's a fair point. I'm a solo founder considering applying,
and was wondering if any TechStars alumni can speak to this.

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alain94040
Watch this video: <http://vimeo.com/14286740>, you'll see Emily Olson, a
TechStars Alumni, discuss whether such programs are worth it (together with
alumnis from other incubator programs).

I completely understand how scary it is for a first-time entrepreneur to
consider such programs. The value is not obvious for beginners, so they tend
to focus on the perceived low valuation (6% of your company for $6K is not
valuing you much!).

But everyone who has been through such a program will tell you that the
valuation (or lack thereof) is completely irrelevant. By becoming a Techstars
alumni, you earn a label and a network.

Your average angel for instance is inundated with pitches from entrepreneurs.
They need to apply a filter. Do you have paying customers? Come talk to me.
Are you a Techstars alumni? Come talk to me.

You can spend 10 years of your life build your own network of connections. Or
you can be selected by one of those incubators and jump ahead of the line. How
much is that worth? Ask the guys at Udemy, they just raised $1M from top
angels. Two years ago, no one would give them the time of day.

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tibbon
At the point that most of these companies are getting funded, valuing their
'idea' (and it isn't much more than an idea at that point generally) at 100K
is rather generous even, so it isn't a horrid idea.

