Ask HN: YC & other programs - is this data correct?

[jedc]

As part of my master's dissertation (which I'm writing on YC & similar programs) I'm trying to collect data on all of the startup incubators/programs that exist and all of the companies that have been funded through them. I hope this is at least interesting, if not helpful.

Here is the link to the list of programs: http://docs.google.com/View?id=dmqzzmg_12fcp7g7c8

Here is the link to the list of funded companies (different sheet for each program): http://spreadsheets.google.com/ccc?key=t_toYuVyy6fci0MAiIaZ30A

While I've done my best to make these accurate, I know there are still errors. (And the acquisition prices are just guesses.) I'd appreciate it if you could let me know where I screwed up (either here or at jed [dot] christiansen [at] gmail).

Once it's more accurate I'll post some additional statistics/analysis.

[emmett]

From personal experience:

Kiko had a website at http://kiko.com, although apparently it's been recently taken down by the acquirer. We sold it on eBay for $258,000 in the summer of 06. We took follow-on funding from two angels (of a very very small amount) before selling it.

Justin.tv was actually started in October of 2006, in between the 6/1/2006 cohort and the 1/1/2007 cohort.

[jedc → emmett]

For justin.tv, which cohort were you a part of? The summer 06 or winter 07? (I'm going by that, since the actual founding dates don't always correlate to YC cohort.)

Thank you very much for the corrections.

[emmett → jedc]

Neither - we were a special case; we'd already done Kiko Calendar as part of the Summer 05 cohort, and this was our second company.

[il]

It would be interesting to see more data such as traffic(Alexa/quantcast?), number of employees/founders and so on. This sounds rather silly, but if you collect enough data, you may be able to approximate something of a "formula" for startup success, or at least increasing your chance of success by a few percent. I know PG always says it's the people and not the idea that matter, but looking at your spreadsheet, and assuming PG only picks equally smart people to fund, some ideas/verticals are clearly more likely to succeed than others. I know there's obviously no statistically significant data to back this up, but my hunch is that, given the talents and abilities of founders chosen for YC are roughly equal, it may be the niche or market you choose to enter that can make or break your startup.

At the very least, a comprehensive list like this should give YC applicants a rough idea of what types of companies are likely to get accepted.

[c3o]

Programs:

http://www.iventures10.com in Champaign, IL

http://iaccelerator.org in Ahmenabad, India

YEurope did provide office space.

Seedcamp: Basekit (Eden Ventures, NESTA), Toksta (TAG) and UberVu (Eden Ventures) have received follow-on funding.

[emmett]

The most striking thing about this list is just how many more startups have been funded by YC than by any competitor. There are almost as many YC companies as the rest put together (especially considering all the unlaunched YC companies missing from the list).

[Savil]

I believe you might have left out the Lightspeed Ventures program:

http://lightspeedvp.com/summergrants.aspx

[jedc → Savil]

Thanks. Will look into it.