As Startups Crowd 'Accelerators', is it Worth It?

Applications to some of the roughly 200-plus business “accelerators” world-wide have more than doubled in the past two years, as growing numbers of entrepreneurs seek them out for seed capital and advice.

Despite a sharp rise in the overall number of accelerators, the top-ranked programs, such as Y Combinator and TechStars, say they are drawing as many as 1,500 applicants for what may be as few as a dozen spots in each session, or class.

Incubators and Accelerators typically take between 6%-10% equity from the companies accepted into their program. However, but only 0.1% of firms that are less than five years old receive seed or early-stage funding from venture-capital firms, according to Kauffman Foundation researchers.

So is it worth it? Read more on WSJ.com  here

10 Startup Pitch Tips from Day 1 of TechCrunch Disrupt 2012 in New York

I’m at Techcrunch Disrupt this week at Pier 94, which is all the way over the West Side Highway (Silicon Alley or Valley this is not…)

It’s my first one and takes a little adjusting to the tech- and funding- biases which are commonplace in the startup world.

Case in point: FACEBOOK IPO. FACEBOOK IPO. FACEBOOK IPO. FACEBOOK IPO. YAHOO! WOES. FACEBOOK IPO. FACEBOOK IPO. FACEBOOK IPO. PINTEREST. FACEBOOK IPO. FACEBOOK IPO (in that order)

Then there’s the Michael Arrington - Ariana Huffingtonlove affair / spat, which I think may have finally played itself out. Which is good.

These events are pretty grueling for all parties concerned and a special accolade to the startups who have to be “on” constantly as they “man” their booths and work the floor/room throughout the day(s).

I was contacted by several startups and as a blogger/”influencer” and believer in building bridges/relationships with the new content creators/creative class, I wanted to single out those who took the time to reach out in advance of the event:

  • Activegift.me
  • Chat&
  • Runfaces
  • ExpertTrivia (Red Ticket Games)
  • GuidePal
  • Lockerdome
  • Parlor.FM
  • SocialStock
  • CallApp


In terms of themes, definitely encouraged to see quite a bit of activity in the audio category. As a podcasting “veteran”, I am intrigued with the text-to-talk, next gen conference calls, audio apps etc. Another trend that is impossible to ignore is the photo/visual explosion and truly, brands need to have photo / visual POV’s if not strategic approaches nowadays.

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Hackathon For The Masses @ TC Disrupt

While I know there’s a difference between Ruby on Rails and PHP, I couldn’t tell you what it is, and thus I’m not a frequent hackathon attendee. Hackathons typically attract a pure coding audience, but at this year’s TechCrunch Disrupt Hackathon, the general public was invited to the final day to watch as over 80 companies pitched their hacks to a panel of judges including David Tisch (Founder of TechStars NYC) and Kip Voytek (SVP, Director Digital Innovation | MDC Partners). As an admitted coding outsider, I was pleasantly surprised to see that most of the hacks focused on solving everyday problems. Some of my favorites included:

  • IKEA3D: A better way to shop at IKEA, and visually see (in 3D) how the piece of furniture you’re about to buy will have to be assembled. See an interview with the creators here.
  • Cheapest ATM: Find the ATM nearest to you with the lowest fee.
  • Poach Base: Crawls and analyzes the CrunchBase database to identify startups that are on the brink of failure, and provides an easy way for companies to poach that startups talent. See an interview with the creators here.

Check out the full Hackathon coverage here, and looking forward to what else the NYC conference has in store, starting tomorrow!

A trip to the (virtual) grocery store

Interesting story from Ars Technica on Peapod’s virtual grocery store experiment in Chicago and Philadelphia, which emulates a similar trial in South Korea earlier this year.  An interesting evolution of this concept will be matching specific products with relevant locations - dog food at a dog park, for example.  The current user experience is too clunky for scale today with QR codes, however this will improve with the broad adoption of NFC and the spread of grocery delivery services beyond the urban core.

#ReThink Venture Capital with Fred Wilson

This morning I had the opportunity to see Fred Wilson speak as part of the #ReThink Series, a collaboration between Grind and Homestead Films, and he really gave meaning to “ReThink” with his perspective on today’s VC landscape.

As a highly successful VC, it’s a bit conflicting to hear him explain how broken the system is, but the man has done the math. Explaining that to deliver positive returns, the VC industry needs to decrease it’s current investment level (~$30bn) by about 50%, Fred mixes pessimism with optimism to explain how investment can be diverted to better causes (medical research, education, etc.), and the role crowd-sourcing will play in coming years (good for entrepreneurs, bad for investors). Fred’s been contemplating this scenario for several years, and I highly encourage everyone to read his blog post The Venture Capital Math Problem here. And check back soon for the video of this morning’s presentation.

Zynga's plan to further monetize Draw Something: Make users draw brands

With the ink still drying following the acquisition of OMGPOP and its hit app Draw Something, Zynga is putting its new mobile property to work by engaging advertisers and encouraging them to pay for words that allow users to literally draw their brands.

AdAge reports that Zynga is pushing the new form of advertising (on top of its mobile ad banners and paid upgrades), now inserting words connected with brands, encouraging app users to draw logos or a product that they sell. Get the full story at TheNextWeb

Attending Ad Age Digital Conference

April (or Conference-palooza) is coming to an end, but it’s been a great ride (most of the time). Earlier we posted about the inaugural NY Tech Day, but we also wanted to highlight the AdAge Digital Conference that also took place last week here in NY.

In stark contrast to the technology meetups that dominate our schedule these days, Ad Age Digital attracted mostly senior level marketers from Fortune 500 brands, agencies, and established media publishers. So while the presentation’s may not have been as bleeding edge, the conversations over the buffet were incredibly valuable.  Companies also used the conference to make product announcements, including Tumblr announcing their first foray into paid advertising and Spotify & Coca-Cola forging a strategic partnership. 

The most impressive presentation came from Loyal3, whose product offers a web and social media platform that enables you to buy stock directly from a company’s website or facebook page and pay no fees to buy or sell. Moreover, their product (called CSOP) allows customers to invest directly in their favorite companies in increments, buying fractions of a stock, for as low as $10. Learn more here, and see all of the Ad Age Digital event coverage here.

NY Tech Day Shows Silicon Valley A Thing or Two!

This week was spent bouncing around NYC attending AdAge’s Digital Conference, Entrepreneurship Week, and NY Tech Day. While each event had something unique to offer, NY Tech Day stole the show (and my heart). Set in the Lexington Armory, the event was open to the public (free!) and featured more than 150 NYC startups ranging from SaaS and servers, to make your own chocolate bars and 3D printing. 

Check out Gigaom’s review here, and CNets review here to see some of the best of the best, and definitely DO NOT MISS this event next year!

Co-Founder Opens Up About The Demise of a Promising Travel Startup

Doesn’t reading the trades make it feel like every company around you is just rocketing towards a billion dollar buy out? Like Series A investments grow on trees? That success is as simple as a great idea and a witty URL? Even though we’ve all heard the grim failure rate statistics, rarely are the stories behind what exactly went wrong published, which is why this interview with Joobili co-founder Jared Salter was so refreshing. He talks about recognizing the difference between being “successful” and simply “not failing,” and the dangers of taking advice. Read the full interview at tnooz.com.

Speculation of the Day: How Facebook Will Monetize Instagram

Both Madison Avenue and Silicon Valley are abuzz with speculation on how Facebook plans to ruin monetize Instagram. From direct blows against competitors Foursquare and Twitter, to an organic fit with brand pages and Instagram’s stream, the possibilities are certain to both ruffle some feathers and open many doors. Perspectives from across the agency sphere can be found on Business Insider and AdWeek today.