They say you don’t need to have traction to be accepted and they use YC SAFE documents. They claim they have the best terms, which seems ridiculous as they give $20k for 4-10% when YC gives 120k for 7%, 500startups gives 100k for 7%, Techstars 118K for 7%, etc
Questions
Have any founders experienced StartEngine accelerator in LA?
6 answers from the community
A· Jul 9, 2014
not top tier
A· Jul 9, 2014
OP here.
Would also like to know on a tactical level, how useful they are to their startups? Ie Do they have valuable connections to VC/angels and industry heads and do they provide solid intros to them? Do they tangibly help their startups grow (eg achieve user growth/sales/revenue levels)? Who attends their demo days?
Even if they're not top tier, if startups can achieve specific growth goals, then it may be worth it or at least a good launching pad?
A· Jul 10, 2014
frankly, most accelerators won't help you with growth. there's no silver bullet for sales and getting customers - you have to grind it out as the founder. as far as valuable connections to vcs/angels, i'd take a look at who else is in their portfolio, what % got followup funding, and from which vcs (aka, are they reputable)?
A· Jul 10, 2014
Sometimes you only need $20k. By any means necessary. TBH, accelerators are good for getting you to think your shit through. If you can't do an MVP to start to get traction/rev for $20k what makes you think you can do it for $100k?
A· Jul 10, 2014
by that logic, if you can't do an MVP to start to get traction/rev for $0, what makes you think you can do it with 20k?
A· Jul 11, 2014
++1
The logic behind the previous comment is pretty dumb, considering how costs vary across industries. Eg MVP for heathcare/Bioscience (especially if hardware/testing/drug components) vs free app/website are very different.