Shotput Ventures Open Up Apps

http://www.shotputventures.com/apply

by sanjayparekh • 17 years ago

28 27 17 years ago

Okay, so we're 2 hours before our 3/6/09 opening of applications date. So sue us. We're hyper-excited to launch this thing and hyper-excited to see a bunch of companies get to work this summer in Atlanta. Want to be one of them? Go apply!

rjurney3• 17 years ago

Shotput is good.

dbrush• 17 years ago

But it isn't Y Combinator...

rjurney3• 17 years ago

No, but its the same thing! Y Combinator went viral, yo.

gruseom3• 17 years ago

No, it's not "the same thing". It's not equal-by-value, and it's certainly not equal-by-reference, which is what the title implied, at least to me: I saw it and thought "YC in Atlanta? But I thought they just decided to stick to the Bay Area!"

sanjayparekh, I think you should be a good sport and change this to something less misleading. It's great that you're launching a YC-inspired fund. The more the merrier as far as founders are concerned. Why not announce it accurately?

thepanister• 17 years ago

Well, it's absolutely NOT the same "thing"! I don't know pg in person, or any of his partners at YC, and I never talked to them in person... but here is what I know:

1- YC is hosted at the Silicon Valley, which is considered a huge advantage itself.

2- YC is a well known brand name in the seed funding, and if your startup goes to investor under YC's brand name, then they will listen to you, just because you are funded by YC, and they trust it.

3- If you are funded by YC, then everyone in the Silicon Valley will know about your startup so fast!

4- Because of YC, all the editors on the web, like TechCrunch will write articles about your startup. Like what happened with DivvyShot and others.

5- You would be so lucky to be funded by YC, simply because they are experts! Paul and his partner has a vision... it's not only about the money and investment! And their vision and ideas are probably playing a critical role in their startups life!

andrwatso• 17 years ago

This is going to be a great program! I just wish I didn't have a fulltime job so I could do it! I plan to hover nearby and try to glom on to the luminaries and bask in reflected glory!

zhyder2• 17 years ago

More the merrier!

I wish there were more YC-like outfits in Silicon Valley itself, since YC won't accept us.

rokhayakebe• 17 years ago

Why would YC not accept?

zhyder2• 17 years ago

I'm sure they had good reasons. But we're marching on.

auston• 17 years ago

Props on the wufoo form.

PStamatiou• 17 years ago

should probably have some required fields. i hit submit on a completely empty form and it went through.

sanjayparekh6• 17 years ago

that's an intelligence test. you failed. :-)

snprbob862• 17 years ago

Wufoo is awesome, but for some reason this form renders incorrectly in Chrome :-(

sanjayparekh6• 17 years ago

can try going directly to the form using this: http://bit.ly/nxn87

Lemme know if that works any better.

motoko• 17 years ago

My gut impression is that this is a good program for recent graduates near Atlanta, but I think that enrollment in this program is good in the same way that attending a regional community college is good. It's real, but it's obviously a compromise.

Also, "hyper-excited" tone and over-selling of basic web functionality (e.g. strategic web content management == WCM?) makes me suspicious. Starting a start up ---especially with little experience almost no capital--- seems extremely stressful and demands an extreme focus on reality. This cheerleading marketing may work well for corporate sales, but I fear that it will be a toxic distraction to start ups interested in <$20,000 capital in Atlanta.

I predict a high throughput of web media and software consulting companies from this fund...

sanjayparekh6• 17 years ago

That may be but I'd ask you to look at the founders of the fund. It isn't like they've accomplished just a little. Well, maybe I've accomplished just a little. The other eight guys, pretty impressive.

rms2• 17 years ago

I think you exaggerated your metaphor because of the negative association community college has to classist people. If Y Combinator is Stanford, Shotput is the University of Georgia.

ajju2• 17 years ago

To inject some UGA bashing into this discussion at the cost of sounding even more classist, at the very least Shotput is Georgia Tech. UGA is considered pejorative around here ;)

ajju2• 17 years ago

Go shotput!

Shotput Ventures Open Up Apps

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