NYCSeed's summer program: $10k for 5% for 10 groups

by aditya • 17 years ago

38 26 17 years ago

aditya3• 17 years ago

We will give up to 10 teams a small amount of funding, space, and mentorship in exchange for a small piece of equity in whatever they build.

I thought the cash was a little low, I mean, this is NYC, after all?

They are providing space (working space, that is, not an apt, I think), though, which makes it a little better - but I like YC's 5k*n idea a lot more.

vaksel• 17 years ago

They aren't even in Manhattan, they are based in Brooklyn. I dunno that kind takes a hit on their legitimacy to me.

aditya3• 17 years ago

They've been around a while, and are state-funded ($2MM fund, I believe) but they've only invested in 3 companies so far... I'm pretty sure there's a lot of people applying so I'm guessing they're being really selective/non-risky (which is usually the case with east coast tech investors compared to west coast ones).

Here's more:

http://blog.nextny.org/2008/09/03/nyc-seed-seed-funding-for-...

http://www.nyconvergence.com/2008/06/mayor-bloomberg.html

dcurtis3• 17 years ago

What is wrong with Brooklyn? If you start your company in Manhattan, you're just needlessly increasing your burn rate and reducing the amount of time you have.

banned_man• 17 years ago

The people who think this way are the ones that the rest of us are hoping the recession will push out of New York.

david9272• 17 years ago

And now my summer program: $10 for 5%

jjs• 17 years ago

I will happily accept your $10 in exchange for 5% of same. :)

codeodor• 17 years ago

So I guess the thinking is tha 5% is worth the access to other VCs?

I ask because $10k seems ridiculously small: if I had 4 people saving in my team, we could get $10k together in a month or two.

kwamenum86• 17 years ago

Why does this page say up to 200k? http://nycseed.com/apply.html

dcurtis3• 17 years ago

This $10k program is a special summer funding session.

NYCSeed is actually an established angel investment firm that does invest significant amounts.

dbul2• 17 years ago

I wonder if this is a growing trend in regions across the country. Last week there was a post about AlphaLab providing $25K, but it too is a subsidiary of InnovationWorks which offers $100K. http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=550892

wyday2• 17 years ago

I know this is blasphemy (being on Y Combinator news, and all), but someone should compile a list of all these funding programs.

I think it'd be helpful for all of us.

nebula• 17 years ago

I know this is blasphemy (being on Y Combinator news, and all)

It's not blasphemy, it's quite the opposite. AFAIK, YC is happy that it had set off this chain reaction that started all these Seed funds.

dbul2• 17 years ago

I'm pretty sure YC doesn't have anything to fear. They will likely get the cream of the crop (according to their standards) since the program is well-established, is in the startup capital, and is lead by someone who has provided a wealth of resources on startups. YC is like the Harvard of seed funding programs: few people would turn it down if accepted.

BerislavLopac• 17 years ago

You mean something like this? http://www.firstascentventures.com/blog/?p=26

wyday2• 17 years ago

Excellent! But too bad it's a blog post and not a wiki. It's missing a few that I know of, including this NYCSeed.

rms• 17 years ago

YC, Techstars (in Boulder and Boston), Launchbox, Seedcamp, Alphalab, Shotput, Dreamit, NYC Seed, Capital Factory, Awesome Inc, Bootup Labs, Lightspeed Summer Grants, Summer@Highland, Founders Co-Op, Flow Ventures, Gangplank HQ Incubator. Also iVentures10, but they come with a strong unrecommendation from an anonymous YC commenter.

I didn't include some of the funds at the periphery, like CRV Quickstart and fbFund. There's also the Plug and Play Tech Center in Sunnyvale, just about the only true tech incubator left in the Bay Area.

aditya3• 17 years ago

Also, Start@spark

jacoblyles• 17 years ago

Is it just me, or are these seed funding firms popping up everywhere? It looks like YCombinator is really starting to have an influence.

mixmax2• 17 years ago

Are there absolutely no innovators out there among investors?

It seems that there are lots of incubators just riping off without really understanding why yc actually works. They don't even bother to try and reflect on their own situation and shape a program reflecting their individual strengths and weaknesses.

YC is heavily tech and somewhat hackers only. Presumably because at least three of the founders are nerds themselves. This gives an obvious bias that YC has leveraged brilliantly to attract great hackers.

Why the hell doesn't someone do the same in another industry? For instance, if someone with credilility in greentech started Greencombinator that did the same thing just geared towards Greentech and ecological startups they would be the hub and powerhouse of greentech within two years. Same probably goes for a lot of other industries.

Or why doesn't someone do Universitycombinator that would specialise in spinning university research into viable companies.

I mean seriously, there are so many possibilities, yet all we see are stupid clones.

</ end rant >

Flemlord• 17 years ago

I assume it's because software is the only industry where a 1-3 person startup can create a viable product in a short timeframe that can be sold for large multiples.

mixmax2• 17 years ago

Assumptions are the enemy of innovation.

kbrower• 17 years ago

Finally a seed fund in nyc. Anyone looking for a partner/team member?

NYCSeed's summer program: $10k for 5% for 10 groups

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