Accelerat.io – Yelp for accelerators

by antr • 11 years ago

55 26 11 years ago

sjaakkkkk6• 11 years ago

Hi HN,

Creator of Accelerat.io here. Just launched today and would love to get your feedback.

I built this site because when I was applying to accelerators some months ago I wasn't really sure which ones to apply to as there were so many of them but so little transparency about how valuable they really are. We all know Y Combinator is good, but how about all those others out there?

For the interested, the site's built in Python/Flask, custom design on top of Bootstrap (inspired by ProductHunt and NomadList), and makes heavy use of the DataTables.js plugin, which had been awesome so far.

Would love to answer any questions you may have and of course, if you've been through an accelerator first hand, I'd love to include your experience on our site.

_manuels_• 11 years ago

This project is malicious fraud! I was expecting a Yelp for particle accelerators! ;)

ssharp• 11 years ago

Thanks for making this!

One suggestion: Average funding could become distorted from big rounds, particular big later rounds. It might be helpful to include median funding and/or break out by seed, series a, etc.

jedc2• 11 years ago

He gets that data from Seed-DB (http://www.seed-db.com) where you can see the detailed data, and median data where that number is meaningful.

rajington• 11 years ago

Really great site. The call to actions in-line is kind of distracting though, may be necessary to get enough volume but it's annoying until then. You could have the footer information be at the top and then remove the call to actions mixing with the data.

sjaakkkkk6• 11 years ago

I agree it's can be a bit annoying, but as you mention it's a trade-off we intentionally chose for: we can only succeed when people add accelerators and reviews and this seemed a good way to grab some attention. Will be monitoring how succesful it actually is and if I could make it less intrusive or better targeted.

smt882• 11 years ago

I think this is a fantastic, important project. Keep up the good work.

That said, the UI is encouraging visitors to prioritize information that isn't important. For example, % equity, $ per %, and average funding.

The equity stuff isn't important because all of them take so little that an early-stage company shouldn't be worrying about it. The mindset that "we're gonna be a $1B company, so 1% is worth $10M to me" is common and insane. New founders need to snap out of that.

I've seen tons of founders quibble over a few percent, and none of them were successful. Successful founders get past those issues and execute.

As for the average funding: the most successful company won't need to raise anything at all after going through an accelerator. So the metric of "how much was raised after leaving the accelerator" is lumping the failures along with the super successful. That makes it a useless metric.

Here's the data that would be ideal, although I'm well aware that it's not necessarily possible:

0. Reviews! Great idea. These will be absolutely vital once you get some traction. You need to have a very strict way of verifying identities though -- maybe force people to show you their certificate of incorporation for the company that went through the accelerator, even if their review is anonymous to the public. Some accelerators will act like a cabal and game the rankings if you don't do this.

1. % funded companies that either exit or survive for 5 years

2. % of mentors who have successfully exited in the past (an accelerator with investor-only mentors is just a shitty angel investment)

3. [x] alumni with highest valuations (3 would probably be enough)

4. Age of accelerator

rajacombinator• 11 years ago

I agree reviews would be the most helpful. You will have a tough time getting negative reviews however, as there's a strong disincentive against making an accelerator you've gone through sound worse. Good luck I hope it gains traction.

sjaakkkkk6• 11 years ago

Thanks! Indeed from experience so far we've gotten more positive than negative reviews. However, we did get plenty of negative/critical reviews too (including serious stuff like money not coming through etc).

Just trying to make sure for other readers: all reviews will be anonymously posted, so there is no disincentive for not posting because you don't want anything to backfire on you personally. Of course, the point still stands for not wanting to hurt the image of the accelerator associated with your company.

sjaakkkkk6• 11 years ago

Wow, great feedback! Totally agree regarding average funding (it's biased and averages don't say much about distributions), I'm working on ways to get other metrics.

Also love your suggestions for better ones. I could do 3. and 4. relatively easy, 1. and 2. are harder but definitely worth considering.

Regarding verifying identities, I'm fully focused on getting real reviews. I've been gathering more than 100 reviews already by reaching out to people I know that have actually been through accelerators. As for the reviews that come in via the website, there is a verification process to make sure they are real.

ericb• 11 years ago

Median funding might be interesting (and less skewed by larger follow-ons).

jedc2• 11 years ago

Answers to #1, #3 (implicitly), and #4 can all be found on Seed-DB (http://www.seed-db.com/accelerators).

IsaacL• 11 years ago

"The equity stuff isn't important because all of them take so little that an early-stage company shouldn't be worrying about it. The mindset that "we're gonna be a $1B company, so 1% is worth $10M to me" is common and insane. New founders need to snap out of that.

I've seen tons of founders quibble over a few percent, and none of them were successful. Successful founders get past those issues and execute."

Really? You only get 100% to give away. Every 1% you give away now dilutes what you give to attract future employees, investors, etc. OK, maybe the accelerator asking for 10% is better overall than the one asking for 5% for the same amount of funding - still, you want to be aware of that tradeoff, no? You don't want to be completely laissez-faire about it. It's like millionaires from traditional industries who'll split a restaurant bill to the penny - cultivating a mindset to be really, really careful with key resources.

"Successful founders get past those issues and execute." It might just be the wording, but this sounded weird on first reading. Like saying "only losers care about their own interest when entering a business deal - what are you, a loser?!?"

solve2• 11 years ago

Extremely nice. So many people have gone through these programs, but so few have taken the time to build something that makes it easier for the next people who will want to go through them. I always found that strange.

mikeleeorg• 11 years ago

I've heard a few people say they were going to build a "Yelp for accelerators," but none of them actually followed through. So I'm glad someone finally did this!

ha292• 11 years ago

Setting October 2005. Krugman writes

"I used to live next door to a Russian émigré. One day he asked me to explain something that puzzled him about his new country. "This place seems very rich," he said, "but I never see anyone making anything. How does the country earn its money? The answer, these days, is that we make a living by selling each other houses. Since December 2000 employment in U.S. manufacturing has fallen 17 percent, but membership in the National Association of Realtors has risen 58 percent."

This services-dedicated-to-startup industry is smelling very much like a bubble.

[1] http://www.nytimes.com/2005/08/12/opinion/12krugman.html

AnotherMarc• 11 years ago

Great idea, hope that you are successful with this! If you're able to get good, verified reviews, the site will be tremendously valuable.

The other area I'd personally like, which might be hard to get reliable information for, is mentor accessibility and expertise. Both during and after the program.

ambrop7• 11 years ago

I work in the particle accelerator control systems field and always get my hopes up when I see "accelerator" :)

adamzerner• 11 years ago

Why "$ per %" instead of valuation?

I don't have a good idea of what's a good "$ per %" but I do have a good idea of what is a good/bad valuation, so I find myself having to do calculations. I sense that others are the same.

sjaakkkkk6• 11 years ago

No specific reason, didn't think of it. Got some other comments along the same line, will think about changing it, thanks!

pgroves2• 11 years ago

Suggestion: Repeat the the column headings every 20 rows or so or make it sticky. By the end of the page I had to scroll back up to remind myself of some of the columns titles.

pgroves2• 11 years ago

Another minor UI issue: The Title for the page is "Yelp for..", causing the tab I have it in to have the visible title of just "Yelp" with your logo.

sjaakkkkk6• 11 years ago

Thanks! It's funny how you don't realize these UI problems when your so familiar with your own product. Will try to find a way that works nicely.

lacker• 11 years ago

There aren't enough accelerators to need a Yelp. What you need is more like a "US News & World Report" college rating, but for accelerators. Heavily manually designed to ensure that the top few look logical.

This seems like a fair comparison since for many people accelerators essentially replace business school.

Accelerat.io – Yelp for accelerators

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