780 Valencia St., San Francisco
Jan 14, 2016
780 Valencia St., San Francisco
Little bit about myself
• PM at Paragon Five. Mobile Game developer.
• Co-Founder of Meetro. Location Based Social Instant Messenger
• Co-Founder of Lefora. Acquired last year to Crowd Gather
• Currently Principal at I/O ventures
I/O Ventures
• Early Stage Investment
• 25k for 8% equity
• 4 Partners
• Amazing Mentors
• Dedicated workspace
i/o partnersAber Whitcomb – founder Myspace & Mindjolt
• Myspace has over 120+ million users, sold to Newscorp
Ashwin Navin – founder Bittorrent & Flingo• Bittorrent has over 75+ million users
Jim Young – founder Hotornot & Whoswhere• Hotonot invented virtual gifts first, sold to Avid Life Media
Paul Bragiel – founder Paragon5, Meetro & Lefora• Lefora sold to Crowdgather, Paragon 5 offices in Gliwice & Bydgoszcz
i/o mentors
i/o space
• Public Café– Community building, meetings, marketing
• Shared Workspace– Invite only, cross pollination, special events
• i/o Dedicated– Private, reserved for i/o companies
i/o space
i/o space
What is an Accelerator?
• An early stage investment fund
• Focusing on getting a product out as quick as possible
• Mentorship
• Already a product/idea
Typical Program
• Funding for a % of equity
• 3 months intensive mentorship
• Weekly dinners
• Weekly mentor ‘office hours’
• Access to partners
• Demo day
Accelerator vs Incubator
• Long term
• No idea
• Smart people in a room
• Universities and Big companies
Accelerator Examples
• I/O Ventures
• Y-Combinator
• Techstars
• Dreamit
• 500 Startups
Accelerators in Europe
• Seedcamp
• Startup Bootcamp
• Gamma Rebels
• Hack Fwd
Notable Companies
Why do an Accelerator?
• Speed the product development cycle
• Access to VC
• Speed the fund raising process
• Access to Industry Individuals
• Constant Feedback
• $$ Not lots of it!
What Accelerators Look for
• Global Idea
• Small team ( 2-3 people ideal)
• Single founders are a rarity but they must be technical (Codeval, Pieceable)
• Usable product
• Previous projects
• Cool people
What to look for in a program
• What value can the program bring to you
• Do mentors and partners have experience in your industry
• Talk with past classes
• Look at success ratio
• Location
Thanks!