Ideation to VoD

Leads

Jonathan McCoy

Vision

A community of tech startups. A way to create the ideal startup environment that is conducive to helping each startup get a commercialized product to market.

The concept for this group has been largely inspired by the success and influence seen in the Y-Combinator - only you bring your own funding. As a startup, I have viewed many aspects of this incubator model with much appreciation, and in my opinion some of the best parts can be achieved with a little collaboration among entrepreneurs with the same goal.

Like the Y-Combinator, the group would accept a set group of startups to participate over a finite period of time (3-6 months). Another similarity will be the formation of a startup community/environment. Different from the Y-combinator will be the fact that the group will be managed by participating startups, and funding will be provided by individual startups as opposed to the organization.

Activity for the group would consist of the following types of collaboration:

1. Peer Groups - feedback through regularly scheduled meetings
2. Common Working Areas - from offices to standing times at coffee shops that encourage a startup community
3. Knowledge Sharing - Discussion boards, Shared Chat, Book Club participation.
4. Shared Events - A calendar of all the known startup events from other organizations that are relevant.

Benefits

1. Forced Focus. Members must be dedicated to one venture, and the community will hold them responsible for progress.
2. Networks. Get to know other members and associated parties through relevant and ongoing interaction.
3. Community early of early Adaptors. Who else is better to get initial product feedback from?
4. Common Goals and Needs for startups. The fact is that most technology startups have a large overlap in the needs and resources they require to be successful. Sharing in the tips, successes and pains of these topics aids everyone.
   • Shared mentors. Getting help from knowledgeable mentors is key, attracting the right mentors is often aided by community.
   • Shared information/learning. There is so much relevant information available to the technology startup today. Having a community to help distill the useful books, articles and tools can empower everyone in a community.
   • Shared events. Austin has a ton of events and resources that are helpful to Startups. Keeping up with them all, and deciding what is useful is a different story.

Members

The group is seeking startups with some serious traction, that can bring value to the community. Applicants should be, at a minimum:

• Fully dedicated to the technology startup
• Have a demo of product/service
• Have the resources required to get to the next major milestone of their business
• Have some track record of professional success that lends itself to the venture

The community should be a place where everyone has useful experiences to contribute. Everyone understands some area of technology. And everyone has an entrepreneurial spirit. The goal is to create an environment that is conducive to the innovative venture.

After the inception of a group, participation over the 3-6 month time frame will be mandatory. The group itself will decide exactly what events are mandatory - but commitment to participation as whole is the key to success.

Cost for participation will be $500. This amount will be escrowed by the organization, and returned to the startup upon completion of the 3-6 month participatory period if commitments to the group are fulfilled according to groups plan.