Comments on: Are Europe’s startup accelerators speeding out of control?

By: Giuseppe Vullo

Giuseppe Vullo — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 01:25:56 +0000

Are Europe’s startup accelerators speeding out of control? http://t.co/6s28HcDD

By: Luis Rivera Gurrea-N

Luis Rivera Gurrea-N — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:31:07 +0000

RT @bobbiejohnson: WSJ looks at whether there’s a glut of tech accelerators: http://t.co/pznU5Ckp I covered in summer: http://t.co/ery3NSd0

By: Bobbie Johnson

Bobbie Johnson — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 11:20:43 +0000

WSJ looks at whether there’s a glut of tech accelerators: http://t.co/YEw8Cnbl Same topic I covered back in the summer: http://t.co/EZQpxgaP

By: raj ram

raj ram — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 02:41:41 +0000

Interesting article. However, I think a little biased in its reporting of the issues. If you say we are not at saturation point how can there be too many Accelerators? Also, every industry will have sharks, is this a reason not to support the very credible sound ideas behind this industry? It does seem very much in favour of a top-down, almost desire for a European monopoly on startups, why would any business journalist wish for that? On your map London has 5 Accelerators, is that really too many? Also, worth mentioning that Europe is not like the States, we do not all speak the same language, share a common culture and as such cannot be compared like for like, as you seem to.

By: RalfLippold

RalfLippold — Sun, 24 Jul 2011 22:11:17 +0000

Bobbie – Great work and overview!

Based in former GDR-part of Germany, we have a strange situation:

lots of innovative entrepreneurs
no market with financial close by
state funding of incubators run by big institutions
low wages
no open entrepreneurial eco-system (ideas were all too often transferred into the West, since 2000 the mindshift of collaboration across boundaries has decreased)

What is missing is sometimes just help on specific questions, mentors, or having someone giving honest (hard) feedback on an idea you have come up with.

The goal is to build an entrepreneurial eco-system. What is it that is needed?

>> free education about what it means, and doing small changes that show the benefit.

By: damir perge | founder | entrepreneurdex

damir perge | founder | entrepreneurdex — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 15:00:09 +0000

Excellent work Bobbie in aggregating the accelerators. I spent time last year in Europe raising capital. I was born there (Serbia) and I see the same need in every country I visited there.

In reality, Europe either needs one major regional hub to address the needs for the entire Europe (like we have in Silicon Valley) or each country has to build out hundreds of accelerators.

Still, there has to be some type of regional concentration whether at the Continental level or country level. In my opinion, having lived in Silicon Valley and outside, one of the big reasons for Silicon Valley success is the highly, concentrated focus of Silicon Valley. If you’re an entrepreneur or investor, you don’t have to travel long distance to get a deal done. In Europe and rest of USA, it’s a different ball game.

So one big topic to consider is how important is the regional variable in the success of an accelerator and “tech hub” ecosystem. Another is liquidity. As accelerators pop up everywhere in USA and Europe, what does it take to become another Silicon Valley. I have spent countless of hours thinking about it. For sure, the density of the nodes is critical and this why regional concentration is one of the key market variables. This is confirmed by the simple fact that investment money wants to invest local — on the average. There are exceptions to every rule.

By: Viktorija Trimbel

Viktorija Trimbel — Wed, 20 Jul 2011 07:30:09 +0000

Thank you for an interesting article and valuable summary spreadsheets. I believe that we should not worry about the quantity at the seed stage for a number of quoted reasons as well as a simple “business fertility” rule – new business survival rates. Instead, quality always matters: quality of ideas, teams, execution capability in particular, networks, mentors etc. Looking forward to observe graduations from the booming accelerators and then make conclusions, take-aways and best practices for the next rounds

By: Roxanne Varza

Roxanne Varza — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 13:48:52 +0000

Hi Everyone

Definitely agree with a lot of these comments – these accelerators are helping to build the entrepreneurial culture and reduce risk for entrepreneurs in Europe (where the entrepreneurship image still lacks a bit of luster).

Many feel that Europe may lack experienced mentors and active investors – not sure I agree. Some countries still lack elements of a local ecosystem and putting together an accelerator helps bring the pieces together. We saw this in Madrid, where we launched Startupbootcamp after both Startup Weekend and Tetuan Valley Startup School worked their magic.

And as a side note, how many accelerators are there in the US/Silicon Valley?

We’ve published a response to this article on the Startupbootcamp blog, feel free to check it out
http://www.startupbootcamp.org/2011/07/the-european-accelerator-problem/

By: Bobbie Johnson

Bobbie Johnson — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:38:21 +0000

Great comments everyone, really good conversation. I’m going to follow up with another piece later on drawing the different threads together. Thanks!

By: Josep Amorós

Josep Amorós — Tue, 19 Jul 2011 09:36:48 +0000

Hi! I like your post about startup accelerators in Europe. I agree that the more there are the better because it helps creating a great startup ecosistem.
I just want to add that there is another program going on. It is called Wayra and it is 100% backed by Telefónica and it have 8 chapters (and growing) one in Madrid and the rest in 7 different countries in LATAM.
I think that it is a big movement that a big company such as Telefónica joins to the startup scene. Also the LATAM approach are good news!