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ABOUT START ENGINE Start Engine is a rapid accelerator focused on helping Los Angeles-based technology startups build a solid

foundation for success in 90 days. We will provide local startups with the essential resources and counsel they need to become successful, self-directed businesses. Start Engine offers a team of mentors who have proven themselves as successful entrepreneurs not professional investors ensuring that its startups are guided by the right people for the right reasons.

John Diep
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PROCESS
StartEngine is a very selective accelerator program. We receive far more applications from qualified startups than we can accommodate, so we look for teams who are exceptionally bright, passionate and prepared to pivot towards new opportunity. Final selection is based on the application you provide. Make sure to fill it out completely or you may be immediately disqualified. Each application is reviewed twice by partners Howard Marks and Paul Kessler, and are scored independently of one another based on these 5 criteria: 1. At Least Two Co-Founders: We believe the co-founder model provides balance for improved start-up success. 2. One of the Co-founders Must be an Engineer: Other members can be engineers as well. 3. High Talent Level: Were looking for the best talent. 4. Mission Oriented: We invest only in people who can demonstrate a desire to achieve against all odds and execute against huge expectations. 5. Focus on Soft-Tech or Mobile Space: These types of companies will benefit most from our 90-day program.

The people that score the highest with their applications will be invited to an interview, where we learn more about you and make our final determination. Thats the power of StartEngine. Quick decisions, a great support system, and lots of opportunity. Take the next step.

INTERVIEW
Things happen FAST. If your team is fortunate enough to be chosen for an interview for the StartEngine program, it will go something like this:

1 min. Quick Introduction 5 min. Describe Your Vision 5 min. Questions from StartEngine to startup 5 min. Questions from startup to StartEngine 4 min. Closing Thoughts

The interview will be fairly laid back compared to some other accelerators. Well do our due diligence, of course, but we want this to be a two-way conversation to determine if youre a right fit for StartEngine. So bring your passion. Your ideas. Your willingness to get busy. After the interview: well let you know if youre accepted to the program. At that point, you have 24 hours to accept your invitation, or it is immediately withdrawn. Only apply if you mean business. If you do accept our invitation, know this: the real fun and work - begins. NOTE: Please note that we DO NOT conduct the interview over Skype. And, all co-founders needs to be present for the interview.

PERKS
Sure, we provide you with legal services, financial advice, Human Resource (HR) services, and administrative support. But what really separates us are the killer perks you get, including a terrific office space, gym and health bar access, and weekly meals with industry icons and leaders. Its the perfect collaborative work space.

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FUNDING

Value

We provide up to $100,000 of seed funding for your company.

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HEALTH & FITNESS

Value

Equinox is the preeminent luxury fitness company in the U.S. today with 8,000 employees. Committed to offering a full service wellness experience to maximize life, Equinox offers a totally integrated approach to fitness. With a reputation built on world class programming and an unparalleled member experience, Equinox has continuously expanded its lifestyle concepts and product categories to offer its discerning members full service spas, healthy gourmet cafes and upscale stylish athletic clothing boutiques. Equinox consistently

appears on best of lists in magazines and newspapers across the country. Equinox operates 53 clubs in key cities across the country including New York, Chicago, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Miami, Boston, Dallas and Washington DC, each architecturally distinct and custom designed to reflect the energy and culture of its neighborhood. In addition, Equinox has a family of lifestyle brands including Blink, Pure Yoga and Soul Cycle that are highly recognized for inspiring and motivating members to Maximize Life.

HOSTING

Approximate Value

Every StartEngine company gets $2,000/month for 12 months in Rackspace hosting credits and fanatical support.

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HUMAN RESOURCES

Value

Thousands of organizations have turned to TriNet for human resources, benefits, payroll, workers compensation, and strategic human capital services. As their trusted HR advisor, TriNet helps these companies contain HR costs, minimize employer-related risk, and relieve the administrative burden of HR. TriNet also offers a set of Strategic Services that match companies at every point in their lifecycle, including such offerings as Talent Acquisition, Performance Management, and Employee Development. All of TriNets services are supported by a team of dedicated human capital consultants and experts, and enabled by best-in-class HR technology from OraclePeopleSoft.

LEGAL

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Sheppard Mullin is a full service AmLaw 100 firm with more than 550 attorneys in 11 offices located in the United States and Asia. Since 1927, companies have turned to Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters, high stakes litigation and complex financial transactions. In the U.S., the firms clients include more than half of the Fortune 100.

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SOFTWARE

Value

Use WeLinks Plug n Play SDKs to instantly create a private social community within your mobile application. With 10 lines of code and 15 minutes of development, WeLink transforms your app into a socially connected BEAST! Offer: WeLink offers at no charge our Ultra pricing model for 12 months ($5,000 value). Link: www.welink.com Redemption Code: Have your companies contact WeLink directly at Contact@welink.com for their free account.

Every incoming StartEngine Startup has access to $150 worth of free Google Customer Surveys. More information can be found here: google.com/insights/consu mersurveys

Olark live chat is a lightweight tool to chat with visitors to your website using your existing instant messaging client. Visitors to your website appear as buddies on your Buddy list, their messages to you appear as IMs. Live chat is useful for customer support, lead qualification, community building, and relationship building . Whether a site owner operates an ecommerce or consumer or business service site, live chat is increasingly becoming the norm for engaging with visitors in real time.

LiquidSpace is an application that connects people seeking workspace with venues that have space to share. High-end business centers, hip startup coworking spaces, hotels, and private spaces are listed on our web site and in our mobile application.

Formstack provides an easy to use , drag and drop online form builder which allows users to build web form to help their organization collect data online.

KISSmetrics is a powerful web analytics solution that helps you to increase customer acquisition and retention rates, make smarter business decisions, and

boost your bottom line.

SendGrids cloud-based email infrastructure relieves businesses of the cost and complexity of maintaining custom email systems. SendGrid provides reliable delivery, scalability and real-time analytics along with flexible APIs that make custom integration a breeze.

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TRANSPORTATION

Value

Uber is an on-demand car service that allows everyone to have a private driver experience through Smartphone, SMS, and web-based requests. *Ask an SE representative for the discount code.

USER EXPERIENCE

Approximate Value

Visually Satisfactory is a digital design brand. It offers a quick production capability and Hollywood class graphical aesthetics to our clients from all over the world. Services that Visually Satisfactory provides: Web & Graphic design, Branding &

Identity creation, 3D animation, Interactive Media design, and Visual Effects development. Visually Satisfactory offers a wide range of promotion and marketing for each product that is created.

Total value: $0

PARTNERS

CUSHMAN & WAKEFIELD


Smart Real Estate: From garage to IPO, helping entrepreneurs expand their businesses. For more information, please contact Jacob Bobek, jacob.bobek@cushwake.com.

DREAMHOST

DreamHost offers free web hosting (shared, dedicated or VPS) of up to $100/mth for a year, for all startups in the StartupEngine program (representing around $50,000 in value to participants: 10 per class, 4 classes, $1,200 per participant for the year) active participation of DreamHost team as mentors and contributors to the program

NEOHIRE
NeoHire is a specialized, boutique recruiting agency that focuses exclusively on emerging growth and venture backed companies technology and online media companies. We are most widely known for our core competency and specialization in helping startups transition from inception to multi-faceted organizations. NeoHire was founded in 2006 in Santa Monica, California. Initially, the company was a side project by entrepreneurs brothers, Josh and Jason Stomel. They were already known in the local tech scene as connectors and a go-to source for industry relevant talent. Friends and colleagues would routinely inquire about contingency search services, however, both Josh and Jason did not have the resources to give the searches the attention they deserve. They were both working internally for local internet startups, helping their respective organizations build from inception to 150+ employees. In early 2006, they decided that they would rather help several companies with their growth, rather than just one AT A TIME.

PEAK HOSTING
Peak Hosting understands the role of Production Operations and how crucial it is to your business. What makes us unique is how we listen to our customers and design solutions around their needs and budget. Founded in 2000, Peak Web has worked with some of the biggest online properties in identifying and implementing technology solutions. Peaks service offerings are specifically designed for businesses that want an enterprise-level computing environment for their applications and the peace of mind that comes with an experienced technical operations team.

RACKSPACE
Fanatical Support has made Rackspace the worlds leading specialist in the hosting and cloud computing industry. We deliver enterprise-level hosting services to businesses of all sizes and kinds around the world. We got started in 1998 and since have grown to serve more than 161,000 customers. Rackspace integrates the industrys best technologies for each customers specific need and delivers it as a service via the companys commitment to Fanatical Support. Our core products include Managed Hosting, Cloud Hosting and Email & Apps. There are currently over 3,800 Rackers around the world serving our customers.

SHEPPARD MULLIN
Sheppard Mullin is a full service AmLaw 100 firm with more than 550 attorneys in 11 offices located in the United States and Asia. Since 1927, companies have turned to Sheppard Mullin to handle corporate and technology matters, high stakes litigation and complex financial transactions. In the U.S., the firms clients include more than half of the Fortune 100.

SINGERLEWAK
SingerLewak is a leading accounting services and consulting firm in California. Serving clients since 1959, SingerLewak has developed a reputation for excellence as professionals with expertise in Accounting, Tax and Management Consulting. Providing the services of a large firm with a blended environment of practices, services and industry specializations, SingerLewak continues to demonstrate renowned industry leadership year-over-year.

TRINET
TriNet is the on-demand HR partner for startups. TriNet provides startups an instant infrastructure to manage and scale their business. We structure healthcare benefits, manage payroll, and reduce HR liability risks so you can concentrate on growing your business. Paul.Park@trinet.com 213.479.2000 http://www.trinet.com/venturehr/default.htm

WELLSFARGO
Wells Fargo is a provider of banking, mortgage, investing, credit card, insurance, and consumer and commercial financial services.

STARTENGINE FEATURED IN THE L.A. BUSINESS JOURNAL: 1/28/2013

January 28, 2013

View original article here: http://labusinessjournal.com/news/2013/jan/28/pace-setters/

Pace Setters
Accelerators quickly establish value in driving startups By TOM DOTAN This week, Start Engine will unveil the latest class of companies to emerge from its startup accelerator program. The group is the accelerators fourth since it launched in 2011 and the unveiling is one of many during this graduation season for the regions accelerators. In the past few weeks, both Santa Monicas MuckerLab and Amplify LA in Venice have also trotted out the companies under their tutelage in front of potential investors, family and the public. The presentations are like a debutante ball for high tech, with a startup showing off its potential market size and revenue stream like an elegant curtsy. And companies carry the hope that a good showing in front of businesss high society might catch the eye of an investor-gentleman suitor. A bit more than a year after four startup accelerators popped up more or less simultaneously in Los Angeles, the programs already have established a central role in techs local culture. About 80 companies have come through the areas most active accelerators MuckerLab, Amplify, Launchpad LA in Santa Monica and Start Engine, which recently opened up a downtown Los Angeles office in addition to its Westwood location. Many of the emerging startups have gotten investments within weeks of graduating; others have stumbled out of the gate. But beyond money, the local accelerators have helped bring credibility to a startup community yearning for respect. Weve definitely carved out our piece of the puzzle, said Howard Marks, who manages Start Engine. Its definitely not the only part, but accelerators are good fit for a company that can benefit from a college-type community and atmosphere.

Up to speed An accelerator is essentially a boot camp for startups, where companies can get guidance and some funding while working out the kinks of their business model. The ultimate goal is to attract investors at the courses conclusion. Unlike incubators, such as Idealab in Pasadena or Santa Monicas Science Inc. that traditionally develop business models in-house and then hire outside talent to build the companies, accelerators only accept existing startups. In return, the accelerators get a piece of equity in each business. Generally, accelerator classes involve eight to 12 companies that work alongside each other for a few months while mentors help them develop their businesses. To the classes of entrepreneurs, that professional camaraderie has a big appeal. Being a CEO of a company can be a lonely job; were known as the hardest working people in Silicon Beach, said Jerry Jao, whose startup, Retention Science, was part of MuckerLabs first class Its nice to see other people struggle too. The local accelerators all tout the big names well, big for the local tech scene who serve as professional mentors to the programs: both MuckerLab and Launchpad list ShoeDazzle Inc. founder Brian Lee on their team of advisors; Amplify works with Jason Nazar of Docstoc, among others. Like colleges, each accelerator has crafted a distinct identity that helps it stand out. Start Engine is the lenient one and appeals to companies at the earlier stages (though it takes the largest equity stake at 10 percent). MuckerLab lays claim to a sterling record, saying all eight of the companies from its first class received follow-up funding. Amplify is the most flexible and accepts startups on a rolling basis. Launchpad is the entrepreneur friendly one and takes the smallest equity stake, 6 percent in common stock. Most of the accelerators in Los Angeles are backed in part by local venture capital firms. Amplify is financed by Rustic Canyon Partners, Launchpad is bankrolled by GRP Partners. Start Engine is backed by private investors. Directors at the accelerators are still tinkering with the programs, however, trying to find the right balance after feedback from graduates.

For six weeks there was a class every day almost marketing, HR, legal to the point that there was no time to build our product, Jao remembered. Ive heard that they really toned it down with the classes. Funding race This year, Launchpad threw down the gauntlet of funding battles among the accelerators when directors announced it was upping the initial funding of its companies to $100,000. (Its actually $50,000 up front with an option for entrants to take the remaining money as a follow-on investment.) That amount eclipses the standard $20,000 that MuckerLab and Start Engine offer, as well as the $50,000 Amplify uses for its standard up-front investment. Sam Teller, managing director at Launchpad, said the move to up the ante for incoming companies will give more help to companies at a time when venture capital investments have slowed. This year, he said, will be a more challenging year for fundraising. The goal of the $100,000 is not for the companies to hire more people or spend faster, but to last longer without the fear theyre going to run out of money. The other accelerators have taken notice of Launchpads increase, though none have yet to make any changes to their models. Erik Rannala, who heads MuckerLab, said hes considering raising the initial investment, but pointed out the accelerator already offers follow-on rounds even though its not as explicitly stated as Launchpad does. Theres also a question of whether the increased funding really makes a difference in the continuing success of a startup. Y Combinator, the Mountain View firm thats considered the originator and reigning standard-bearer of accelerators, only fronts about $18,000 a company. That amount has apparently been enough for tech hits such as Airbnb and Reddit. Indeed, the bigger selling point for most of the local accelerators has been the ability for startups to come out of the program with a good shot of attracting a quick investment from angels or venture capitalists. Richard Wolpert, who manages Amplify, said his goal is to see companies receive funding of between $500,000 and $1 million within four to six months of graduating. Of the 18 companies to

come from the program, he said, 12 have received seed funding. Those include crowdfunding site builder Invested.In, which raised $875,000, and StackSocial, which took in $800,000 for its technology that lets publishers engage in e-commerce. Taking on a company that cant raise money quickly is too early for us, Wolpert said. Sometimes there will be an applicant whos a great tech guy but doesnt have a business guy, and well say Come back with a well rounded team before you join us. Still, getting money is no guarantee of continued success in a startup landscape where a majority of new companies fail. Last year, Pop-Up Pantry came through Launchpads third class and quickly raised $1.7 million to fund its high-end frozen meal delivery service. But after barely half a year in business, the company shuttered after it was unable to scale the business to where it could offset its huge shipping and production costs. Launchpads Teller said he was disappointed to see the subscription food service go belly-up, but the harsh reality for startups is that the guidance from an accelerator isnt enough. You can always say what if, but we were proud to have invested in that company. Pop-Up Pantry took on an incredible challenge, Teller said. That doesnt worry us or change anything; its expected that most companies will not ultimately succeed. The founders of Pop-Up Pantry didnt return requests for comment. Lid on money StartEngines Marks, a former executive at Activision Inc., said the true worth of a program isnt how quickly it can get a company to raise money. For his accelerator, which unlike the others will take on startups long before theyre ready to bring in outside capital, the value comes through building up the business model and assembling the right team for future success. Y Combinator may have the advantage of working in a region thats flush with tech capital, but L.A. accelerators have to manage the rougher investment climate.

In a market where theres a nearly infinite amount of money its different, but in Los Angeles theres a lid on money and resources, Marks said. Going through a grind that builds team character is better than just raising money. As the success of local accelerators raises their profile, their greatest addition to the local scene may be an ability to attract talent from outside the area. Amplify has taken in startups from Oregon, Utah and Canada; at MuckerLabs recent demo day there were two companies from outside Los Angeles, including GetMeRated, a picture-based social network that began in San Diego. But after four months spent working in MuckerLabs Santa Monica offices and building up contacts and potential investors from the area, Duncan McLaren, GetMeRateds founder, is seriously considering making the move up the coast permanent. Its been a tremendously valuable experience, McLaren said. Theres a huge value to the footprints weve made in Los Angeles that will benefit us for a long time to come.

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