United Accelerators

Welcoming HackFwd on board

2011-12-16T16:24:00.000+01:00

Definitely one of the most unique members, hope we can learn a lot from their approach!

4 more European accelerators join us

2011-11-21T11:50:00.001+01:00

Please join me in welcoming NDRC (Dublin, Ireland), Ryanair Academy (Dublin, Ireland), Seedrocket (Barcelona, Spain) and H-Farm (Venice, Italy)

Another 3 leading programs join the Seed Accelerator Program Association

2011-11-14T21:04:00.001+01:00

After a few skype calls Oxygen (Birmingham), Startupsauna (Helsinki) and Openfund (Athens) came on board today :D

If you are running an accelerator somewhere around the world don't miss out on the conversation!

Hailing frequencies to connect with the other Seed Accelerator Programs remain open

2011-09-10T11:45:00.004+02:00

A lot has changed since Alex Farcet and I drafted this site and Linkedingroup almost 2 years ago, for starters we've been Partners in the new Startupbootcamp for a while now. Techstars has also evolved the Global Affiliate program with Startupbootcamp to the Techstars Network, that includes over 25 programs around the world based on their model. Jon Bradford, who was one of the first members after launching The Difference Engine now leads Springboard and Ignite100. Seedcamp has refocused its strategy and grown the team. The first exhaustive accelerator rankings for the U.S. and Europe have been published. And although activity on the site has stopped, around a dozen other members have joined the forum, including Mozilla's WebFwD, GammaRebels and StartupHighway.

One thing that hasn't changed is that @Unitedaccel is still an open forum and that Managers from any Accelerator program around the world, as defined by the dozen moderators in the forum including Jed and Shedd who prepared the first listing and studies, is welcome to join the conversation without any strings attached or agendas beyond the manifesto. Ping me to know more

Hope to share more soon!

6 years of Paul Graham's YCombinator

2011-09-10T11:09:00.000+02:00

Kudos to the program that started it all

Article in GigaOm

Multi-city accelerator program aims to finally put European entrepreneurs on the map

2011-01-21T11:30:00.001+01:00

Not sure how I could share the post at TetuanValley and Startupbootcamp blogs without affecting the perceived neutrality of this forum, so I've just cut & pasted:

Rainmaking in Denmark and Okuri Ventures in Spain are joining forces to create the first accelerator based in several European cities, empowering entrepreneurs to leverage on local resources to access larger markets. The 3 month program in Madrid (Summer 2011) and Copenhagen (Fall 2011) will soon be followed by Berlin (Winter 2012) and London (Spring 2012). And that is only the beginning.

Why are we aiming to succeed where even the mighty European Union has failed? To put it in simple terms, some things just need to be done.

We want Startupbootcamp teams from all over the world to choose to attend any of the cities we are in, experiencing a truly European network. We want entrepreneurs to think about Europe as a single market, not a fragmented ecosystem. We want Startupbootcamp mentors to collaborate with teams all around Europe. We want investors to meet and invest in any startup in the European Startupbootcamp constellation. In our vision, there are no more countries and ecosystems, but a single connected Europe entrepreneurship space.

The 3 month program, where teams will receive 4000€ per team member and work in the free office space at Startupbootcamp sites, is based on the support of over 150 mentors that share their experience buidling truly amazing businesses. Each city has its own batch of local mentors plus a batch of international shared mentors across all programs. We truly believe in one Europe and that means that our people will be everywhere. Startups will have access to not only the whole Startupbootcamp Europe team, but to all the mentors and investors in our network which covers the whole world, US, EMEA, Latam and Asia.

We will also hold a European International Investor Day for all of our graduated startups to pitch to international VCs and Business Angels. We believe we need a platform for wider exposure of the European startup scene. We want to bring that to bridge countries and bring together startups and investors from across all geographies of the region.

Are you a entrepreneur? Want to kickstart your startup in a true international fashion? Want to meet peers from all over the world? Summer in partyland-sexy-Spain? Fall in beautiful-Copenhagen? Stay tuned, Madrid applications open on February 2011 and the deadline is May 15th 2011. The Copenhagen edition closes applications July 15th 2011.

Are you an investor? Passionate about finding new startups? Want to help the rising European entrepreneur scene? Want to attend our investor day? Come and join us!

Lets make things happen people, change is on its way, one Startupbootcamp, one program, one Europe!

How far are you willing to go to launch your startup?

2010-06-28T22:14:00.000+02:00

Its been about six months since Alex Farcet and myself held a Skype conference after connecting through Twitter to share our experience with Tetuan Valley. That conversation led to my collaboration as mentor in Startup Bootcamp and the launch of United Accelerators as a forum for Seed capital programmes to connect and share experiences, group which Techstars and Seedcamp joined within a week and now includes Bucharest Hubb (Bucharest, Romania), Maverick Seed Capital (Lisbon, Portugal), Seed Accelerator (Sydney & Singapore, Australia and Asia), Techwildcatters (Dallas, U.S.A.) and The Difference Engine (U.K.),

Recently, Startup Bootcamp has set new standards for exchanging best practices by becoming the first Techstars Global Affiliate. And when a few weeks back we were offered to participate in their new fund it was time for the team at Okuri Ventures to reflect on the whether international borders are just lines on a 2D map and seriously consider our first international transaction... even though we had never shacked hands with the team in Copenhagen and have only been running our Tetuan Valley program for 2 editions. As every entrepreneur knows, incentives push us out of our comfort zones and launching a venture is closer to a journey than to a destination. Not to mention we feel a lot closer to their crew than to millions of people around the block which live on another plane of existance.

So if you are a startup somewhere in Europe that could benefit from being part of the first batch of the first Techstars Global Affiliate and believe Denmark is out of your way you might be waisting the opportunity of a lifetime. I lived there over a decade ago and must admit its cold and dark during the Winter, but 10 lucky teams are going to experience the Spring of their lives. Check out the details right now because deadline for applications is June 30th

Startupbootcamp becomes the first TechStars Global Affiliate

2010-05-11T08:57:00.008+02:00

Two of our founding members, TechStars and StartupBootcamp, just made a milestone announcement:

We're very proud to announce that Startupbootcamp is the first TechStars Global Affiliate. When Rainmaking and I first considered launching Startupbootcamp late last year, we reached out to David Cohen who was incredibly helpful and "open source". Not only did we learn a lot but we could see that the chemistry and integrity level matched as well.

We are now building on this and firming up the relationship through an affiliation. David Cohen, founder of TechStars, explains his view here.

What does it mean concretely?

Cooperating with David Cohen and Tom Keller (who is the Managing Director, International) and the TechStars team is a fantastic opportunity for Startupbootcamp which will make a material difference to our startup participants. This gives us an opportunity to tap into the experience and network of TechStars. Our startup participants will benefit from a very deep mentor pool and the best startups will now have improved access to early-stage investment capital.

TechStars plans to run an annual gathering of its affiliates to enable sharing and relationship building. We will also be sharing "hot desks" enabling members of our respective communities to visit each other's facilities.

I will be visiting TechStars in Boulder later this week and will be sharing my impressions and observations throughout my one-week stay. (keep an eye on @bootcampdk)

Startupbootcamp going forward

Startupbootcamp is currently screening applications from startup teams across Europe. The most critical factor for us is the team. We are looking for high quality teams who have the complimentary skills and dedication needed to succeed with a startup. The idea is less important since in most cases it will be adapted as a result of the program.

Most of our current applicants are within the tech area, including web enabled services, mobile services and games. These are exactly the kind of startups we like, since they can achieve significant development within the three month period of the program and they have global potential.

Startupbootcamp applications close by end of June and the first program runs from mid-August to mid-November.

More info has been added in Why is Techstars affiliation big news for the Startup Community?

The TechStars affiliation is a big deal for everyone in our wider community:

1) Startup teams: every team going through Startupbootcamp will benefit from an expanded network of mentors and connections. The TechStars community is very influential and engaged and I suspect they will take a keen interest in the startups coming out of Startupbootcamp. Who's to say, perhaps David Cohen can take our very best teams along on his annual Silicon Valley roadshow...

2) Mentors: as above, our mentors now have access to an amazing mentor community in the US. We're going to share "Hot Desks" in the hope that everytime a mentor or other member of the TechStars community is in Copenhagen they come by our offices to hang out and share their knowledge, connections and war stories. And vice-versa in Boulder, Seattle and Boston.

3) The Startupbootcamp team: we get access to three years of experience which represents a mountain of know-how and processes. We can learn from the TechStars mistakes and take away their best tips. I'll be travelling to Boulder in a couple of days and will be sharing my impressions and observations here and on the Startupbootcamp Facebook page.

4) Copenhagen: we love our city and we think it's an amazing place to launch startups. Our hope is that we help put Copenhagen on the European and global startup map as one of the hotbeds of entrepreneurship.

5) Rainmaking: I am the co-founder of Startupbootcamp with Rainmaking, which is itself one of the hottest startups / investors in Denmark and Europe. Rainmaking is focused on being successful in an ethical way which contributes to solving the world's problems. This shared integrity and values-based approach is also part of the reason for cooperating with TechStars who have a strong track record in this area.

So what are you waiting for? Apply today and accelerate your startup to the stars!

United Accelerator Manifesto

2010-03-28T09:30:00.002+02:00

After a few weeks of discussion in the private forum at Linkedin we are finally ready to release our manifesto:

Why are we here?

Paul Graham (YCombinator) and David Cohen (Techstars) have written the textbook on accelerators programmes but many chapters, particularly regarding how to adapt to conditions in other markets, are missing

We believe there is an opportunity to fine tune and replicate the model to other geographies with potential to nurture and grow startups

The degree of success, and mistakes, of different initiatives will influence how we are all viewed by entrepreneurs, later stage investors and other stakeholders

A new generation of entrepreneurs is sharing their experiences and collaborating around the world. United Accelerator members should lead by example

Our objective is to create a neutral forum for sharing lessons learned, contacts, and ideas

What are we going to do?

Explore collaboration options between different member programmes
Open up channels between members through the Linkedin group private discussion forum
Use the Twitter account to promote all member and non-member programmes
Use the blog to share links, guest blog entries and whatever other means we see fit to promote accelerators (when relevant)
Quarterly conference call with Management from the programmes to share experiences on what works and what doesnt in each market and, with the right sponsors, annual Global conference hosted by a different member each year

Why should you get involved?

Learn from managers of other seed accelerator programs (best and worst demonstrated practices)
Expand your network (of peers, of mentors, of investors, of partners, of potential interns & employees, etc.)
Improve your visibility

If you are a part of the management of an accelerator programme and want to know more shoot me an email

Want to know more?

2010-02-07T11:01:00.004+01:00

For the time being we have decided to keep discussions closed to the Linkedin group. Twitter account will be used for some announcements and to track progress of the different initiatives (both member and non-member organizations).

If you participate in the management of any accelerator program and would like to know more please send me an email to join us there

Site under construction

2010-01-26T11:51:00.007+01:00

For more info please check post at the Tetuan Valley blog (copied below) or the Linkedin group

Opening hailing frequencies to connect with the other Seed Accelerator Programs

Yesterday part of the crew and myself had a conversation with Bootcamp Denmark in the hopes of organizing an exchange program with lots of Viking females that could help us lure the best hackers into the Spring 2010 edition of Startup School. It obviously didn't work out, but we had the chance to share a lot of experiences and realized how important it was in many ways to start learning from each other the best way to fine tune the Ycombinator model to other latitudes. We are honoured Techstars has been the third program to join us.

Combined with our contacts with Seedcamp to help organize the Barcelona stage at IESE, and talks with other accelerator programs around the world, it seems the right time to open up the channels; if you are part of the organization of an accelerator program and would like to join our discussion group please shoot me an email

If you want to check out the other programs we have added those from Shedd's list to the sidebar

Hello World

2010-01-26T09:46:00.001+01:00

More to follow soon