New | ‘Silicon Valley’s Y Combinator demands teamwork and a viable product’: Chinese alumni give local start-ups some hot tips
World-class incubator screens funding applications for elements of success
A viable product and a capable team are the two key factors to be admitted to one of the most prestigious incubators in the world, according to mainland Chinese alumni of Y Combinator.
The Silicon Valley programme provides each team it incubates with US$120,000 of funding, introductions to investors, and three months of mentorship. Success stories include some of the biggest names in technology such as Airbnb, Dropbox and Reddit.
Webpage editor start-up Strikingly succeeded at its second trial in 2012 after they made their product profitable. The company was established in the US by a team of three mainland Chinese graduates from universities in the US and Hong Kong.
“The idea was the same [for the second time], but we proved we were on the right track by having traction to our product,” founder and chief executive David Chen said. “They care about whether the applicants can get stuff done.”
A month after “graduation” from Y Combinator in March in 2013, Strikingly bagged US$1.5 million investment for its seed round funding.
Beijing-based mobile operating system start-up Raven Tech shares a similar story with Strikingly. It graduated from the programme last March and received more than US$10 million of investment two months later.