Y Combinator

I attended a Harvard School dinner this evening that discussed a start up incubator, Y Combinator started by Paul Graham that offers seed funding and mentoring for very early stage start ups.

It was great to hear from former participants in the incubator and hear first hand their stories and insights. It sounds like a fantastic opportunity for a business, and strangely for the US, the draw isn't really about the money (attendees get $5000 for each member of the team, and the business gets $5000 for a small percentage of the company) it's about the contacts and mentoring that are available through the programme.

There have been some hugely successful companies come out of this experience already, including Reddit and Justin.TV and more here.