. . . You gots to put a shingle up to attract the start-up talent. With a 1.7 percent acceptance rate for its last class, TechStars NY already bested the Ivy League at its own game: the enviable aura of exclusivity. But New York’s glut of incubators, accelerators, and co-working spaces—all loosely-organized around the goal of mentoring, housing, funding and growing baby start-ups into big companies—have led to a noticeable distinction between the varsity and JV leagues of support networks. Admission into TechStars vaunted ranks, of course, comes with $18,000 in funding—and exposure. And even General Assembly is known for having VCs saunter-through its effortlessly cool coworking space, which has led to some investment deals.
This coming Monday, less-proven concepts like NYU-Poly, one of NYC EDC’s earliest booster investments (before they went the more grassroots, General Assembly-route), as well as Hive 55, NYDesigns, and WeWork Labs, are hosting a “Incubator Showcase” to show-off what they can offer. It’s free for NYTECH members and sponsors, but $20 for non-members. Hey, no one wants to look cheap.
