F6S VS Gust VS Younoodle
For my first class of unbank.ventures I used 3 platforms to accept applications. I did this because I wanted to learn which one worked best. Below is an overview of the pros and cons of each platform.
Ranking
1. F6S
2. Gust
3. Younoodle
Younoodle
I learned about Younoodle while judging a startup competition at IoT World. The co-founders were facilitating the startup pitches. After the event they invited me to judge accelerator applications. I was impressed with the UI and how easy it was to use. Unfortunately, my experience using it for applications was not great. I found it difficult to setup the application. I eventually abandoned the application and moved onto Gust. I went back and completed the application but did not link it to my website. In spite, of loving the founders I was underwhelmed with the product.
Pros
- Great customer service. Assigned a dedicated person.
- Attractive UI
- Efficient judging process
Cons
- Difficult to setup
- No community — startups are not looking for Younoodle applications
- Expensive: 1 free app/year. 2nd application is $2,000
Gust
I woke up one morning and received an email from Gust. It was like the universe was reaching out to me. I had not used Gust since I worked at an Angel investment group in Spokane, WA. I quickly setup an application and linked it to my website. The UI is clean and the platform just works. I have only on complaint about this product. The quality of companies on this platform are not great. Gust generated the most applications but I only setup one interview with the companies on this platform. This is a great platform if you can create your own pipeline.
Pros
- Easy to use
- Great SEO. This application comes up before my website.
- Generates applications and interest.
- Free
Cons
- Quality of applications
- Slow to respond to customer issues
F6S
Upon recommendation from a colleague I setup an application on F6S. Shortly, after setting up my application the founder reached out to me. I was skeptical of his motivations. I figured he was going to try to sell me something. The only thing he asked was that I put a link to my F6S application on my website. This rubbed one of my colleagues wrong but I had no loyalty to a platform at the time. He offered to put me in his newsletter for free. This helped generate a relatively large amount of applications. The quality of applications and customer service was great. I don’t love the UI but it is not a deal breaker. It is a bit cluttered in comparison to Younoodle and Gust.
Pros
- Quality of community
- Cost (Free)
- Customer Service
Cons
- UI somewhat difficult to navigate
Going forward, I plan on streamlining the process. I plan on using a single application. Managing two platforms is difficult from an evaluation process. I do fear that I may be missing out on companies but using a single platform just makes more sense from an operations standpoint. With all that said I have decided to exclusively use F6S for the next application batch and recommend that you do the same.
