An Inside Look At AngelPad, The Top Startup Accelerator Of 2015
This story was originally published on Forbes.
AngelPad was recently ranked the #1 startup accelerator in the US. This news makes me especially proud since I just went through the program. However, before I got in, like thousands of other applicants I didn’t have any idea what it was about. While there are several articles about YCombinator, TechStars, and 500 Startups, little information is out there about AngelPad. In this post, I will explain how the program works, the people behind it, and how it helped me and my company.
As it turns out, AngelPad applications for the next session have already opened up. If you’re looking to apply, you probably have questions, and I’m going to tell you everything you need to know.
What is Angelpad?
AngelPad is a technology startup accelerator. It’s currently based out of New York, with strong connections to Silicon Valley. AngelPad focuses on producing long-lasting companies, usually B2B, with well-defined revenue streams. The batch is intentionally small: while thousands apply, only 12–14 companies are selected. None of the companies compete with each other. StrictlyVC called it the “Anti-YC”.
Who runs AngelPad?
Founders & Friends
Thomas Korte was an early employee of Google and he founded AngelPad in 2010. Today, he and (his wife) Carine Magescas run the program. They work beside you, understanding everything about you, your business, and your vision. In New York, and on your trips to SF, you’ll also meet many Friends of AngelPad, such as Wesley Chan, Naval Ravikant, Dave McClure, Bryan Schrier, Keval Desai, Brendan Baker, Tom Tunguz and many more. These guys will rip apart your business and pitch, but will heap on you a ton of knowledge and give you helpful tactical feedback.
AngelPad Alumni
Probably the best part about AngelPad is the community of entrepreneurs that you become a part of. These are successful people who’ve been in your shoes, and are on the same journey, just further ahead. Prepare to be pleasantly surprised by how many AngelPad alums will open their doors to you, helping with your pitch, investor introductions, fund-raising advice, and a drink when you need one.
What happens in AngelPad?
You’ll spend 3 months in a beautiful office in Manhattan, New York. It’s a great location in Greenwich Village, with superb restaurants, bars and cafes — but don’t plan on getting out much, you’ll be working your butt off day and night.
Every week starts with the Monday morning meeting. It’s supposed to start at 9am, but you’ll learn pretty soon that 9 means 8:45. Thomas and Carine set the stage for the week, and each company books a slot for a one-on-one meeting with them.
During the meeting you work directly with “TKCM” on questions about the company and take in their advice. This is not a general advice and affection session: prepare to be steamrolled. They roll up their sleeves and work with you on the whiteboard, give direct feedback on your product (they beta test it). My advice: don’t fuss about what you think, you’re here to learn from them, and if you apply most of what they say, you’ll come out better at the other end.
Monday evenings are a 4-hour ask-me-anything session with Thomas that doesn’t usually end until close to midnight. There’s endless beer, pizza and answers to every one of your flaming questions on fundraising, hiring, legal, customer acquisition, visas and more. You’ll hear lessons learned by other companies, investor insider stories, tactical tips, and meet many AngelPad alums.
On Tuesday, be in the office by 9am. This is the day when you’ll realize how open the batch is.
One of the companies springs for breakfast, and this breakfast meeting focuses on them. They pitch, demo or ask specific questions, and everyone shares feedback. There’s no secrecy within the batch–you’ll be working together, in the same office for months, you’ll help each other, whether it’s someone’s deck or javascript. Many of the companies in our batch were using Mammoth and we got a ton of valuable feedback from them.
Tuesday or Wednesday is also when you generally schedule a follow-up one-on-one meeting with TKCM, and then spend the rest of the week working on your business, your product, customer interviews, applying all that you’ve learned from TKCM and your peers.
Friday evening around 9pm we would generally head out for dinner & drinks. But Saturday you’re back in the office–do you honestly have something better to do?
Around once a month, you’ll head to San Francisco with the entire corps. These are long days with working sessions morning to night. You’ll meet some of the Friends of AngelPad and alums. If you’re lucky, you might even go on a boa tride into a very real storm with the entire batch to get drunk in Tiburon.
Demo Day
Demo day is in San Francisco. Here, in a 3-minute presentation, you’ll showcase your wares to 200 carefully selected investors such as Accel, Homebrew, and Redpoint.
Three weeks prior to demo day you begin working on your deck. You take all the feedback you’ve received so far and formulate a concise 5–10 slide deck. The goal is to get the point across without overwhelming the audience with too much information. Before demo day you’ll pitch internally to the batch several times. If you’re the nervous type, this is when you can say goodbye to that forever.
Demo day is equivalent to a mother bird kicking her little hatchlings out of the nest so they learn to fly on their own. You’ll now set up several investor meetings, pitch everyday, continually tweak the deck and the pitch, and at the same time build your company.
The good thing is you’ll always have your batch, AP alums, and TKCM to reach out to.
Should I apply?
Short answer: yes. The form’s easy enough, it’s primarily factual. The only thing you’re really going to have to think about is the video. My advice: just get the team together and be yourself, be cool, be truthful. This is the big leagues, don’t be a joker. Your personality should shine through, and it’s what’ll help you get selected. Good luck!