Competitive Start Fund (CSF) - Enterprise Ireland

Re:Competitive Start Fund (CSF) - Enterprise Ireland by dxjones on Tuesday March 08, 2011 @09:13AM (#2300873)

For 50k they take 10% equity, valuing your startup at a tiny 500k, plus you have to leave the country. You give up a lot.

Why not just pitch to Dave McClure's 500Startups? You can get started with $10k for 1% equity, valuing your startup at $1M. More funding is possible, plus space, mentors, ...

http://500startups.com/

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Re:Competitive Start Fund (CSF) - Enterprise Ireland by ceejayoz on Tuesday March 08, 2011 @10:26AM (#2301181)

At ~$20k for ~6% equity, YC would seem to be an even smaller valuation than $500k, right?

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Re:Competitive Start Fund (CSF) - Enterprise Ireland by rcamera on Tuesday March 08, 2011 @11:05AM (#2301346)

I doubt that YC measures their investment based on valuation. Imagine the companies they invested that had just the idea formed. How do you valuate that? Even in a stable business, valuation is still a bunch of guesses, how much future cash flow the company will generate, what will the investor opportunity cost be in X years, etc...

I would think more of a bet instead of valuation when thinking of seed investment in a start-up. What I would say they do is standardize their bets, using their history and benchmarking theirs with other investors. YC's standard bet is around ~$20k for ~6% equity, that's all.

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