(Wall Street Journal) — On Tuesday, the city’s boot camp for fledgling tech companies sent its first batch of participants into Demo Day, a nerve-wracking event where companies pitch their ideas to a room full of New York City venture capitalists.
“It’s kind of like graduation day,” said Owen Davis, who runs the SeedStart program and also NYC Seed, a group of investors focusing on early stage companies.
SeedStart offers participating companies a $20,000 shoestring budget, some workspace and business mentoring over eight weeks in exchange for equity in the companies. It’s similar to programs like Y Combinator in California and TechStars in Colorado, though it’s the first endeavor of its kind in New York, said Maria Gotsch, chief executive of the New York City Investment Fund.
