[pauldisneyiv]

After viewing the MassChallenge site and perusing the complex application process, I am reminded why I'm not excited about applying anywhere outside of Y Combinator.

I don't care about the money I care about the experience.

Will I learn anything from these people? From the other startups that are accepted? Outside some seed money, what is the upside?

*EDIT

My initial thoughts may have been harsh - and perhaps I'm being a hipster - but I don't get the feeling that this is something truly special/cool. I believe there are talented business people involved, but for me it doesn't appear to be a life-changing event as much as a cash prize.

That being said there is obviously a lot of support from those involved - they represent the bulk of the dialog here.

[JohnHarthorne]

Mentors and speakers last year included the founders of billion dollar companies (Desh Deshpande - Sycamore/Cascade/A123, Josh Boger - Vertex Pharmaceuticals), billion pageview websites (Alexis Ohanian - Reddit), and successful entrepreneurs from all fields, including consumer web (Jeff Taylor - Monster.com), B2B software (Dharhmesh Shah - Hubspot), energy (Tim Healy - EnerNoc) and life sciences (Ken Bate - Archemix).

What makes you think you can't learn from these people?

Last year's finalists raised well over $30M in outside funding in the 7 months following day 1 of the accelerator program ... with 100+ startups on one floor, there is a lot of opportunity to learn (and teach).

[bmelton]

I don't think his assertion was that he couldn't, but that he didn't know who would be there.

The first part of your post was very informative, but I downvoted you for the snark. If it wasn't intended the way I read it, please accept my apologies.

[PMHacker]

I would say you will get probably the best line up of mentors you can get on the East Coast. We were one of the finalists last year (TaskPoint) and I cannot overestimate experience and publicity we got out of it

[DesmondPieri]

You'll learn a lot. The mentors are top notch. Upside is being part of the great MassChallenge eco system for a year (it's that long if you are a winner.) I was with one of last year's winners, RelayRides. It was all upside. And winning this helped us raise our $4.5 million Series A.

[villi]

Do you mean there is a one year commitment if you win? Or do you have to stay in Boston for the year?

[WarPaul]

Any serious entrepreneur should care about the money, every penny even, which is why MassChallenge offers no equity taken.

For a $199 entry fee (which is automatically reimbursed to the entrepreneur upon securing a few endorsements that help to validate that crazy idea of yours), an entrepreneur gets access to a growing network of top attorneys, investors, mentors and industry leading, seasoned entrepreneurs. Not a bad deal, BUT, it is up to the entrepreneur to make the most of this value by being proactive and engaged.

Just to be clear, MassChallenge had a YCombinator startup - embedly - make it to the finals in 2010, so you can apply to both..

[ivankirigin]

Why not just take applications and accept participants without charging? Preload the endorsements and use your own judgement.

If you want to help founders, this is what you should do. If you're trying to make money from conference fees, you're doing it wrong: no one reading this thread will apply.

[vineet]

The application process is designed to make you do things that you need to do anyway, i.e. having an executive summary, networking, etc.

We (Architexa) were finalists last year and did not find the application process complicated.

As for the experience: I found it really helpful.

Especially talking to the other startups and working with them day-in day-out. We did not apply for the office space, but it definitely was very useful working right next to the the other teams.

Beyond the above, the MassChallenge team works very hard in connecting the startups to the right people in the industry - we got great feedback and made progress because of that.