Adam Sachs, Co-Founder of Ignighter, offers Advice for Startup Incubator Applicants

TechStars, a Y Combinator like startup incubator that supplies seed financing and guidance, just opened its doors for 2009 applications. They will be selecting 10 startup teams to join them over the summer in Boulder, Colorado. Adam Sachs, Co-Founder of Ignighter and TechStars '08 Alum, said they received over 400 applicants last year. That number will probably increase this year since these types of incubators have been growing in popularity. Y Combinator has already seed funded over 100 startups over the past 3-4 years. There are many copy cats, too, such as SeedCamp, YEurope, Summer@Highland, LaunchBox, DreamIt Ventures, Bootup Labs, and BoostPhase to name a few.

I recently interviewed Adam Sachs. He had the following advice to increase your chances of getting into TechStars, or any of the others. His startup, Ignighter, a group dating site, came out of TechStars 2008. He said it was a valuable experience and played a large role in helping Ignighter receive its Series A. Brett Jackson, Founder of Generation Think Tank, who is a mentor there also recommended the opportunity when I talked to him about his experience being one of the first 10 employees of Crocs. If you're interested, you can apply here, but here is Adam Sachs advice to help you get in:

1. Have a working prototype. This not only shows that you are more committed to your idea, but that you have throught about it, and are passionate enough to have already started. Having an actual product gives you a huge leg up, partly because it helps reduce the investor's risk.

2. Have a strong team. It's critical for startup teams to be smart, intuitive, creative, and hard working. Anyone can come up with a good idea, it's the execution that is difficult. Bringing team members on board that have already proven themselves, not only brings valuable experience to the table, but helps to facilitate investor confidence. Equally as important, you need to show that each member brings a specific value add to the company. Adam emphasized the point, "You can have the best idea ever, but if you don't have the team, you won't come to TechStars."

3. Show passion. How do expect to get through the hard times without passion for what you're doing? Investors understand this. People who are passionate about their jobs almost always end up putting in more blood, swet, and tears to manifest their dreams into reality. Have you ever come across someone extraodinarily successful that isn't passionate about what they do?

4. Demonstrate speed and work ethic. Adam explained that the mentality at TechStars is to  work harder and faster. You better be prepared because you'll be in a room filled with people constantly pushing the envelope and who working a minimum 12 - 15 hours a day. The two primary competitive advantages of a startup are speed and agility. You need to reduce risk by increasing these advantages by harnessing a competitive work habit.

5. Have a story behind your idea. It's almost like a quasi proof of concept - that your idea actually came out of a need or recognized problem and not something you thought would be "cool" to make. Adam realized that all of his friends were having terrible experiences on dating sites, spending too much money, and usually ended up in some sort of awkward situation. To make dating more fun, natural, and less awkward, he came up with the idea of group dating. You can meet more people at a time, have your friends to buffer the situation and fall back on, and create a more casual, chill experience.

If you have any other advice, feel free to drop it in the comments.