[PragmaticPulp]

> Some of the feedback here is a little harsh

The problem is that he’s starting to get involved with other people’s businesses before he even understands how business or startups work. It’s not clear if he’s ever worked at any company other than his own, yet he’s trying to mentor others on how to start and operate businesses. Incubators traditionally trade mentorship and other valuable resources in exchange for equity.

If he’s taking equity (not stated in his post but assumed if he’s operating as an incubator) then it’s right to be more critical about what he’s offering in exchange. University students can be vulnerable to entering into bad equity deals or working arrangements operating under the guise of incubators, accelerators, or angle investors.

[adamlangsner]

I think that's getting a little ahead of ourselves. The guy built a landing page that links to a google form. Who knows if he'll get any interest. And if he does, founders need to do due diligence on their investors too. It goes both ways, the market for private equity is relatively illiquid non-commoditized and informationally asymetric which means it requires a higher transaction cost and due diligence. I don't think it's constructive to shame someone for trying something new even if they're not super experienced in it. What is the threshold one needs to cross before they try an idea? There's a balance between gaining experience and taking action, maybe he needs to move a little to the other side of that spectrum, but he'll learn that and in the end there is no effort without error. I don't think his incubator is going to be very successful so it's no big loss to anyone

[PragmaticPulp]

> What is the threshold one needs to cross before they try an idea?

That’s missing the point. The concerns aren’t about his personal business. The concerns are about the students he’s trying to influence and take equity from.

Once you start putting yourself in a position to take equity in the labor and businesses of University students, the bar is higher.

> I don't think his incubator is going to be very successful so it's no big loss to anyone

You’re still missing the point. If his incubator isn’t very successful, then presumably any of the students who become involved with his incubator won’t be successful either. It’s not fair to the University students to be drawn into an incubator program that we can all apparently agree is not on a track for success. I just hope Universities are smart enough to not endorse this idea.

[adamlangsner]

It's not going to be successful, not because it's gonna gain a lot of traction and then go bust, but because no one's going to sign up for this. Look at the comments in this thread, read his landing page. It's obvious you wouldn't take this seriously as an incubator. It's not even an incubator, it's just google form he's using to do customer development. He'll probably have some conversations with the few people he gets to fill it out and then realize it's too much work or it's a bad fit and he'll move on to his next idea or maybe it'll morph into something else. Who knows? You make it seem like he's this charlatan peddling some false incubator product to unsuspecting founders. He's a 20 year old college student from Macedonia dipping his toe into something.