[speedracr]

To be frank, I don't share the excitement (or now sadness about loss) either:

  I was hoping it would set an example for the European ecosystem (...)
 but [we] decided to join another incubator instead.

  We ourselves ultimately were lucky to get into Seedcamp

That's 2 for 2 against HackFWD - apparently, the setup wasn't as great as the marketing made it look?

  (it is way easier to teach marketing & business skills 
  to engineers than the other way round)

Looking at the HackFWD companies, that doesn't seem to apply with the broadness that the statement suggests. Could it be that someone who actually went through the steps (Paul Graham, developer - built, founded and exited Viaweb) is in a better position to pass on knowledge on that than someone who didn't (Lars Hinrichs, business guy - hired developers, founded and excited Xing)?

While I find the passion, generosity and appetite for risk behind HackFWD more than commendable: it looks like it would have taken a larger vision (possibly even larger & more costly than YC) to carry a tech-focused EU incubator forward. I understand that the decision to cut losses is probably the right one, but if he's unwilling to stick it out for 5-7+ years - YC was started in March 2005! -, maybe he shouldn't have started HackFWD in the first place. The way it stands now, the one who benefited most seems to have been Lars through publicity and reputation (cf. European Commission etc.)