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The first image visible on StartEngine.com is a panoramic shot of the beach. A sans-serif white font is superimposed over it, reading “Strive for Success.”
The site is the digital home of StartEngine, a Santa Monica-based startup accelerator that aims to establish Los Angeles — home of such software and hardware mammoths as SnapChat and Space X — as a pillar of the national tech sector.
StartEngine was founded in 2011 by Activision co-founder Howard Marks and Los Angeles investor Paul Kessler to “help make LA a top tech city,” according to Marks. In order to further its progress, the incubator sustains an approach largely informed by the city it serves.
“LA is the second largest city in the US,” said Marks. “LA has a very diverse economy from manufacturing to fashion to media. It is a major trendsetter for the rest of the country. [It’s the] media center of the world and inventor of email, 3D printing, telecommunication satellites, etc.”
The local academic environment also constitutes a substantial point of inspiration. Incipient business owners, designers, and developers matriculate through major universities such as CalTech, UCLA, and USC. “LA graduates more engineers than anywhere in California and probably the entire West Coast,” said Marks.
Equally important to the company are the geographical phenomena and culture indigenous to Southern California. The social and psychological climate of a new company is prone to tension and rigor, and StartEngine views the proximity to the ocean, desert, and mountains, as well as the calmness-cultivating tropes of coastal cities, as the perfect antidote. “Founders want a comfortable and fun environment to work in,” Marks added. “Startups are hard and take many years to get off the ground. Having access to the beach, skiing, hiking, golfing all in one place offers founders nice sports and outdoor opportunities to relax.”
To qualify for StartEngine, a startup must focus on digital technology or media, with at least two co-founders, one of whom must be an engineer. In its applicants, Marks said, the accelerator seeks a “strong sense of mission, passion, and tenacity,” and ascribes high value to the character, academic background, and dynamic of the co-founders.
Once greenlit, a startup will receive $20,000 in funding in a Y-Combinator SAFE, and StartEngine will take a 4 to 10 percent equity stake. Should the startup show sufficient promise and development, StartEngine will invest up to $100,000.
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Admitted startups also receive counsel as well as operational and health-oriented benefits. “StartEngine currently has over 230 mentors committed to helping promising young entrepreneurs develop and refine their business models,” CEO Ron Miller told SuperbCrew.com in a recent interview.
During the 90-day program, enrollees are given support with legal services, finances, human resources, administration; they can also take advantage of office space and gym and health bar access (apropos to West LA).
Currently, StartEngine’s graduate count is 58. This number includes social media feed software company Enplug; thrdPlace, a social-impact community mobilization platform; mobile advertising app Nearwoo; and Tint, a “social hub”-generating service for businesses.
As it evolves, StartEngine plans to reevaluate its admissions criteria using a new equity crowdfunding platform. Soon, all applicants will be required to raise their initial rounds of capital using this tool, with results determining their fate with StartEngine. After a vetting period, StartEngine will co-invest to match the amount raised for the startups it plans to admit.
Marks hopes this addition, among others, will advance StartEngine’s efforts to redefine the national landscape of tech. According to him, the company plans to “continue to grow the tech startup community with a few large successes to establish us as the second tech center for the US.” It's a grand ambition, but one that seems increasingly attainable.
