听说，这家硅谷最火爆的创业加速器，项目录取率比进哈佛还低？(2)

A：We receive over 5000 applicants a year to our program and accept around 160, so it is a very selective process that breaks down into a few steps. The first part is a quick review of the applicant (found here: ). We look for companies with significant advances or strong revenue growth that indicate good product market fit. After that there is a three-step interview process with business analysis, a marketing/ distribution interview, and a general team/product assessment. If the candidate gets past all of those steps, the partners then vote for the final selection process based on the scoring and looking at market/company potential.

Q：Did any teams from China get in? How are they doing?

A：我们每年会收到5000个申请，从中录取160个团队，筛选的过程分为几个步骤： 第一步是快速浏览申请（），我们寻找有前景或者符合市场的高增长率公司。在这之后我们有一个“三步采访”，包括商业分析，市场/渠道面试和综合团队/产品评估。如果申请人通过以上测试，合伙人会依据筛选过程的分数和市场/公司潜力做最后的投票。

Q：When evaluating projects, what are the three things that you concern the most?

Q：其中有没有中国团队呢？他们的表现怎么样？

在太平洋彼端，美国加利福尼亚州帕拉托（Palo Alto）和圣何塞（San Jose）之间，有一个高科技人才的朝圣之地，名为硅谷；近些年来，在这个“谷”中，有一个创业加速器的名字常常被大家挂在嘴边，它就是——500 Startups。

A：Team, Market, and KPI's. First we want to make sure that the team is the right team for the project, both in terms of skill and that they are honest, persistent, and resilient. Next we want to make sure the problem they are solving can generate a $1B company, it has to be big enough and have an opportunity for a startup to grow in. Lastly the KPI's such as revenue, growth rate, low churn rate, reasonable margins, etc.

Q：这是你第一次来深圳，它有什么地方令你惊讶么？

A：I think some of the odder ones include someone pitching us in a large green pickle outfit, a prostitution app, unique types of underwear, a power generation from hot air, I think we even got a resurrection product pitch once.

Q：Compared to other accelerators, what’s the specialty of 500 Startups?

Q：相比其他加速器，咱们500 Startups有什么特别之处么？

Q：500 Startups正在全世界寻求项目但是录取比例却很低，可以解释一下你们的筛选过程么？

—— 独家花絮 ——

A：First，we focus on sales / marketing and alot less on product development. We assume an MVP (Minimum viable product)and focus on growing the company with that MVP. Second, we are strongly international withpresence in over a dozen countries, giving us a much more international reachand feel. Lastly, we arehighly supportive of our companies, providing significant training andassistance in a range of areas from marketing to fundraising with a staff of150+ and 200+ mentors in our network.

About Robert Neivert:

A：Going international can be hard and it takes a lot of resources. So my advise is test out the market to be sure there is strong demand for the product before you spend a lot of time and money expanding outside of your home country. Things like different culture, different money, different laws, different languages, etc.; all add up to lot of cost, so I recommend you test first before you expand.

Q：你们有遇到什么最奇葩的想法或者团队么？

A：嗯~ 我想想哈，有很多奇葩的创业者呢，有一个人穿着大绿黄瓜的人偶来见我们，也有情色软件，奇形怪状的内裤，热空气发电机等等，我们还遇见过做复活产品的奇葩呢哈哈~

Q：On 500.co the word ‘crazy’ is mentioned multiple times, is Dave really crazy? What is 500 crazy for?

思微SimplyWork是为创业者们提供最有情怀的联合办公场地和创业服务社区，位于深圳南山区科技园。这里有舒适多样的办公空间、触手可及的丰富资源、热闹逗比的创业氛围，让创业者倍感亲切、效率工作、任性玩乐。思微团队是一支全海归不懂累只想拼的创业团队，我们有梦想，我们想做事，我们也在品尝着创业的种种滋味，我们知道创业最需要什么，我们就是你们。

A：我被深圳创业社区的蓬勃发展惊讶到了，特别是硬件行业和创业者的多元化，而且这里创业环境特别棒，从本地创客活动到共享办公空间，创业氛围都不错。

Q：It's your first visit in Shenzhen, does the city surprise you in any way?

关于500 Startups:

A：团队，市场和KPI’s. 首先不论是在技术上还是在诚信度，持久度和灵活度上我们要确保这个团队适合这个项目。其次，我们要确保他们项目解决的问题能够使其成长为一个10亿美元的公司，它要足够大到有机会让创业公司去壮大。最后，KPI's 比如，收入，增长率，低流失率，合理的利润率等等都在我们的参考范围之内。

What's 500 Startups？

Q：500 Startups is looking for projects all over the world, but acceptance rate is so low, could you describe the selection process?

500 Startups投资合伙人

Q：你作为一个创业者，在创办9家公司之后，对于想要拓展海外事业的后来者们有什么建议么？

如今，这个硅谷最火爆的创业加速器来到了中国，渴望寻找下一个东方奇迹。但，这家硅谷最火爆的创业加速器500 Startups对中国的创业者有哪些期待呢？它们又更偏爱哪一类创业者和创业项目？思微SimplyWork就此特意采访了500 Startups的投资合伙人Robert Neivert，一起来看看他有哪些话想对中国的创业者说。

Founded by a group of young entrepreneurs, SimplyWork is Shenzhen’s coolest and most international co-working space. Currently we have four spaces (11,600 square meters in total) in the High-Tech Park/Shenzhen University area. We provide comfortable collaborative spaces, local and international venture capital resources, professional and thoughtful entrepreneurial services, unique and inspiring events, and exciting casual atmosphere. SimplyWork can’t wait to be your best buddy along your startup journey!

A：I was surprised about how thriving the startup community was, especially for hardware and how diverse the founders were. I also noticed there was a lot of startup infrastructure in place from shared workspaces to local meetups that are so important to a startup ecosystem.

A：是的，我们很疯狂并且我们为之骄傲，500文化非常有创造性并且积极解决问题。很多人说我们疯狂因为我们不走寻常路；我非常喜欢被说成是疯狂的，这意味着我们在解决问题。创新需要疯狂并且我们很疯狂。

Q：在500.co，“疯狂”一词被提到了很多次，创始人Dave是真的很疯狂么？500又是在为什么而疯狂呢？

在这里，每一天都有来自世界各地最酷最炫最有创意的点子寻求它们的垂青，但能够被选中的却是凤毛麟角。要知道，它们的录取率仅有3.4%，这可比哈佛录取率6.9%的一半还低！

A：走国际化道路非常得不容易并且需要很多资源。所以我的建议是在国外投入大量时间和金钱之前，要确保这个产品有很大的市场。需要考虑不同的文化，货币，法律，语言等等，这些都会产生很多费用，所以我建议在扩张前要做足市场调研。

500 Startups成立于2010年，由Dave McClure创立，为硅谷最活跃、多元化和国际化的种子基金和创业加速器。其种子基金投资了超过1500家新创公司，遍及全球50多个国家。创业加速器关注于金融科技、电子商务、搜索、社交、移动平台、教育及语言等范畴，超过250人的导师社区为新创公司提供包含设计及用户体验、营销及用户获取、分析及成长指标等一系列辅导。

Q：As an entrepreneur yourself, after going through 9 startup companies, do you have any advice for the upcoming entrepreneurs that want to expand their business outside of China?

Robert is a veteran of nine companies. Twice as CEO, and multiple times as CFO, COO, and heads of sales and marketing organizations. He holds a BS, MS in Engineering from Stanford as well as BA & MBA degrees. Robert also teaches martial arts at Stanford.

Q：What was the weirdest idea/team you've seen/met so far?

A：我们有一部分中国团队入选，并且做的很不错。500 Startups现在是香港最活跃的种子期投资机构，（)。鉴于他们是私人公司所以我不会给予太多有关项目的细节，但是他们很多已经进行了后期融资并且有很不错的估值