Our startup, CloudFab.com, went through the AlphaLab program, and I thought it was a great experience overall. Main points of the program:
- Mentors / Speakers: They give you access to a lot of local mentors who are great for vetting your idea and making you think straight about your product. They also bring in some prominent connections from outside like VCs (USV, FirstRound, etc.), founders (Eric Koger, CEO of ModCloth) and others in the national entrepreneurial scene.
- Network: You can really build your network in Pittsburgh, but I've also found it helpful for getting some legitimacy outside the region as well.
- Investment: Of course the $25K was very helpful to get my partner working on it full time and to cover other expenses. There's also companies that go on to receive follow on funding from Innovation Works (the AlphaLab parent org) and of course angels - which we were lucky enough to get.
- Space / Community: It's really great to be in the same space other startups and afterward to be able to have them for peer-support.
Overall, I think the experience was great, and my own criticism is that they require you to maintain a presence in PA - which is a turn off to many good people who could end up staying.
- Mentors / Speakers: They give you access to a lot of local mentors who are great for vetting your idea and making you think straight about your product. They also bring in some prominent connections from outside like VCs (USV, FirstRound, etc.), founders (Eric Koger, CEO of ModCloth) and others in the national entrepreneurial scene.
- Network: You can really build your network in Pittsburgh, but I've also found it helpful for getting some legitimacy outside the region as well.
- Investment: Of course the $25K was very helpful to get my partner working on it full time and to cover other expenses. There's also companies that go on to receive follow on funding from Innovation Works (the AlphaLab parent org) and of course angels - which we were lucky enough to get.
- Space / Community: It's really great to be in the same space other startups and afterward to be able to have them for peer-support.
Overall, I think the experience was great, and my own criticism is that they require you to maintain a presence in PA - which is a turn off to many good people who could end up staying.