Many life lessons are learned inside the borders of a sandbox. You learn how to share, how to build (or tear down) and, most importantly how to use your imagination.
So, it is no wonder why we are seeing more startup incubators, (or sandboxes), coming to surface and nurturing promising Entrepreneurs and their startup babies.
This is exactly what 15-month old NYC-based Hatch Labs, a new venture sandbox, is doing and has already supervised the birth of six healthy, happy and successful startups in the past year.
Let’s find out what sandbox lessons we can learn from Dinesh Moorjani, Founder and CEO, and why Hatch Labs is the best startup playground.
Dinesh and his Groundbreaking Mobility
Dinesh always knew this mobile tech thing would take off, and he has the career clout to prove it (oh yes, and an MBA from HBS… always impressive).
From Investment Management at Goldman Sachs, to consumer technology products builder at Samsung Electronics, to Sr. VP of IAC Mobile, Dinesh has been on the frontlines of mobile innovations since the late 90s and has now created a space to continue to nurture future mobile startup talent with Hatch Labs.
So, what makes Hatch Labs stand out from other incubators like Y Combinator?
The Delicate Dance of the VC/Accelerator
Hatch Labs has got the best of both (startup) worlds: the financial resources from VCs and the careful nurturing of an accelerator.
Accelerators like Hatch Labs take on talented entrepreneurs for three to four months, provide on average $25,000 in seed funding (in exchange for up to a 10% material stake in the company) and offer the physical space (office, bandwidth, etc.) and a community of mentors and fellow entrepreneurs.
Venture Capital, of course, offers the financial support. For Hatch Labs, having a joint venture between IAC and Xtreme Labs has allowed the company to focus funding on product building and marketing, which, according to Dinesh, are the hardest problems to solve for entrepreneurs starting out.
This model, says Dinesh, helps talented and proven entrepreneurs who may otherwise be overlooked by VCs or accelerators.
The Secret Sauce: Equity
Hatch Labs offers each startup equity in the company, encouraging entrepreneurs to build and grow not only their product, but add to the success of Hatch Labs as a whole.
The Creative Cocktail: Talent
The biggest challenge, according to Dinesh, is finding the right quality of people. This battle for talent is also the biggest competition, NOT competing with other incubators. Dinesh calls this Co-opetition.
Luckily for Hatch Labs, they have been able to find some serious talent (and have had 100% retention as a result). Their newly hatched mobile app babies include:
- Cash Island
- Blush
- Kartel
- CrowdFail
- Blu Trumpet
- Cardify
The Quest for Customer Delight
Besides wanting startups to focus on improving mobility with existing products as well as transforming it, Dinesh wants Hatch Labs to support products that give the customer genuine delight (see above startup babies), and has a human interface that wants you to engage. According to Dinesh, Hatch Labs wants the experience to be more fun and innovative and make our lives easier. That, he says, is about transforming mobility.
So, if you want your mobile startup baby to grow and succeed, maybe you should consider sending it to the Hatch Labs sandbox where it will be nurtured, tested and transformed to be a productive citizen of the tech world.
