While I don't have the benefit of having seen these guys first-hand (I was at YC demo day), it seems like YC has a much better batch. It's worth noting that one of them (Intense Debate) is identical in almost every regard to a YC company (Disqus). I dunno who was first, but they are both apparently in a somewhat closed beta with a few real users. Both look good, and it's a product I would use (and I believe we will be using Disqus on a new blog). May the best business win, I reckon.
As a few other commentators have noted about Tech Stars (including one of the TS advisors), these are mostly features, and not products. That's OK, of course, as long as they realize they are features looking for a home rather than businesses waiting to be built.
YC also has quite a few feature companies, but it's possible to think of ways most could become products without a lot of stretching of the brain or dramatic changes in direction of their development. I am, of course, speaking without having heard the pitch from the Tech Stars groups. Maybe they are like YC company Fuzzwich, which I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to build a business on it until I heard the presentation (while dosed appropriately with the YC Kool-Aid, of course). It's still a really long shot, but they'll have a lot of fun, and with luck and good biz dev they might pull off something amazing.
Went to each of the company links and they all required sign up before seeing anything useful. So me being lazy I skipped over all of them...
I am curious when Arrington says "looking for funding" or "raising" does he mean the same thing? If "raising" implies that the company is already securing funds then I am impressed.
As a few other commentators have noted about Tech Stars (including one of the TS advisors), these are mostly features, and not products. That's OK, of course, as long as they realize they are features looking for a home rather than businesses waiting to be built.
YC also has quite a few feature companies, but it's possible to think of ways most could become products without a lot of stretching of the brain or dramatic changes in direction of their development. I am, of course, speaking without having heard the pitch from the Tech Stars groups. Maybe they are like YC company Fuzzwich, which I couldn't for the life of me figure out how to build a business on it until I heard the presentation (while dosed appropriately with the YC Kool-Aid, of course). It's still a really long shot, but they'll have a lot of fun, and with luck and good biz dev they might pull off something amazing.
Best of luck to the Tech Stars companies.