MuckerLab

Our hands-on, boutique approach has allowed us to achieve extraordinary success rates and founder satisfaction scores In fact, MuckerLab was ranked the number two accelerator in the country Our bespoke model allows us to deeply embed ourselves as adjunct operating executives in companies at their earliest stages, as well as those going through major inflection points, including: New Venture: MuckerLab Invests at the earliest stage of a company's lifecycle -- "pre-seed", as the first institutional capital -- and helps entrepreneurs validate and iterate on the original hypotheses of their core business concepts In short, we help companies achieve product-market fit in preparation to raise institutional venture financing

Strategy Reboot: We help existing businesses revamp their strategies, increase their addressable market opportunities, and operationally focus on accelerating revenue growth to become a high-growth, venture-fundable businesses

Spin-Off: MuckerLab works with companies to spin off non-core divisions or assets to create operationally and strategically independent new ventures

MuckerLab companies have raised over $10B to-date from some of the best investors in the world, including: Accel Partners, Sequoia Capital, Bessemer Venture Partners, Matrix Partners, Andreessen Horowitz, Bullpen Capital, Felicis Ventures, First Round Capital, Floodgate Fund, Founders Fund, Greylock Partners, Kleiner Perkins, Lerer Ventures, NEA, Redpoint Ventures, and Spark Capital, among others

20-25 companies per year Annual cohorts No three-month bootcamps No demo days Just heads down company-building for one year — or however long it takes

Our name is inspired by Thomas Edison’s vision of creating a place where brilliant entrepreneurs and hackers can work together to create new and better products that either disrupted existing industries or created entirely new markets MuckerLab is named after the original hackers, the men who worked with Edison in his labs – Thomas Edison’s “muckers ” The name for Edison’s muckers is said to have come from Edison’s experiments to invent a better formulation for bricks Edison and his team spent more than a year testing different materials and binding agents, or “muck” as it was called at the time, before finally getting it right That’s when Edison first began referring to his researchers as “muckers,” and the name stuck

Historians have often called the R&D laboratory Edison’s greatest invention Before Edison came along, inventors typically worked alone and relied more on inspiration than a repeatable process Edison changed all that by effectively creating the modern innovation and commercialization accelerator by marrying a proprietary innovation process with a team of brilliant and ambitious young men from all over U S and Europe to work with him Many muckers eventually moved on to become successful inventors themselves after spending time with Edison

(Please note, we have no affiliation with Thomas Edison, his heirs, estate, or any foundations or other entities associated with his name and likeness ) We believe Los Angeles (and more broadly, Southern California) is on the cusp of becoming a major technology hub, but is in need of additional funding and infrastructure at the very earliest stages of venture formation Los Angeles has approximately the same size technical labor force as Silicon Valley — fueled in part by graduates from three of the top ten technical universities in the world (Caltech, UCLA, USC) LA has already produced dozens of venture-backed, tech success stories Yet, it only has only a small fraction of the venture capital investment as Silicon Valley

Like Silicon Valley entrepreneurs just a few years ago — before the advent of a large, vibrant angel community, micro-VCs and accelerators like Y Combinator — many entrepreneurs in Los Angeles need help turning their products and ideas into thriving businesses, raising capital, and operational advice The startup ecosystem in Los Angeles is not yet as efficient as Silicon Valley, but MuckerLab is accelerating that evolution by helping entrepreneurs crack the black box that is the venture creation process, access a built in network of mentors and advisors, and tap into diverse sources of funding

The MuckerLab program helps entrepreneurs take their products to market, find the right customer/user segments, implement the right business model, generate revenue and user growth, develop scalable/profitable distribution channels, augment their teams with complementary skills, and when appropriate, raise venture capital from investors who believe in their vision MuckerLab helps entrepreneurs build great, category-leading companies

MuckerLab is not a business plan competition -- our portfolio companies are focused on building products and achieving market acceptance, not writing business plans or just slide presentations Although the best entrepreneurs knock it out of the park in all facets of running their companies -- including fund raising execution, we believe the most beautiful presentation and most bullet proof pitches comes from companies with thoughtfully executed products, loyal and delighted users, reference-able customers, scaling business metrics, and passionate founders

MuckerLab is also not an investment bank -- we do not broker financing for our companies While we believe fundraising is one of the many hurdles that any new venture must overcome, we do not believe fundraising is the end goal of building great companies, much less one for an accelerator program In fact, most MuckerLab companies do not kick off their fundraising process until they have met pre-determined product – market fit milestones for their respective businesses However, MuckerLab companies have historically received funding from some of the best investors in the world, not simply because they are MuckerLab companies, but because they are run by exceptional entrepreneurs with successful scaling businesses in large and underserved markets

MuckerLab is not for every entrepreneur or company Our portfolio companies are our customers, and as in any service business, customer satisfaction is key to long-term success As a result, our selection criteria are not solely based on whether we believe the company can generate a significant financial return in the long run We need to be convinced that we can add value significantly above and beyond our equity ownership in the company

Most accelerator programs are structured as a filtering funnel Accept hundreds of companies a year from all over the world Out source entrepreneurial guidance or help to part-time "partners" or junior program managers Expect significant attrition before demo day Presume at least 1/3 of companies will never raise any institutional capital even if they make it to demo day Cherry pick and double down in the top 1% of every class with additional investment, time, effort, marketing, VC referrals, and long term relationships - and thus let the rest succeed or fail on their own

That is not MuckerLab We  treat every company as if they are our only investment We fully buy into the dreams and travail of each the entrepreneurs we back We invest only in ten companies a year - they are not lottery tickets - their success is our success

We believe we add incremental value in a few unique ways: The MuckerLab mentor network includes some of the most successful executives, entrepreneurs, and investors in Los Angeles and Silicon Valley Our mentors are experts in diverse industries from media, entertainment, payments, eCommerce, adtech, social, mobile, local and more They provide a level of expertise and diversity of perspective that complements that of the founders of MuckerLab We offer our portfolio companies access to expertise not constrained by geography or industry

MuckerLab does not have a set duration nor a set start date We start when the founders are ready; we end when the company has found the initial formula for success The average MuckerLab company works with us for roughly 12 months –- but the duration of the program can be as short as 3 months to as long as 24 months depending on the needs and progress of the company Companies only “graduate” from MuckerLab when they have achieved mutually agreed upon business, customer, and financing milestones

We select companies and entrepreneurs from an open application process, reviewing applicants on a quarterly basis We strongly encourage entrepreneurs to submit thoughtful and complete applications, and to participate in our MuckerLab info sessions, as it helps them rise above the noise as well as demonstrate the type of initiative and resourcefulness that sets the most successful entrepreneurs apart

We work full-time investing in and working with startup companies via Mucker As a result, we tell entrepreneurs to treat us as part of their founding team Our portfolio companies have complete access to our time, experience, network, and knowledge But most importantly, we are not afraid of digging in on the tactics of building their companies –- from drawing wireframes, drafting marketing materials, to managing AdWords campaign Just like the entrepreneurs we work for, we will do whatever is necessary to help our portfolio companies win in the marketplace

MuckerLab typically invests between $100,000 to $175,000 in exchange for an 10% to 15% equity stake Investment amount and equity stake depend on capital needs and the state of the business

We look for passionate, 100% committed entrepreneurs of any age and experience level with disruptive ideas who are willing and able to take the risk of turning their ideas into reality We have a strong preference for fully formed teams of “builders,” with the skills and capabilities to build a product and take it to market

We accept applications from companies at various stages -- some will have just a new idea on a napkin while others will have a company that is already generating revenue and looking to accelerate its growth Enterprise and B2B startups typically can be earlier stage while consumer product companies would require more proof of product-market fit Experienced teams with domain experience attacking underserved markets will need a lot less traction to get our attention We’re happy to talk to you about your idea and let you know if it’s too early or too far along (and we’ll try to give you a couple of pointers along the way to make it worth your time)

Yes Many companies accepted into the program have done significant product development work or have launched an early version of their product While you may be well past the prototype stage, we will help you scale your business, raise funding, and anything else we can to help your business succeed In fact, at MuckerLab the significant majority of the program is spent on trying to figure out the linear algebra for achieving product-market fit via continuous experimentation around the right combination of customer segmentation, brand positioning, value proposition, product design, pricing, go-to-market channels, and customer acquisition strategies

Yes, of course MuckerLab is our "pre-seed" investment program We also invest in Seed and Series A stage companies that typically have more traction and/or more experienced founding teams About half of our portfolio is from outside of the MuckerLab program

We accept applications from all over the world There is no requirement to relocate for the MuckerLab program Companies who wish to participate in the Mucker community in person, however, are welcome to do so at one or more of our offices Many founders use some portion of the investment funds to pay for living expenses or to cover travel expenses incurred while visiting Mucker offices