TechCrunch Minute: Newchip, Techstars, and what happens when startup accelerators fail

Building a startup is hard. Building a company that helps startup is similarly difficult. That’s the takeaway from TechCrunch reporting on Techstars and Newchip.

In the case of Newchip, the accelerator appeared to promise a bit more than it could deliver. Mix in a culture that appeared to be turbulent at best, and you have a situation in which an accelerator is in bankruptcy and startups are closing over the potential sale of share warrants. It’s a mess.

Techstars is different. It’s been retooling its operations over the past few years. That has led to turnover, and the shuttering of some of its programs. But unlike Newchip, Techstars is solvent, investing, and still helping startup do more, more quickly.

Whenever a market turns from ebullience to a more conservative stance, it disrupts its constituent businesses large and small. Accelerators have proven no exception during the venture slowdown. That said, with Newchip in liquidation and Techstars pushing ahead with its revamp, we are likely closer to the end of the accelerator shakeup than its beginning. Hit play, let’s talk about it!