MuckerLab, a New TechStars Network Accelerator, Now Accepting Applications

Kira M. Newman October 23, 2011 Tweet

MuckerLab, a member of the TechStars network, announced its Los Angeles accelerator program on Thursday and will begin incubating in late January 2012.

The 3-month program offers funding up to $21,000, as well as office space and mentorship, for about 6 percent equity. MuckerLab will run two programs a year, each with 5-10 companies.

The TechStars accelerator was cofounded by Erik Rannala, a former VP of TripAdvisor; William Hsu, a former SVP of AT&T Interactive; Greg Bettinelli, a former VP of Live Nation; and Yan-David Erlich, who built startups acquired by LinkedIn and Qualcomm. The cofounders believe LA has the same raw materials that Silicon Valley had and is only a handful of years behind in becoming a startup hub.

From their blog: “Kids grow up in Los Angeles wanting to be the next … Justin Bieber (!?) … but we hope one day, these kids (and our own sons and daughters) will aspire to be the next Steve Jobs or Larry Page.”

Helping them along will be mentors that include Howard Lindzon, Hiten Shah, Brian Lee, Ro Choy, Paige Craig, Dana Settle, and Aileen Lee.

The name MuckerLab comes from one of the first “accelerators”:

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.” … 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.

Applications are due December 15, 2011.