Accelerator
MuckerLab. Not your typical accelerator program.
97% Funded
Almost all MuckerLab startups to date have raised additional outside capital
200+ Mentors
The brightest entrepreneurs and executives in Silicon Valley and beyond
Billions Raised
Total raised by MuckerLab companies
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.
MuckerLab is not your typical accelerator program where hundreds of companies are “accelerated” each year using a cookie cutter approach. We don’t churn through hundreds of startups every three months in order to help just a handful of top companies.
Instead, we work with 20-25 companies per year, doing whatever is necessary — for as long as necessary — to ensure that each and every company achieves the operating milestones required for the next round of financing.
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 embed ourselves deeply 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 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.
Rei Carvalho
I sought investment in Emailage to expand our global reach without having to relocate to the Bay Area to secure funding. Mucker provided invaluable support and guidance, enabling us to scale our company in Phoenix, a location traditionally overlooked by investors.
MuckerLab companies have raised billions from some of the best investors in the world, including:
Cedric Rogers
We wanted trusted partners who were just as hungry, knowledgeable, and passionate as we were (if not more)! The Mucker Team easily became an extension of our executive team, rolling up their sleeves and helping dig into the early challenges of the business."
FAQs
What's a Mucker?
Our name is inspired by Thomas Edison’s vision of creating a space where brilliant entrepreneurs and hackers work together to create new and better products that either disrupt existing industries or create 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 brought in 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.)
Why is Los Angeles MuckerLab's Headquarters?
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.
How does the MuckerLab program work?
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 creating slide presentations. Although the best entrepreneurs knock it out of the park in all facets of running their companies (including fundraising execution), we believe the most beautiful presentations 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 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. MuckerLab companies have, however, 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.
Why MuckerLab?
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 significant value above and beyond our equity ownership in the company.
Most accelerator programs are structured as a filtering funnel. First, accept hundreds of companies a year from all over the world. Next, outsource entrepreneurial guidance or help to part-time “partners” or junior program managers. Expect significant attrition before demo day. Presume at least 1/3 of the companies will never raise any institutional capital, even if they make it to demo day. Then, cherry-pick and double-down on the top 1% of every class with additional investment, time, effort, marketing, VC referrals, and long term relationships – while letting 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 travails of each of the entrepreneurs we back. We invest only in a few dozen companies a year. Our companies are not lottery tickets – their success is our success.
We believe we add incremental value in a few unique ways:
The MuckerLab investors are able to add strategic AND operational value to our companies because we are successful technology entrepreneurs and executives with collectively several hundred years of operating experience. We have held roles in the Internet industry as operating executives, entrepreneurs, and investors. We have founded numerous companies, operated companies at all stages, and helped scale some of the most successful companies in the Internet industry. We have spent our careers as operators at companies of all stages — startup to Fortune 100. We earned our stripes as product managers, marketers, engineers, and general managers. We have built companies from scratch, recruited co-founders, raised hundreds of millions in capital, and sold our ventures. We’ve been there before and we are not afraid to get our hands dirty and leverage our past experiences and networks to help MuckerLab entrepreneurs succeed.
We have split our careers between Los Angeles and Silicon Valley; as a result, we have deep ties to the tech communities in both markets (and have now added similar capacities in Austin and Toronto). We are able to bring business development, customer development, advisory, recruiting, and financing opportunities across geographies to our portfolio companies. MuckerLab is one of the few accelerators outside of the Silicon Valley whose portfolio companies consistently draw investment from top tier Silicon Valley venture funds.
The MuckerLab mentor network includes some of the most successful executives, entrepreneurs, and investors in Los Angeles, Silicon Valley, and beyond. Our mentors are experts in diverse industries from media, entertainment, payments, eCommerce, fintech, adtech, AI, 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.
How long is the MuckerLab program?
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.
How do I work with MuckerLab?
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.
What does the Mucker team do all day?
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.
What does MuckerLab receive in exchange for program participation & funding?
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.
What does it take to be a Mucker?
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.
How far along do we need to be before we can apply?
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).
Can I still apply if I already have funding?
Yes. Our average MuckerLab portfolio company is typically raising $250K to $500K in funding either before or while starting the program, some as much as $1M. Since our value add is primarily operational and not merely financial, the more important question for entrepreneurs to answer is whether they believe MuckerLab can help accelerate the growth of their businesses, operating metrics, and fundraising — thus making the company significantly more valuable after the program.
Can I still apply if my company has been around for awhile?
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 do 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.
Do you invest outside of the MuckerLab program?
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.
To learn more about non-Lab avenues of investment from Mucker, please visit our Capital page.
Do I have to be in Los Angeles (or Austin or Toronto) to participate?
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.