We spoke with ConsenSys Ventures and Tachyon Founding Partner Kavita Gupta to get more details on the Accelerator and the current startup landscape in the blockchain industry…

What kinds of startups and projects are you seeing apply to the Tachyon Accelerator so far?

We’re getting really high quality applicants from all over the world: India, Israel, Germany, France. We’re seeing applicants from two distinct groups. One is established entrepreneurs with a great idea entering the decentralized world who may not be deep within the ecosystem, the community, or aware of what’s been done and where we’re going. The other community of applicants is largely advanced blockchain technologists who want to take this eight weeks to see if there is real viability to their idea, and if they have to pivot, how to pivot, and follow through to fruition.

Tachyon a two month program that not only offers a place to connect and build your idea, but also to understand this economy, this community, to meet people throughout the ConsenSys world, and interact first hand with the people who have been building the ecosystem for years. Within that ecosystem are people with the perfect knowledge and networks to help solve problems for both kinds of startups.

With a homebase at ConsenSys’ new offices in San Francisco, what will the day-to-day life of Tachyon startups be like?

It’s an exciting time to be part of what’s happening with ConsenSys in San Francisco right now. Tachyon teams will be present in the office with their own space. They’ll be working with their own teams, but will have access to the Ventures and ConsenSys side to help with strategy, brainstorming. In addition to office hours, they’ll be able to access the specific support from the ecosystem, whether it’s legal, financial, technical, jurisdictional issues. For those two months, if there is any need they have we’ll do our best to make it happen. The last three weeks is all about demos, internal discussions and improvements towards the big demo day, where we’ll have the whole VC and angel investor community joining.

How can being involved in an accelerator bring value to an early stage startup?

I’ve been associated with Y Combinator, with 500 Startups, a couple of Google Accelerators, and I’ve seen that it really adds value to companies. Let’s say there are two technologists who want to start a company but they don’t have a lot of exposure to marketing, business design, strategy. This helps them realize what their forte and the places where they have to learn or make hires. That really helps. Also, being in an ecosystem and having the right network when you start a company can make all the difference.

Is there a preference for bold and grand ideas, or more practical solutions?

It depends on the idea! It could be either side. We received a submission from one startup that’s trying to approach solving one of the holy grail problems of blockchain tech. Can they do it? It’s very ambitious, but they have amazing backgrounds and may be able to move the process forward. They understand that to even move that process forward, inside the ConsenSys ecosystem is one of the most advantageous settings from which to try. At the same time, we’ve heard from very practical projects with focused scopes. There’s room for them all at Tachyon.

On the ConsenSys Ventures side, how has the startup landscape changed in 2018?

At Ventures, we used to get ten pitches every day: “Let’s build Uber or AirBNB on blockchain!” That doesn’t really solve anything, people have tried it. Now, the type of the entrepreneurs, the quality of their ideas and thinking in regards to blockchain tech vs crypto, has improved dramatically. Most of the companies in which we are in touch go deep into technology rather than discussing speculation of their tokens, and that’s really exciting for us.

Do you have any advice to potential Tachyon applicants?

There are very few, fortunate companies that get access to a vibrant and holistic ecosystem that is there to serve them at such an early stage and fill every gap during growth. Nobody’s perfect, everybody needs some kind of help! Tachyon is a unique opportunity for projects to engage with the ConsenSys mesh at a really early stage, while having the best of Web 2.0 and 3.0 at their fingertips. My advice to applications would be to have an idea of how they can best utilize what’s available to them, and not to be afraid to take initiative in making it happen.

Head to the Tachyon website for more info on the Accelerator, and learn more about ConsenSys Ventures.