For many startups, landing a spot in an accelerator program like Y Combinator or TechStars is like winning the golden ticket to Willy Wonka’s chocolate factory. Accelerators offer a wealth of opportunities that can make the difference between a great idea that doesn’t reach its potential and one that leads to an IPO.
We’re used to seeing accelerators work for companies that disrupt travel, payment processing, or cloud storage, but what if that model could work outside the realm of the venture capital factory? What if a little investment, a little mentoring and hands-on support, a lot of gigs, and a lot of trust could be used to help artists in their careers?
That’s exactly what investment art is trying to do.
“Y Combinator changed my life,” Joey Flores, co-founder of Inversion Art, told TechCrunch. “I feel a lot of gratitude for the program and thought if I could do something like that for artists, it would be amazing.”
Flores is a Y Combinator alumnus whose EarBits music marketing platform he graduated from the program in 2010 and sold in 2015. While Flores is not a professional artist, art is a very important part of his life, and a chance comment from a VC in a 2020 conversation put him on the path to find a way to support artists who have the drive and passion to make art their lifelong career but need help to achieve it. As part of his research, he connected with his co-founder Jonathan Neil and together they seek to change the way artists find success and recognition.
“Artists have always relied on other parties, such as collectors, museums and galleries, to develop their careers and define their success,” Neil said. “We are, in our opinion, the first organization that really sits on the same side of the table as the artist in all of his negotiations and activities and really helps him define success for himself.”
