AOL's Incubator Grows Startups Acquired by Facebook, Others

AOL’s First Floor Labs (FFL) incubator will be ushering in its new spring class on May 1.

The six-month long program has blossomed from its roots at the AOL Ventures’ Summer Alfa program in 2011, now including 10 to 15 startups per session. Members like David Weekly joined Facebook post-FFL, while Forbes named Alexis Ringwald as one of Forbes "30 Under 30".

Mendel Chuang, a director of the incubator, ex-Googler and CEO of the startup Smoopa, has been involved in the program since its fruition. He said their sense of community helps startups “from the ground floor,” hence the name First Floor Labs sprung up, in addition to the group’s initial set-up on the first floor of the AOL building.

So what are the biggest draws to FFL over other incubators like StartX?

“It’s not as intense as a lot of other incubators because we don’t have the pressure of demo days,” Chuang said. “It’s unstructured, without mentors and a lot more laid back and you don't have to be connected with Stanford. You still have the opportunity to ask silly questions about taxes or database systems. There’s also the benefit of physically being together.”

Those who join must be pre-Series A funding, but Chuang said that many of the incubator members are already experienced workers. Thus, the group has space and comradery, but doesn’t necessarily need as much guidance because they already have networks from prior jobs at companies like Google.

Members also receive free workspace that includes desks and conference rooms, along with access to an onsite gym, kitchen and cafe. Additionally, they get credits toward Amazon Web Services, webhosting site Rackspace and other services.

Chuang said to look out for FFL members Swish, MightyText and AppAdvice, who he says are promising startups.

Though their forthcoming session's applications were due on March 25, late applications will be considered for their wait list.

Other successful businesses that have come out of FFL:

1. Pushpins: Performance Marketing Brands (a.k.a. Ebates) Buys Grocery Shopping App Pushpins

2. Digital Staircase gets acquired by Facebook

3. Smoopa featured in The Wall Street Journal, The Huffington Post and TechCrunch

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Palo Alto Startup Acquired by TripAdvisor

Ex-Googler Starts Site for Part-time Job Seekers

Millionaires Minted: Palo Alto Startup Sold

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