Definitely. At the end of the day, the best way to get any kind of funding is to make people worry that they're missing the boat heading towards a ton of money.

Definitely. At the end of the day, the best way to get any kind of funding is to make people worry that they're missing the boat heading towards a ton of money. Demonstrating real customers, and everything else that falls under 'traction' and 'momentum' is the way to achieve that. If I had to do it again, I'd completely forget about the money-raising and spend the three months focused on the product, and worry about everything else much later. That's not a great fit for the Techstars program, though some of the most interesting companies to come out of it have ended up boot-strapping, eg Occipital/Red Laser.