5 ms·

TechStars application now open

41 points by unalone 18y ago

deleted 18y ago
[deleted]
babyshake 18y ago
I'd be curious to hear what people think about TechStars in comparison to YC.
- lallysingh 18y ago
  Tough to compare unless you've been close to both. A friend of mine was in a TechStars startup. Just got funded (in this economy!). http://foodzie.com/ http://foodzie.com/ The advice & support he got was really helpful. Lots of successful people's brains to pick, and enough cash & supplies to build a basic v1.0. I'm not sure what else to tell you...
  - sigh400 18y ago
    Could you kindly elaborate as to the details of being "funded" in this situation? I am very interested in real numbers. (Obviously you may not be able to provide specifics, but even meta info would be nice, considering the product and the economic climate etc.)
    - sachinag 18y ago
      They got $1 million: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/an-online-farmers-market/ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/an-online-farmers-m... . Always nice to see another vertically-focused online marketplace get funded. (Interesting note: we started getting a lot more interest once we stopped talking about ourselves as a platform technology that just happened to start off in video games and gear and just kept it simple in calling ourselves a marketplace for video games, systems, and accessories with no upfront mention of the platform. Lesson: tell potential investors the same thing you tell your customers; you can answer follow up questions however you want.)
- tlrobinson 18y ago
  If you're interested in the numbers: http://www.scribd.com/doc/9932346/Incubator-RoundUp-SeptDec-08 http://www.scribd.com/doc/9932346/Incubator-RoundUp-SeptDec-...
ivankirigin 18y ago
The scene in Boston isn't as good as New York of SF. I'd imagine the location is the biggest fault of TechStars. But the model is so good, that I don't really like the "rival" status. There are positive sum effects from a lots of early stage venture firms, and lots of startups. To illustrate this, just try to ask any YC or TechStars company for advice. You'll notice that they are probably both going to be nice and helpful. That's because that's a characteristic of early stage startups. It's all good.
- far33d 18y ago
  Isn't techstars in boulder?
  - bmelton 18y ago
    Yes, they are. Or their footer and about pages are eerily misleading.
  - ivankirigin 18y ago
    Yes, and I'm sure Boulder ranks close to or behind Boston. Which seems to me a worse location than NYC or SF.
    - zack 18y ago
      The reason Boston and Palo Alto are such great locations are due to the locations of the elite neighboring universities and abundant reverse brain-drain
- andrewhyde 18y ago
  I would say being from Boulder is one of the biggest strengths. Vibrant and helpful tech community out of the pressure bubble.
  - ivankirigin 18y ago
    pressure bubble What? That wasn't my impression at all, though I was only there for ~8 months. That thinking seems like making lemonade out of lemons. There are orders of magnitude more angels and VCs that understand the web in silicon valley. That means there are that many more companies and sources of advice and support. You can't really get around that - it really does matter. Keep in mind that this is coming from someone based in Boston that goes to NYC all the time.
andrewhyde 18y ago
Andrew from TechStars here, let me know if anyone has any questions. I would question the 'rival' tag. I think their is no doubt that everyone here loves startups, and the whole community benefits when there is a vibrant scene.
- okeumeni 18y ago
  Are you interested only in out of college guys or will you also fund well establish founders with good ideas?
  - andrewhyde 18y ago
    Interested in both. If you look at any early stage investing, you will see it is 99% about the team. We have accepted really solid teams with a very light prototype to fully launched almost profitable apps.
- andrewhyde 18y ago
  Also there are quite a few meetups around the world planned (one tonight in SF) if you want to meet the staff or mentors. http://www.techstars.org/meetups/ http://www.techstars.org/meetups/
- Alex3917 18y ago
  Nice job on the website, it looks much better than it has been for previous funding rounds.
- unalone 18y ago
  If you've got a working prototype of your site, should you include that URL/display it in the video? If so, would you encourage submitting the URL only if it's near production-ready?
- medianama 18y ago
  Would you consider startups not based in the US?
  - 18y ago
deleted 18y ago
[deleted]

41 points by unalone 18y ago

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]

babyshake 18y ago

I'd be curious to hear what people think about TechStars in comparison to YC.

lallysingh 18y ago
Tough to compare unless you've been close to both. A friend of mine was in a TechStars startup. Just got funded (in this economy!). http://foodzie.com/ http://foodzie.com/ The advice & support he got was really helpful. Lots of successful people's brains to pick, and enough cash & supplies to build a basic v1.0. I'm not sure what else to tell you...
- sigh400 18y ago
  Could you kindly elaborate as to the details of being "funded" in this situation? I am very interested in real numbers. (Obviously you may not be able to provide specifics, but even meta info would be nice, considering the product and the economic climate etc.)
  - sachinag 18y ago
    They got $1 million: http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/an-online-farmers-market/ http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/an-online-farmers-m... . Always nice to see another vertically-focused online marketplace get funded. (Interesting note: we started getting a lot more interest once we stopped talking about ourselves as a platform technology that just happened to start off in video games and gear and just kept it simple in calling ourselves a marketplace for video games, systems, and accessories with no upfront mention of the platform. Lesson: tell potential investors the same thing you tell your customers; you can answer follow up questions however you want.)
tlrobinson 18y ago
If you're interested in the numbers: http://www.scribd.com/doc/9932346/Incubator-RoundUp-SeptDec-08 http://www.scribd.com/doc/9932346/Incubator-RoundUp-SeptDec-...

ivankirigin 18y ago

The scene in Boston isn't as good as New York of SF. I'd imagine the location is the biggest fault of TechStars. But the model is so good, that I don't really like the "rival" status. There are positive sum effects from a lots of early stage venture firms, and lots of startups. To illustrate this, just try to ask any YC or TechStars company for advice. You'll notice that they are probably both going to be nice and helpful. That's because that's a characteristic of early stage startups. It's all good.

far33d 18y ago
Isn't techstars in boulder?
- bmelton 18y ago
  Yes, they are. Or their footer and about pages are eerily misleading.
- ivankirigin 18y ago
  Yes, and I'm sure Boulder ranks close to or behind Boston. Which seems to me a worse location than NYC or SF.
  - zack 18y ago
    The reason Boston and Palo Alto are such great locations are due to the locations of the elite neighboring universities and abundant reverse brain-drain
andrewhyde 18y ago
I would say being from Boulder is one of the biggest strengths. Vibrant and helpful tech community out of the pressure bubble.
- ivankirigin 18y ago
  pressure bubble What? That wasn't my impression at all, though I was only there for ~8 months. That thinking seems like making lemonade out of lemons. There are orders of magnitude more angels and VCs that understand the web in silicon valley. That means there are that many more companies and sources of advice and support. You can't really get around that - it really does matter. Keep in mind that this is coming from someone based in Boston that goes to NYC all the time.

andrewhyde 18y ago

Andrew from TechStars here, let me know if anyone has any questions. I would question the 'rival' tag. I think their is no doubt that everyone here loves startups, and the whole community benefits when there is a vibrant scene.

okeumeni 18y ago
Are you interested only in out of college guys or will you also fund well establish founders with good ideas?
- andrewhyde 18y ago
  Interested in both. If you look at any early stage investing, you will see it is 99% about the team. We have accepted really solid teams with a very light prototype to fully launched almost profitable apps.
andrewhyde 18y ago
Also there are quite a few meetups around the world planned (one tonight in SF) if you want to meet the staff or mentors. http://www.techstars.org/meetups/ http://www.techstars.org/meetups/
Alex3917 18y ago
Nice job on the website, it looks much better than it has been for previous funding rounds.
unalone 18y ago
If you've got a working prototype of your site, should you include that URL/display it in the video? If so, would you encourage submitting the URL only if it's near production-ready?
medianama 18y ago
Would you consider startups not based in the US?
- 18y ago

deleted 18y ago

[deleted]