Startup Communities: Building an Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Your City

CHAPTER EIGHT

THE POWER OF ACCELERATORS

On one of my random days in 2006, David Cohen came in and sat down. He introduced himself and slid a single sheet of paper across the desk to me, which had the outline for TechStars on it. As I read the document, David explained to me that he was an entrepreneur who had recently left the company that had bought his business. He’d made a few angel investments but wasn’t happy with the dynamic of how the entrepreneurs engaged with him. He felt like his experience was wasted and there must be a better way for experienced entrepreneurs to help entrepreneurs who were getting their businesses up and running.

If these ideas, that of having entrepreneurs leading, having a long-term view, being inclusive, and engaging across the entire entrepreneurial stack, sound familiar, they should. TechStars uniquely hit on all four of the principles in the Boulder Thesis, and this is one of the reasons it is such a powerful construct.

I loved the idea and within 10 minutes told David I was in. He was raising $230,000 to run a single TechStars program, with $80,000 of the funding coming from him. I committed $50,000 on the spot and told him that I’d help him raise the rest. Following, in David’s words, is how TechStars works.

In 2006, I realized that I wanted to make a living by doing what I love—investing in early-stage Internet software companies. Most angel investors lose money and I didn’t want to be a statistic. By my calculations I was already at a disadvantage ...