Making the Call to Pick the 11 Techstars Teams

On one hand it is a great day, you get to call up 10 CEOs and share the good news and make their day. There is nothing that can replace the excitement roaring through the phone of how happy they are, “I wish you could see my face right now! OMG! We are so stoked! We won’t let you down! So excited to be a part of Techstars Seattle!”.

On the other hand, I have to tell the others that were right on the cusp, that they were so close but did not make the cut. This is harder than you might expect because you have spent a lot of time getting to know these people and have built up relationships with them. You follow them, and their progress over the selection cycle, staying on top of updates, and cheering when the the team hits a milestone or breakthrough.  It bothers my heart every time having to turn away the teams that were so close. In the end, I’m still rooting for them and try to support them the best way I can.  I want these teams to know that although they didn’t make it into Techstars this year that it is not a vote against their company and  I encourage them to keep pressing forward, and to stay in touch. From past experiences, I know that many companies will apply to Techstars multiple times before eventually being accepted, and many companies will go on to be wildly successful without Techstars.

The selection process is far from an exact science. In the end it really is a gut check. Of course we weigh in product and market, but Techstars always starts and ends with the team, that’s what we bet on when we say yes.

However, as I mentioned this year we had an exceptional number of high-quality applications, and when faced with that final decision, I couldn’t take just 10. So this is the first year Techstars Seattle has decided to invite 11 companies to join us in August.  I’m feeling really optimistic about this group of 11 outstanding teams, and can’t wait to announce the 2013 class to you all next month. Techstars Seattle kicks off on Aug. 5! Also don’t forget to mark your calendars for Thur. Oct. 24 TechStars Seattle Demo Day, you won’t want to miss it!

Onward!

Andy

Narrowing Down the Techstars Field

Going into year 4 of Techstars Seattle one would think that the selection process would get easier.  That’s not the case! The truth is the selection process is never easy, and every year we are faced with hard decisions. The past three years have been super competitive and this year (2013) was no different.

So what’s the selection process like and what makes it so difficult? The process begins with many hundreds of submitted applications, which we have to screen and sift through to get down to the top 10%. That first filtering isn’t actually the tough part of the process, the tough part is when you get to the top 10% and have to decide which teams you are going to invite for an interview.  When you get to the interview, the whole process becomes more complex and emotions come into play. The applicants are no longer just videos of people sitting under a tree with a guitar singing a jingle about why you should let them into Techstars, or of a demo video of their slick product. Now, the application is a team of ambitious individuals sitting across the table from you, staring you straight in the eyes, palms sweating, pitching hard as to why they should be accepted to Techstars with a finite amount of time in front of you.

This is where process gets so hard that it can keep you up at night hard. We have met over forty teams and need to pick ten. We have a selection committee that we pulled together with a diverse group of individuals. Everyone has an opinion. Everyone has their front runner they are rooting for and want in that batch of 10, and everyone has a team they love and a team they don’t love. Dealing with all this can be draining.

Eventually after long discussions, follow-up phone calls with CEOs, rewatching videos, assessing product/market fit and a bunch of other factors weighed in, we make a final decision. This is the point of the selection process I simultaneously love and hate, making the phone calls.

Until next time,

Andy

TechStars Seattle deadline is TODAY!

As many of you probably already know today is the deadline to submit an application to TechStars Seattle! So far we have had some amazing teams apply, and I'm really impressed by the quality of applications we have received. 

I already know I'm going to have a tough time making a final decision with the teams this year! It's going to be a long weekend sorting through these apps!

For those interested in applying you have until midnight tonight May 31 to apply! What are you waiting for? Apply now to give your startup an unfair advantage!

First women-only Code Fellows bootcamp this summer

This has been a big week for Code Fellows!

We announced that we are holding Code Fellow’s first women-only course this summer! The bootcamp is design to help create a learning environment that appeals to women to help narrow the gender gap in tech jobs. We want to see more women in tech, period. There is no doubt this is a field dominated by men, and we want to help change that by training more women to take up the coding trade. This will be a course designed for women-only and run from July 8-28, 2013 for the introductory course and August 5-23, 2013 for the more advanced bootcamp.

Below is some media coverage on the women-only bootcamp that we received this week:

GeekWire - "Attention lady hackers: Code Fellows debuts women-only bootcamp, guarantees $60K salary"

TechFlash / PSBJ - "Is Seattle becoming the place for women who code? CodeFellows says yes"

The Daily Journal of Commerce - "Bootcamp for women to learn coding skills"

I’m also excited to tell you all that we kicked off our 2nd bootcamp; we have a bunch of fresh faces that are participating in the Ruby on Rails Silver beginner’s course. This is a 4-week course, followed by the Ruby on Rails Gold course for intermediate students. We made some changes from our first class, and have decided to run this second rails course with a Silver and Gold model breaking up the classes by skill level. I’m excited to see how this class goes.... and grows. Developing more great engineers every day!

March for Innovation

TechStars is joining the Partnership for a New American Economy for the March for Innovation (#iMarch), which will bring together leaders from the technology and startup communities in a digital march for smart, comprehensive immigration reform. This includes a new visa for entrepreneurs, additional visas for high-skilled immigrants and permanent residency for graduates in science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

Immigration reform is a central issue for the tech and startup communities. Talented entrepreneurs from around the world continue to play key roles in many new companies, and their impact is clear:

• More than 40% of Fortune 500 companies founded by immigrants or their children
• 28% of all companies started in the US in 2011 had immigrant founders
• More than 1/4 of tech companies report having difficulties hiring talent and number of Americans studying in STEM fields grows by less than 1% per year

I hope you'll join the push for immigration reform and get involved with the March for Innovation. You can help by:

• Share the #iMarch with your networks. Click here for some great content you can share with your networks!
  
• Host an event in your city. The #iMarch will take place on May 22nd and 23rd, and many incubators and accelerators are hosting events that evening. If you're interested, please reach out to aaron@aviatormedia.com who can provide support on planning a discussion, coordinating logistics and connecting with other local partners and resources.

Why you should apply to Techstars by Aaron Bird CEO of Bizible

Aaron Bird, CEO of Bizible (TechStars Seattle 2012) wrote a great article that I wanted to share with you all about why you should apply to TechStars (and tips on how to get in). Check it out here!

Techstars Seattle in Vancouver B.C.

TechStars Seattle will be in Vancouver B.C. this week from May 1-2. They are co-hosting a happy hour with Vancouver Pixel Crafters: Startup Drinks Vancouver, and holding office hours at the Full Stack offices on May 2. Email Linsey Battan (linsey.battan@techstars.com) if you would like to sign up for office hours.

For more details about the event and registration click here. Feel free to share this flyer with anyone you who might be interested in attending.

TechStars Seattle happy hour in Portland this week!

Program Managers, Linsey Battan (TechStars Seattle) and Maris McEdward (Microsoft Accelerator) are making a trip down to Portland this weekend to meet with Portland entrepreneurs. 

They are hosting a happy hour on Friday April 26, at 6pm at the Nike Accelerator office, so don't forget to stop by and grab a beer and say hello to them.

If you are interested in applying to TechStars Seattle (applications now open, deadline May 31) I would encourage you to reach out directly with Linsey Battan (linsey.battan@techstars.com) to get on her calendar and grab coffee while she is in town.

Click here to view the shareable flyer for more details and registration info. Feel free to spread the word to anyone you think might be interested.

Code Fellows update and visit to Portland

For those of you who haven't already caught wind about Code Fellows I wanted to post a quick update about what has been going on with the company.

The inaugural Rails class is complete! You can read more about the class here on our blog. The student's learned a lot and had truly great things to say!   The team working on this company are doing a great job!  Also, I want to point out what Code Fellows student Aplha Ng's had to say about his experience at Code Fellows. The team learned a lot from this first class, and made some adjustments to the next class, starting in May 2013.

Upcoming events:

Happy hour in PDX: Monday, April 29 @ 7:15pm, Rontoms. Code Fellows Rails instructors are going to be down in Portland next week for the RailsConf. Make sure you stop by their happy hour at Rontoms. View more details here and spread the word!

Code Fellows Mixer: Monday, May 13 @6pm, The Easy. Come meet our instructors and chat with us about Code Fellows. Interested in hiring one of our graduates? Then stop by, and grab a drink. Hiring companies are welcome. Alumni, prospective students and companies hire are all welcome. Spread the word!

Also if you are a company looking to hire a developer, contact david@codefellows.com for more info on how you can get involved in our Partner Program.

 Onward!

Seattle Tech Meetup Tonight!

We are very excited about being a community sponsor of Seattle Tech Meetup!  The mission of Seattle Tech Meetup is to be the key monthly Seattle tech event to attend to have fun and connect into our big and small Seattle tech and entrepreneurial communities.  It's a tight 1 hour event with 5 short interesting tech demo presentations of something the audience can add value to, and networking before and after the event.  Join us in the fun on the third Tuesday of every month.

Hope to see you there! REGISTER NOW, before tickets sell out!

Join me at Open Coffee tomorrow ...and on most Tuesday mornings at Louisa's cafe!

After taking a year off, I've started attending weekly open coffee at Louisa's Cafe again.  I missed the ritual and the pleasure of sharing coffee with other entrepreneurs....

What is open coffee? Every week entrepreneurs and investors meet to chat about their startup experiences, feel free to come discuss your new startup ideas and meet some cool people. We are usually sitting at the big tables in the middle, event starts at 8:30AM and ends at 10AM. I'm there frequently -- but not always.  John Secrest has generously picked up and kept the tradition going so he's there frequently too. 

For more info on the meetup click here.

Hope to see you there!

3 reasons why should you apply to TechStars Seattle

It’s that time of year again! I’m thrilled to announce that we have opened applications for our 4th TechStars program here in Seattle! 2012 was a great success for the entrepreneurs and the entire Seattle community and we’re really excited about making the class of 2013 even better.

3 reasons why should you apply to TechStars Seattle?

1. The Mentor Network is awesome.TechStars introduces you to a group of Seattle’s high-quality mentors, investors, and resources, you will be immediately plugged into a massive network of like-minded people ready to help.

2. You’ll work with a high quality group of other entrepreneurs! You’ll be surrounded by other companies who are sympathetic confidants, and be able to share this experience and learn from one another, plus you’ll have someone to try all those microbrews with.

3.  You'll belong to a lifelong entrepreneur club.You’ll form a collection of alums, mentors and friends that you will have access to for the rest of your personal and professional life. Once you’re in TechStars, you’ll be a member for life.

Still not convinced why you should apply to TechStars Seattle? Click here to read about 4 more reasons why you should apply to TechStars Seattle. This year we’re expecting lots of applications – making competition tough -- so be sure to apply early! (i.e. now)

We’re looking for smart, cohesive teams that can iterate quickly and execute.  If you are one of these people then join forces with TechStars Seattle and see what three months of top-notch mentorship could mean to your startup.

Apply now!

Early application deadline is May 3rd and final deadline is May 31st. TechStars Seattle 2013 applications are now open!

Microsoft Accelerator kicked off yesterday!

The Microsoft Accelerator for Azure kicked off yesterday! I had my first round of office hours with the founders and I have to say this is a super solid class, really excited for the next 3 months. If you haven't checked out the teams take a look at them here.  I thought I'd enclose a picture of our office for all of you who want to SEE what's going on :-) 

Top 4 mistakes when blogging

This is really a personal list of my top mistakes.  And unfortunately, it's all too easy of a post to write! My mistakes in order of importance are:

1. Uninteresting titles - Hands down this is one of my more common and big mistakes.  Over and over again I learn the lesson that readers are attracted to content based upon the title first and the content second. 
2. Spelling fubar -- I frequiently (intentional error there) write my posts quickly and will not give them the appropriate review before pushing publish. This makes my blogs and me seem unprofessional and messy. 
3. Infrequent consistency -- I've gone in cycles of being prolific and being radio silent. Better to write fewer consistent posts so your readers know what to count on you then to be erratic.  That said, I've given myself permission to write whenever I want and on whatever topic I want -- this has helped my enjoyment of blogging. 
4. Unfocused posts -- I'll sometimes write posts and try to make too many points at once and end up making no point.  

How to take advantage of TechStars?

I met with a Seattle native who has recently been accepted to TechStars NY. He was asking what he should do to take advantage of the experience. This particular entrepreneur was very clear about his product direction. 

I told him the value of Techstars is in the relationships and feedback you receive very quickly that previously was not available to you. With this in mind, I told him he should do the following:

• Get a list of mentors and investors in NYC and put them in 3 buckets. 1. I have to meet them 2. Would be Nice to meet them 3. I don't think I need to meet them.  
• Write down your objectives for your 90 days at TechStars. Ask for feedback on the objectives.
• Start adding mentors to your weekly company updates.  Be religious about sending these out and put time into them. 
• Be organized.  Do what you're going to do in terms of follow up.
• Develop 1 or 2 relationships with alumni from that program. They can help guide you through the mentor and investors in the area.   
• Spend time on LinkedIn preparing for meetings with mentors and investors. There's lots of info out there and so few people actually do any homework. 

Oh, and this is a post about TechStars. Seattle applications are open. Apply here

What to do when your first entrepreneurial venture fails or goes sideways?

I recently had coffee with an entrepreneur whose first company did not succeed. He was a bit down in the dumps...understandably.  My advice to him was as follows:

• Pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and move on.  And do it relatively quickly. 
• Decide what you're going to do. 
• If you need a job, determine that fact and start looking.  If you want to try another startup, you're probalby more likely to succeed. Step up and start taking the steps to building a company. 
• Navel gazing does not move you forward. 
• Depression does not move you forwad. 
• Be sure to exercise regularly .
• Get a consulting gig : it buys you time, pays you and gives you current market knowledge (of some market).  

Who knew that ping pong balls were the best schwag?

I've long been interested in schwag.  Below are three photos of schwag from a recent event I went to.  Uniqueness and food are the winners when it comes to schwag.  I'd choose the ping pong balls but you got hand it to Liquid Planner candy bar folks (below)

I forget whose t-shirts these are....and you can't read the name so I'm not sure how useful they are as schwag. 

White Pages in Seattle produced this ingenous schwag and associated it with the company ping pong tournement (a good recruiting tool). 

Liquid Planner used the tried and true M&M and pen combo. Not very creative but effective!

Code.org message of growing more engineers is #1 on you tube!!

The work that Hadi and Ali are doing at Code.org is amazing. The wrote to me today and said" It’s been an exhilarating ride since Code.org launched two weeks ago:

• Our video reached #1 on YouTube!
• 12mm views on YouTube (and countless more on Facebook)
• We reached 500,000 teachers to play our short film in class
• 560,000 petitions signed

Amazing!  I've been particularly interested in what Code.org is doing because Code Fellows is working on the same meme and market, i.e. teaching people to program and code languages of all kinds like Ruby on Rails, IOS, Python. Moreover, I've become friendly with the Hadi Partovi over the last few years and want to support his work.   

This Pepsi ad video of Jeff Gordon duping a car salesman had me in hysterics this morning! Totally worth watching http://bit.ly/Wldx4a

These cute cars2go have invaded South Lake Union

You can't walk anywhere in the neighborhood without seeing one of these cars2go.  They started appearing about 90 days ago and now they're on almost every block.  I'm told that the company is funded by Mercedes and that users can rent the car for $0.38 per  minute (or slightly less if you rent by the 15 minutes or the hour).  You operate the car with a member card.  Great for simple commuting.   Makes me want to try it!  Awesome example of technology enabled innovation plus major cuteness.