Below is the somewhat long story behind TechStars Seattle. I
usually don't write long blog posts but I'm super excited about TechStars and
applications for the Seattle program open today. A number of people have asked
me the story behind TechStars coming to Seattle -- so here it is in its full
detail. You can apply for
TechStars Seattle here and theschedule of important dates for the program are
here. I first contacted David Cohen in January 2008. At the time,
I had just started working on Founder’s Co-op and wanted to speak with David
about his experience with TechStars. I thought that TechStars was onto
something and I wanted to learn from what David was doing and consider doing
something similar in Seattle. Chris DeVore, my partner at Founder's Co-op and I decided we
didn't want to mimic a 3 month incubator in Seattle – in our opinion, TechStars
and Y-combinator were both occupying that market space pretty well. I opted to start Founder’s Co-op, a
mentor driven seed fund. When I
spoke to David on the phone, he was kind enough to share some legal documents
with me. Shortly after that call, I became a mentor of TechStars Boulder. In January 2009, I learned that TechStars was expanding to
Boston. I emailed David Cohen and Brad Feld and said that if they ever
considered expanding to Seattle I would be interested in working with
them. David and Brad both
encouraged me to spend more time in the summer at TechStars to get to know the
program. They said that they were interested in exploring the possibility of
working together. In May 2009, I went to my 20th college reunion at Brown
University in Providence RI. While I was back east, I stopped by at the Boston
TechStars 2009 orientation. Turns out that Shawn Broderick, an old friend of
mine from the 1990’s Boston technology scene, was the executive director. Shawn asked me to speak to the incoming
class of TechStar companies. I did
– and I’m not sure exactly what I said – but as I spoke I choked with
emotion. The weekend had already
been a trip down memory lane for me – walking the campus at Brown already
pre-disposed me to feeling nostalgic. But I wasn’t prepared for the raw energy
emanating from the founders of the 10 Boston TechStars companies. I spoke to
the founders of the 10 companies. I told them what it was like for me to start
abuzz in 1996. I shed a few tears. I got into my car and called Brad Feld and
Jerry Colonna – the venture capitalists who invest and bet on me in, abuzz
technologies, my first company. I
decided then – that Seattle needed a program like this and that I wanted to run
TechStars Seattle. Now, I just needed David Cohen to be willing to open
TechStars in Seattle. In the summer of 2009, I made another two trips to Boulder
in an effort to get to know the TechStars program and David Cohen better. After
the second trip, David said that he was very interested in opening TechStars
Seattle but didn’t want to make a decision until October 2009. He also wanted to get to know the
early stage technology scene in Seattle better. He went about meeting entrepreneurs and investors in Seattle
and even came to a Founder's Co-op LP meeting. By September 2009, David told me that he had pretty much
decided to expand to Seattle but he wanted the community of entrepreneurs to
drive the expansion of the program. In early November 2009, there were a series of dinners in
Seattle between Matt McIlwain, Greg Gottesman, Brad Feld, David Cohen, and
myself. The next thing I knew -- in a 24 hour period Greg Gottesman and David Cohen both
called and asked me if I’d be willing to run TechStars in Seattle alongside
Founder’s Co-op, the seed stage fund I run with Chris DeVore… and I
agreed. With the help of Greg Gottesman, I then approached the
entrepreneur and venture capital community in Seattle and asked them to
collaborate with us in supporting the launch of TechStars Seattle in August
2010. What happened was amazing! We received huge support from an amazing list
of experienced entrepreneurs willing to act as mentors. In addition, nearly all
the venture capitalists in the city elected to materially support Techstars
Seattle ! The list of investors includes:
Turns out, the Seattle startup scene has totally embraced
TechStars….and I think that Seattle entrepreneur community is the big
winner. That’s how TechStars came to Seattle. Applications open for TechStars Seattle today : March 23, 2010 and the program starts
in Aug 2010. If you’re an early stage entrepreneur, you should consider
applying here.
