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