Are you an entrepreneur looking to really get things started for you and your company (idea)? Luckily theres a group of investors and mentors in Boulder, Colorado here to help you this summer. Announcing, TechStars 2007…
The Idea
It’s a multi step process:
- take your idea and your team (up to three people) to TechStars and apply,
- get accepted and get your money ($5,000 per team member),
- get educated by some smart folks like Brad Feld, David Cohen, Dave Taylor, and Ben Casnocha,
- get your business running by the end of the summer
There are ten companies being accepted this summer with the application deadline being March 31st.
Click here to visit the TechStars website.
Move to Boulder
You don’t have to reside in Boulder (nor Colorado for that matter) but it’s a good idea that you do. If you’re not around you don’t get to utilize the mentors and resources made available. CU Boulder has one of the best entrepreneurial business schools in the country. Plus, I can’t think of too many people who wouldn’t want to live in beautiful Boulder. Check out this picture I took a little while ago.
In short…
If this sounds like Y Combinator to you, you’re absolutely right. But, I know some of the folks putting this on and I’d recommend it to any entrepreneur. You get seed funding, mentor sessions and any number of experts at your disposal. All they ask for is a 5% stake (they are investors, right?). If you’re looking for an excuse to get started… here it is!
Hmm, sounds good; and I’m sure the funding would be very helpful.
Boulder… hehehe, sounds like a big rock.
I find this interesting, and cool. But what is the 5k per employee for? I’m guessing that is not the seed funding, so is the 5k to tide you over until you apply for additional seed funding based on financial information, etc?
I’m not personally interested ( I wish I had our product to the point I’d be willing to show a group like this ), but I am thinking that for anyone that is, they’d want more information on what they’d get after giving a presentation.
Update: After reading the site it appears you get the 15k (or 5k per employee) to do exactly as I said – tide you over until you have a chance to approach angel and venture capitalists “at the end of summer”.
I’m guessing that the 5% is above and beyond what the potential angel or venture investors would want so I warn anyone looking into this to know full well what they’d be giving away. If you are starved for cash than perhaps this is a great option – but if you only need the 5k for each of your employees to make it through another dev cycle for a few months, I suggest doing one client job.
Oh, I wanted to follow-up my last comment (and I may write about this on my site as well) that I love the idea of TechStars. I love the idea of Boulder trying to incubate 10 new companies over the course of one summer. I think it is very ambitious and definitely a really great way to find some of the good ideas that are tucked away in the corners somewhere.
This option is probably viable for a very large number of people/companies. I’m looking forward to seeing what comes of things like this…
I think the point is you’ll be working with your team and your “investors” will be very actively participating and coaching you guys along the way — something many people will find much more valuable than the cash. :)
Devin, thanks for the post. You’re correct with the clarification that the major value in TechStars are the connections to the mentors (30 ), and what you’ll learn from them during this intense and immersive summer.
It’s also important to note the terms of the equity interest. It’s non controlling with no special rights. This means if you go and raise a million bucks elsewhere, TechStars stake is massively diluted by such an investment.
All in all, TechStars is a way to connect entrepreneurs and investors who want to give back and help young startups succeed, and also provides the possibility to invest in these folks over time.