One of my often quoted lines is that “fear is a useless emotion in business.” Sure – self doubt enters the picture on occasion and there are plenty of dark days, but why be fearful of anything? There’s just no value in it. Watch as some of the TechStars founders confront some new and exciting types of fear that includes some of Boulder’s majestic rocks.
"Be Fearless. Today." The Founders | TechStars Boulder | Episode 3 from TechStars on Vimeo.
The TechStars Boston 2010 program finished up the other day. I was at investor day and it was awesome to see how far the ten companies came over the last 90 days, especially since I was there on the first day of the program and really had a baseline perspective.
If you follow my twitter feed, you’ll notice that I’ve been posting a bunch of “Mar.gy links” from a company called Marginize. This is one of the companies that I was a mentor for this year and I love what they are doing and what their vision is. But they weren’t recently on CNN – and StarStreet Sports was. If you are into The World Cup, you’ll love this one.
We’re doing the TechStars Founders video series again this year. The Rackspace Cloud has sponsored the series so look for some new and exciting twists. Episode 1 follows!
"The Question is Why" The Founders | TechStars Boulder | Episode 1 from TechStars on Vimeo.
Another TechStars Boulder company – this time DailyBurn from the class of 2008 – has been acquired by IAC. I’m super proud of Andy Smith, Stephen Blankenship, and the whole DailyBurn team. This is now TechStars fifth meaningful acquisition and the first from the 2008 class.
The TechStars Boulder 2010 class has begun. I spent Monday afternoon meeting with each of the teams and I’m psyched about this year’s group. TechStars is now in its fourth year in Boulder and everyone is off to a fast start. Also on Monday, David Cohen announced the new TechStars Global Affiliate program and announced our first Global affiliate, Copenhagen-based Startupbootcamp. I also saw the first episode of the TechStars video series “The Founders – Season 2”. A quick teaser follows.
"Brad Feld" The Founders | TechStars Boulder | Teaser 01 from TechStars on Vimeo.
And – if that wasn’t enough, Localytics, a TechStars Boston 2009 company, closed a $700k round of financing led by Launchpad Venture Group and New York Angels.
If you are interested in participating in TechStars, applications for the TechStars Seattle 2010 class is open until June 1 at 11:59:59 PM Pacific Time. Apply now!
Steve Bell of StartupTrek once again does a nice job of capturing my thoughts in under 7 minutes – this time on TechStars and some advice for young entrepreneurs.
I’ll be in Seattle on Tuesday 4/6 for a bunch of meetings and am attending the Seattle Open Coffee Club meeting at 8:30am at Louisa’s on 2379 Eastlake Avenue E in Seattle. Andy Sack who runs the TechStars Seattle program is hosting and providing the coffee. We will both be answering any and all questions about TechStars Seattle, plus eating plenty of baked goods.
Last night we had the TechStars Boulder selection meeting where we chose the TechStars Boulder finalists. We’ll be notifying folks shortly. In the mean time, we’ve opened applications for TechStars Seattle.
Andy Sack, who runs the TechStars Seattle program, has several great blog posts up including How TechStars came to Seattle? and Help me spread the word on TechStars Seattle applications. The schedule for TechStars Seattle has also been posted.
I’m really excited about the Seattle program. The response from the Seattle entrepreneur, angel, and VC community has been incredible and reinforces that Seattle was absolutely the right choice for the third TechStars location.