Category: Techstars
I’m going to be hosting TechStars Meetups in Seattle and Houston this month when I’m in those cities. If you are considering applying for TechStars 2009 or interested in learning more, please register and come hang out with me.
1/20/09 @ 6pm: Seattle, WA. W Hotel.
1/22/09 @ 6pm: Houston, TX. Hilton Garden Inn.
Attendance is limited to 15 people per meetup so sign up now if you are interested.
If you haven’t done your holiday shopping yet and you like food, go check out the 20% off sale that Foodzie is having.
Foodzie is one of the TechStars 2008 companies and recently announced they have raised $1m from First Round Capital, SoftTech VC, and some great angel investors. As I’ve mentioned in the past, I love all the TechStars companies the same way a parent loves their offspring, but I have a special crush on the Foodzie folks.
Foodzie showcases products from small artisan food producers and growers and is up to products from 25 amazing companies.
Chocolate anyone?
Or maybe some extra special artisan cheeses.
Or maybe even some awesome Boulder Popcorn.
Foodzie is also hiring. If you Love CSS and Food give the Foodzie’s a shout.
Current TV ran a great segment on TechStars tonight. I hung out in the bunker with a bunch of the TechStars gang (including the Foodzie folks who are highlighted.) Following is the longer (better) version – ten minutes of TechStars fun that gives you a sense of some of the personalities involved in the program.
My partner Jason Mendelson makes a surprise (and very entertaining) appearance at 8:50.
One of the TechStars 2007 companies is Brightkite. Brightkite is a real time location-based social network. I travel a lot and have always wanted an easy way to broadcast where I am at any given time.
Brightkite is the solution. While their mobile UI is very good, when I’m traveling the general mobile performance via a web browser has been slow enough to prevent me from using it consistently.
Brightkite just released their iPhone app. It is incredible. It integrates brilliantly with all of the iPhone thingys (geolocation, maps, directions), is fast, and clean.
If you want to follow where I am, I’m going to start using it regularly. I’m bfeld (like I am on most services). If you need an invite, feel free to email me – I’ve got plenty of them.
Brightkite guys – nicely done. You’ve been doing an awesome job but you really nailed it with this release.
Yesterday was an exciting first day back from vacation for me. I spent the morning at the Microsoft Campus doing our TechStars Demo and Investor Day for Silicon Valley. It was well attended and showcased a number of the 2007 and 2008 TechStars companies. Dan Kaplan at VentureBeat had a detailed write up on it titled At TechStars, twelve teams show that Boulder, CO can produce some fantastic tech and Jason Kincaid at TechCrunch weighed in with his views in the post titled TechStars Demo Day: Acquisitions Galore As Twelve Companies Strut Their Stuff.
One of the 2007 TechStars companis, IntenseDebate, announced during the presentation that they had just been acquired by Automattic, the makers of WordPress. There was a ton of positive buzz yesterday in the blogosphere about this – huge congrats to the IntenseDebate gang as well as everyone involved in Automattic. Vator.tv captured Toni Schneider (the CEO of Automattic) up on stage with Tom Keller (the CEO of Intense Debate) talking about the deal.
This is the second acquisition of a TechStars 2007 company following AOL’s acquisition of SocialThing last month. As part of this one, I’ve agreed to become a "raving WordPress fanboy" so look for me to finally migrate my various blogs over to WordPress. I’m also very much enjoying writing in my new WordPress moleskin notebook and putting little WordPress stickers on things wherever I go, including up and down University Avenue today on my morning run.
We’ve just wrapped up our second year of doing TechStars and I’m really excited about some of the companies that have come out of the program this year. We held a Demo and Investor Day in Boulder on August 20th, and 150+ investors showed up to see the ten new companies from 2008. It’s always a fun event where investors get to see some really interesting early stage web companies. I expect at least 7 or 8 of the 2008 companies will eventually close their seed rounds, which is similar to what we saw last year.
This year, we’re going to try adding something new. We’ll be taking about a dozen of the twenty TechStars companies (from 2007 and 2008) on the road to Silicon Valley where we’ll be doing a demo day on September 23rd. These are the companies who are currently raising money and that already have some committed investment. Some of the companies are the new ones from 2008, but some of last years companies including Filtrbox, EventVue, Intense Debate,, and Brightkite will be presenting as well. These are fun 10 minute pitches and attendees will get to see all twelve companies in the morning. We’ll wrap up with lunch and some networking.
If you are an accredited angel investor or VC, or if you know someone who might like to attend on the morning of September 23rd, just drop me a note and I’ll be sure to get you an invitation to the event. I hope to see you there – it should be a fun day.
We’ve done TechStars for two years now. While I love every company involved, each year I’ve had a major crush on one particular company. This year it was Foodzie.
I liked Rob, Emily, and Nik from the minute I met them at TechStars for a Day. They came up to me and offered me chocolate. Brilliant. They then explained that they were creating an online marketplace for artisan food producers and growers. Their target customer are foodies. As a foodie (and major consumer of artisan foods – just look at my body shape even after running all the marathons I do) I totally got it.
They did a great job this summer honing their business, working out logistics and pricing, and getting their first few producers up and running. Are you a chocolate lover – give Seth Ellis Chocolatier a try. Popcorn anyone – how about Boulder Popcorn? And organic tea – try Tetulia Teas.
Having contributed to the very long list of potential artisan food producers that the Foodzie crew is testing (where "testing" means eating stuff and making sure it’s really good) I can assure you that there is a bunch of great stuff coming.
If you are an artisan food producer – or know one – and want to get connected with Foodzie, drop Emily an email. If you love to eat, cruise the Foodzie site. And – if you like food porn, take a look at the Foodzie blog.
After some rumors a few weeks ago, it’s now official. AOL has acquired SocialThing. I’m immensely proud of the Matt, Ben, and Brian. As one of the members of the TechStars 2007 class of companies (and the first one to have an exit), I have a long list of entertaining stories that I’ll save for the closing dinner when we roast everyone. In the mean time, I give you David Cohen’s memory of events and some of the history of how SocialThing came to TechStars last year.
Frank Gruber – who has known the SocialThing team since they demoed at TECH Cocktail Boulder last spring (which Frank co-hosts) – also has some good thoughts up from his perspective inside AOL.
Guys – congrats! Everyone in TechStars and the Boulder entrepreneurial community is proud of you. And AOL – congrats to you also; you just added some really great ingredients to the mix.
Finally, as a special bonus, SocialThing won the Boulder 2008 IQ Award last night for Consumer Internet company. And – I’m having lunch with Matt and his parents today. Life is just never dull around here.