Your trust is our top concern, so companies can't alter or remove reviews. The company is based in San Francisco, with significant operations in Africa and elsewhere. more potential than their original business idea. I was told that I was an “anomaly” and that no other applicant, in the history of Techstars Chicago, had cared to raise any of these concerns. I couldn’t help but wonder if the facilitators of the space were purposely trying to attract young founders that watched too many reruns of The Social Network. Update: I have received several emails from those stating that the above “math” is incorrect. So asking questions or bringing up concerns should never offend or cause one to become defensive. I’m sure there are those of you out there that think we are nuts for turning this opportunity down. On 04/10/2014, we traveled back to 1871 for the meeting. Today, the cloud communication platform is valued at around $33 billion. If you like to be treated poorly on the regular, this place is for you. Techstars isn’t too shabby when it comes to fundraising either. There was more structure, but we had the absolute freedom to do what we wanted. Glassdoor will not work properly unless browser cookie support is enabled. Are you sure you want to remove this review from being featured for targeted profile? Depending on the size of the round and the value of your company, you could be looking at anywhere between 10-90% of additional equity. Supporting incredible teams to make their visions tangible is a killer positive feedback loop." If you like working at a place with no clear path to career advancement opportunities, this place is for you. *More bureaucratic than any corporate I've been in When we decided to create this blog, I knew we would eventually come to this portion of our timeline. Outreach is a sales engagement platform that was funded by the Techstars Seattle Accelerator in 2011. If you decide to take the additional $100,000 note, this will convert to equity once you secure your first $1,000,000 in funding. There are currently no benefit reviews for this company. On the day of our interview, Eric and I traveled to 1871 in Chicago. Also, if my understanding of the equity and investment is incorrect, it is just another example of how the program doesn’t properly explain this portion of the agreement. We also pushed hard to make sure consumers got the service they loved. But if it was easy, everyone would be doing it. It seems like a great way to showcase your product and raise your first round of funding if that is your goal. We’re humbled that founder Matt Oppenheimer thinks “none of this would have been possible without Techstars.“. *Sells this vision of "helping startups" when they're only interested in sucking up corporate funds Techstars Ventures 2009 invested in Twilio’s (NYSE: TWLO) initial angel round after founder and CEO Jeff Lawson visited Colorado to mentor at the Techstars Boulder Accelerator in 2009. I want to take this opportunity to tell the story and include our reasoning for making the decision we did. Maybe it is getting acquired? I was expecting to find validation such as; “Startup A began Techstars with 200 customers and $4000 per month in revenue. We needed to know if Techstars could help us or not. Talkroute was bootstrapped all of the way to revenue. *No opportunity to change processes or systems The company later merged with Twilio in a transaction worth about $2 billion at the time. The three founders (Isaac, Tim, and Jose) were based in the Los Angeles area when they moved the company to Boulder for the Techstars Boulder Accelerator in 2009. Walking out of the interview Eric and I barely said a word to each other. Through the Techstars Worldwide Entrepreneur Network, founders and their teams connect with other entrepreneurs, experts, mentors, alumni, investors, community leaders, and corporate partners who will help their companies grow. *No understanding of their customer (startup or corporate) The founders incorporated the startup on the first day of the accelerator. Learn More. On 03/21/2014, we received an email explaining that our application had been selected and we schedule our first interview for 03/26/2014. It’s not about dollars raised but about dollars returned. If you are an early stage or established business, this is terrible. I was really shocked to see that there were no stats regarding participating startup metrics. Techstars funded the company via our Techstars Seattle Accelerator in 2011. These are NOT one in the same. Those of you that are still questioning whether or not funding is the right direction for your startup, I would recommend exploring other options. Eric and I spoke very briefly before making our decision. For some, this is exactly what is needed to scale and make your startup successful. Then it was our turn to ask the board a few questions. We both knew at that moment we weren’t going to participate in this program. If you take anything away from this article, please take this; It is your responsibility as a leader to question anyone that is taking a portion of your company in exchange for what they deem valuable. When we arrived, it was hard to say if this was an environment where great work was being accomplished or just an elite tech social club. While this number is impressive it doesn’t necessarily translate to success. 1871 is a co-working space that also houses the Techstars’ Chicago offices. This is an area that should have complete transparency and as you look into it, you find conflicting information from multiple sources. At that point, you may have enough revenue to grow organically or maybe decide to go for additional funding and you will give away less equity because your company has become more valuable. I simply couldn’t locate the data and when I asked about it down the road, I wasn’t given a response. I think they are great for certain startups and situations. They were originally called BeamIt Mobile (yep – lots of companies change their names during the accelerator program). Techstars takes 7-10% of your company and only provides $18,000 in seed funding. It was actually quite heartbreaking. As I pointed out above, Techstars can’t claim that. That’s fine and you may be right. During that accelerator, they were building tools to help sell their original concept, and discovered that those tools had more potential than their original business idea. Misti Cain is Founder of Whyzze and a mentor for Techstars Anywhere Accelerator "I mentor because of the amazing energy I get back. Techstars v.s. Honestly, we did not spend much time fine-tuning our application or using any special techniques to get picked. We were excited to be meeting with Techstars Chicago board, which included Match CEO, Sam Yagan. These startups would most likely succeed with or without Techstars. *Hyper political I understand that it may be intimidating but remember that programs like Techstars are taking a portion of your company. They later attracted investors such as Sequoia, Visionnaire Ventures, Katalyst Ventures, and the Rise Fund. Eric and I knew very little about Techstars but we were aware that it was a highly celebrated program. Techstars claims their true value is in everything else they offer. Company lacks a shared strategic vision. We didn’t have to. My hope is that you will read this article and begin looking at all of these programs more critically, not just Techstars. Obviously this will greatly vary from startup to startup but I’m sure you can see where I am going with this. *Push partners/clients away instead of embracing the opportunity to work with them and tells them to sit in the corner while the "experts" do the real work For a program that was supposed to accelerate your business, these types of stats were surprisingly absent. As I pointed out above, Techstars can’t claim that. The geographies of the accelerators that funded the known unicorns are: Beyond the eleven unicorns here, forty-two other Techstars accelerator portfolio companies currently have valuations in the hundreds of millions of dollars today. Techstars supports new ventures, provides resources for entrepreneurs, and connects the community. Read employee reviews and ratings on Glassdoor to decide if Techstars is right for you. For a program that is picking the best startups, this is not that impressive. Payal and team have attracted capital partners like CRV, Thrive Capital, Google Ventures, General Catalyst, Temasek, and more. Like many Techstars success stories, they didn’t get accepted to the accelerator the first time they applied (but they did on the second attempt – whew!). Unfortunately, nothing we heard during the question and answer portion of the interview gave us any indication that we would solve these issues by participating in the program. "Met some of the most amazing people ever and let me to the path of entrepreneurship" (in 5 reviews), "Amazing network of mentors, entrepreneurs, and investors" (in 4 reviews), "Low pay for associates, made up for in learning & network capital if you leverage it" (in 5 reviews), "long hours for barely any pay - compensation for your time and energy at this company is almost laughable" (in 3 reviews), I have been working at Techstars part-time for less than a year, You get to influence high potential startups, None really, super program that offering cells all over the world, I worked at Techstars full-time for more than a year, People and networking opportunities Pay is low. There is a lot to consider and the answer to apply to Techstars or not will be different for every startup. I was very frustrated by this. This is great company that values the time of their interns and want to see them thrive. *Each program is 100% dependent on the MD - no global connectivity or vision Most of these questions were expected and I feel we had good answers for them. Even though we clearly had our concerns, we proceeded to the second interview. At Techstars, we help grow their ideas into world-changing businesses. The company later merged with Twilio in a transaction worth about $2 billion at the time. Raising capital, in general, is a good sign that a startup is healthy and moving in the right direction. Further, we knew we wouldn’t have unrestricted access to Sam, Adam, Troy, or Steve over the course of the program as they would be splitting their time with 9 other startups. One part of our story that I didn’t touch on was the meeting I had with Troy a few days after declining the offer. Only you can answer that question for yourself but consider this: So let’s say it was a good year and Techstars Chicago received a 1000 applicants/startups to choose from.

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