Wanted: 20 Dallas Startups to Apply for TechStars
January 29, 2009
My SpringStage business partner, David Cohen, runs TechStars, an early stage summer incubator located in Boulder. Last year 393 companies from around the US applied, few of which were from North Texas. David and his team only accept ten companies each summer, providing $18,000 in seed funding (enough to money for three founders to survive over the summer) plus free server hosting, a nice place to work, free legal services. The real value of the program is access to the mentors, angel investors and venture capitalists (more than 150 venture capital firms flock to Boulder to check out the crop of TechStars startups). Out of the 20 companies that have gone through the program, sixteen of them have received funding and/or become profitable after TechStars ended (this is the real value).
What TechStars is looking for:
- opportunities that leverage the internet
- a team of 2+ (3 is ideal, single man teams won’t make the cut)
- have a prototype (come on, this isn’t as hard as you think)
- completed application or video application by February 15th (the deadline is March 21st, but don’t wait)
You will need to spend 51% of your time over the summer in Boulder (I suggest more, as the value will be the connections you make there). David and his team will help you find very affordable housing. Dallas-based startups accepted into the TechStars program can keep offices in our coworking facility in the INFOMART for the days you can’t make it to Boulder.
So here is my offer: Prepare your application, but before you sumbit it I will review it, providing advice that will give you a fighting chance. ONLY 10 companies make it into the program each year - most of them (16 out of 20) get funded. I suspect that if we can get at least 20 applications in, at least 2 startups from Dallas will make the cut. You have 15 days to get me your application!
