Earlier today, I dropped by the TechStars NY office to check out some of the startups in its inaugural class in New York City before they do their big Demo Day next week. The place was buzzing, and the startups I saw were all way more polished than I expected. I wasn’t the only one there to get an early peek. Rich Miner of Google Ventures and Mark Suster of GRP (and also a regular TechCrunch contributor) were there mentoring some of the startups, but also—let’s be honest—getting an early look before the throngs of other investors descend upon Demo Day next week.
The activity and interest you see on the West Coast with Y Combinator startups, which now have an open offer to get funded sight unseen by Yuri Milner’s and Ron Conway’s Start Fund, is starting to show up on the the East Coast. It’s not quite as crazy yet, but it’s getting there.
While I was at TechStars, I shot the video above of founders Brad Feld, David Cohen and New York managing director David Tisch. (Some of the audio is a little soft, so turn up the volume).
Feld doesn’t think that valuations are out of whack, or that the supposed $4 million line is even a rational way to look at it. But there definitely is a rise in interest from follow-on investors. One startup, OnSwipe, already raised $1 million. (They are building awesome tablet-ready publishing tools for mobile Websites).
Cohen gives props to Paul Graham and what he started with Y Combinator, but explains how TechStars is taking a slightly different approach. TechStars is all about inundating each startup with tons of advice and mentors—up to ten world-class mentors for each startup, packed into a three-month period. From what I saw, this approach seems to be working.
TechStars recently raised another $8 million to expand its seed accelerator programs from Boulder to New York, Seattle, and Boston, and is working create affiliated accelerators throughout the country through its TechStars Network. (Stay tuned next week, for more details on the graduating startups from the NYC program).
TechStars is the #1 startup accelerator in the world. We’re very selective. Although thousands of companies apply each year, we only invest our money and time in about ten companies per program location. We have selection rates lower than the Ivy League, so you have to be among the best of the best to earn investment from TechStars. We offer five TechStars programs in top startup locations (Boston, Boulder, New York City, Seattle, & Cloud in San Antonio), on...
“Brad has been an early stage investor and entrepreneur for over 20 years. Prior to co-founding Foundry Group, he co-founded Mobius Venture Capital and, prior to that, founded Intensity Ventures, a company that helped launch and operate software companies and later became a venture affiliate of the predecessor to Mobius Venture Capital.” Previously, Brad served as chief technology officer of AmeriData Technologies. AmeriData acquired Feld Technologies, a firm he founded in 1987 that specialized in custom software applications....
David G. Cohen is the Founder and CEO of TechStars, a mentorship-driven seed stage investment firm. He has founded four companies, including Pinpoint Technologies (Broomfield, CO, public safety software, acquired by ZOLL Medical Corporation in 1999), iContact.com (Boulder, CO, mobile social networking, defunct), earFeeder.com (Boulder, CO, acquired by SonicSwap) and TechStars. He is also an active angel investor nationally managing about $70M in funding. He invests primarily in early stage web/software companies through his $5 million fund. David blogs at...
David is the Founder and Managing Partner of BoxGroup, a New York City boutique seed-stage capital firm. David is also the co-founder of TechStars NYC and previously served as Managing Director of the program. David was named to NYC Mayor Bloomberg’s Advisory Council on Technology and serves on the Investor Board of Venture for America. He is also a regular contributor to the Wall Street Journal ‘The Accelerators’ online blog. Prior to joining TechStars, David served as Executive Vice President...
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