TechStars Boston Applications Open for 2011 | Hacker News Reader

TechStars Boston Applications Open for 2011

techstars.org

72 pointschampion10 comments

I love Boston, but this is the first time I've ever heard anyone describe time there as "luscious," and if I was wanted to start a company why would I care about the trees blooming along the Charles? And why are there three exclamation points in the title?

I don't understand. Who is the target audience of this post? I have read some good things about TechStars, why the used-car-salesman approach to marketing?

Can't recommend this program enough! New England isn't as hot a scene as other parts of the country, but the Cambridge location places you right in between MIT and Harvard. Broderick is a hoopy frood who really knows were his towel is, too.

Work shoulder to shoulder with the other companies in the TS Office, interact with awesome mentors, and have access to an amazing network for the rest of your days as an entrepreneur. Wicked good stuff, if you ask me.

TechStars Seattle founder here!

Just had our dress rehearsal for demo day. Thursday is the big event. Stoked!

I highly recommend TechStars, the program has been amazing. The mentorship is worth every share and we've all been having a blast. Even if your company spontaneously combusts, the experience is amazing. If you are interested, don't hesitated to apply to any city.

I just read their new book, "Do More Faster". To get a little better feel for what TechStars is like, I strongly recommend it. (Read it anyway, whether you're interested in TechStars or not.) My comments last week about their book:

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1864922

How much equity are start-ups asked to sell for 6-18k?

They provide $6000 per founder for up to 3 founders. They get 6% equity stake in return (I'm not clear if they still get 6% if there's only one founder).

See this page: http://www.techstars.org/details/

(BTW, I'm doing a startup in Boston. I'm sure they'll get lots of applications, but this isn't for me.)

Edit: I saw someone recommend their book. Let me plug another one. I'm loving Steven Blank's Four Steps To the Epiphany (http://www.amazon.com/Four-Steps-Epiphany-Steven-Blank/dp/09...)

In the past, someone here criticized that book - at least I think it was that one - as appearing to be a collection of notes rather than a fully formed book. Digging...

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=1519291

Hrm... can't find it. Am I remembering correctly?

I think that's too harsh. The book has more "micro" errors than I'd like to see. By "micro" errors I mean some poorly drawn diagrams and some grammar errors that break my flow. I noticed that no editor is credited, and the book would be improved with an editor. Too many micro errors can hurt a books credibility (if they didn't take the time to polish the book can I really trust the content?).

On the other hand, I think the advice in this book is fantastic. Two examples of things discussed:

1) Deciding what type of market you are entering (existing, re-segmented, new) and the consequences of each market type.

2) Confirming your hypothesis before you try to scale.

Get past the micro errors. The content really is quite good. Or I think it's good. What the hell do I know. There's a scene in Moonstruck where one of the characters seeks advice until she gets the answer she wanted to hear in the first place ('maybe they're afraid of dying?'). There may be some of that going on with me and this book.

My recollection was that the person was saying they liked the content, just that it lacked some polish.

Like I said though, that was just a vague notion I had. I haven't read the book, but do enjoy reading the stuff he posts to his site a lot.

Their shares are in common stock. Same as founders

Reply on news.ycombinator.com