

TechStars application now open - unalone
http://www.techstars.org/apply/

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andrewhyde
Andrew from TechStars here, let me know if anyone has any questions.

I would question the 'rival' tag. I think their is no doubt that everyone here
loves startups, and the whole community benefits when there is a vibrant
scene.

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okeumeni
Are you interested only in out of college guys or will you also fund well
establish founders with good ideas?

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andrewhyde
Interested in both.

If you look at any early stage investing, you will see it is 99% about the
team. We have accepted really solid teams with a very light prototype to fully
launched almost profitable apps.

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babyshake
I'd be curious to hear what people think about TechStars in comparison to YC.

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lallysingh
Tough to compare unless you've been close to both. A friend of mine was in a
TechStars startup. Just got funded (in this economy!). <http://foodzie.com/>

The advice & support he got was really helpful. Lots of successful people's
brains to pick, and enough cash & supplies to build a basic v1.0. I'm not sure
what else to tell you...

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sigh400
Could you kindly elaborate as to the details of being "funded" in this
situation? I am very interested in real numbers. (Obviously you may not be
able to provide specifics, but even meta info would be nice, considering the
product and the economic climate etc.)

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sachinag
They got $1 million: [http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/an-online-
farmers-m...](http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/01/16/an-online-farmers-
market/) . Always nice to see another vertically-focused online marketplace
get funded.

(Interesting note: we started getting a lot more interest once we stopped
talking about ourselves as a platform technology that just happened to start
off in video games and gear and just kept it simple in calling ourselves a
marketplace for video games, systems, and accessories with no upfront mention
of the platform. Lesson: tell potential investors the same thing you tell your
customers; you can answer follow up questions however you want.)

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ivankirigin
The scene in Boston isn't as good as New York of SF. I'd imagine the location
is the biggest fault of TechStars.

But the model is so good, that I don't really like the "rival" status.

There are positive sum effects from a lots of early stage venture firms, and
lots of startups. To illustrate this, just try to ask any YC or TechStars
company for advice. You'll notice that they are probably both going to be nice
and helpful. That's because that's a characteristic of early stage startups.
It's all good.

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far33d
Isn't techstars in boulder?

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ivankirigin
Yes, and I'm sure Boulder ranks close to or behind Boston. Which seems to me a
worse location than NYC or SF.

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zack
The reason Boston and Palo Alto are such great locations are due to the
locations of the elite neighboring universities and abundant reverse brain-
drain

